The Last Corrida

The Last Corrida on: April 28, 2010, 10:17:38 PM

I think I finally figured out Leone’s last corrida and its duel. I was watching Duck You Sucker for the first time in a long time which is my usual M.O. for Leone films and like recently, after watching “For a Few Dollars More” after a long dry spell I found myself zoning in on watching the facial expressions and eyes of the characters once again.

With this film Leone actually jump starts this zoning for all of us during the Omnibus Robbery (could this be a first in Westerns?) This Omnibus Robbery might also be the longest and most elaborately staged act of “highway robbery” ever filmed for a Western it runs about 20:16 minutes. Leone by continually focusing closer and closer to each passenger as they berate the lowly peasant Juan naturally is focusing the viewers attention to each of the characters their the eyes, their facial expressions, their lips and the words they speak. By being this close, basically conversational close, if you are an “eye reader” one who instinctively reads the eyes of the people you communicate (as opposed to a “lip reader”) with you will see that what sex deprived Adelita (Maria Monte) is saying and what she is actually communicating to Juan with her eyes, lips, mouth, and body movements are two entirely different things.

The sight and stink ( perhaps pheromones) of a real man are arousing Adelita as she feigns disgust with her words but actually fantasizes about the sex life of peons. Shrewd Juan is keyed into her body language and reads/observes that she is sex starved. When the Omnibus is finally stopped by Juan’s family he takes Adelita’s husband outside and asks him point blank if he “can make a baby?”, is Juan asking him if he’s impotent or if is it the best way an unsophisticated peon bandit like Juan can ask if he is a homosexual. Regardless, when he answers no, (the Last Corrida begins at 15:26) Juan calls for the senorita and then tells the husband that he “will fix that.” She comes out on her own volition even telling one of Juan’s sons to let her go and Juan helps her out and Juan escorts her with a pat on the ass into the corrida.

Here now begins Leone’s last corrida duel this time instead of a Mexican standoff between men to the death, we have the ancient, sexually charged, eye contact standoff between a man an a woman, our raison d'être, The Mating Ritual. The setting starts on the corrida itself Leone's usual location for a duel to the death but this duel is for another end and not suited to the corrida, Juan quickly motions for Adelita to enter the "shelter" the barn/animal stall. There is even a bit of playful whipping to get her into the small "shelter" where her peon fantasies will become realized. She barely needs the coaxing All this eye to eye duel is accompanied by a weird Morricone “Amore” degüello. Juan’s asking with his eye’s and she concedes/surrenders with hers allowing the dance to begin. Juan exposes his gun/erection to her and she indeed does not look away but shows interest and an excited state, its all consensual (end of “Amore” degüello). Juan penetrates her and we cut ahead in time, the last corrida ends when Juan takes Adelita’s jewelry and thanks her (it lasted about 4:13). Cool stuff.