Face to Face (1967 film)

Face to Face
Italian film poster by Morini[1]
Directed bySergio Sollima
Screenplay bySergio Donati
Sergio Sollima
Story bySergio Sollima
Produced byAlberto Grimaldi
StarringGian Maria Volonté
Tomas Milian
William Berger
Jolanda Modio
Carole André
Gianni Rizzo
Aldo Sanbrell
Lidya Alfonsi
CinematographyRafael Pacheco
Edited byEugenio Alabiso
Music byEnnio Morricone
Production
companies
Distributed byPEA (Italy)
Release date
  • November 1967 (1967-11)
Running time
  • 112 minutes
  • 93 minutes (English version)
Countries
Box office1.117 billion ITL (Italy)[4]

Face to Face (Italian: Faccia a faccia; Spanish: Cara a cara German: Halleluja, der Teufel lässt Euch grüßen) is a 1967 Italian/Spanish international co-production Spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Sergio Sollima and produced by Alberto Grimaldi. The film stars Gian Maria Volonté, Tomas Milian and William Berger, and features a musical score by Ennio Morricone. It is the second of Sollima's three Westerns, following The Big Gundown and predating Run, Man, Run, a sequel to the former. Milian stars in a lead role in all three films.[5]

The film portrays the unlikely partnership of Professor Fletcher (Volonté), a university lecturer, and "Beauregard" Bennet (Milian), a wanted outlaw, and a series of events that results in an exchange of their moral values, culminating in Fletcher taking control of Bennet's bandit gang. Frequently interpreted as a parable based on the rise of European fascism,[6][1] the story and themes of Face to Face were based on Sollima's wartime experiences, and his personal beliefs on the role of environments and societies in the shaping of a person's character.[7]

A major success at the European box office, Face to Face has received praise from critics and scholars of the Spaghetti Western genre for its story and acting, although some criticism has been leveled at the execution of Fletcher's character arc.[4] Sollima considered it to be one of the best and most personal of the films he directed.[7]

  1. ^ a b Hughes, 2009
  2. ^ "Faccia a faccia (1967)". Archivio del Cinema Italiano On-Line.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference mfb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Fisher, 2014
  5. ^ Broughton, Lee. "The Sergio Sollima Italo-Western Box: The Big Gundown, Face to Face & Run Man Run". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2006-12-25.
  6. ^ Cox, 1993
  7. ^ a b Face to Face (Spaghetti Western Memories) (DVD). Zürich, Switzerland: Explosive Media. 1967.