The Big Gundown

The Big Gundown (original title La resa dei conti) is a 1966-1967 Italian-Spanish co-produced spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Sollima, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sergio Donati. Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian headline the cast, supported by performers such as Fernando Sancho, Benito Stefanelli and Nello Pazzafini. The story follows bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett as he tracks down Cuchillo, a Mexican fugitive accused of a horrific crime against a young girl; as the chase unfolds, Corbett comes to suspect that the respectable, powerful men who hired him are hiding the real guilt. Widely regarded as Sollima's best-known film and one of the most popular entries in the spaghetti Western genre, it launched the director's cycle of Westerns featuring Milian. The actor returned as Cuchillo in Sollima's 1968 follow-up Run, Man, Run, cementing the film's place as the opening chapter of a celebrated collaboration.