Duck, You Sucker

If you want a drama that takes its characters as seriously as its plot, Duck, You Sucker is available in Australia on MGM Amazon Channel, and in the US on fuboTV and MGM+ Amazon Channel right now. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. An 8/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Rod Steiger sets the tone, and the rest of the cast matches it scene for scene. Available now on MGM Amazon Channel — press play and find out why people keep recommending it.

There is a reason Duck, You Sucker keeps coming up in conversation. Character-driven storytelling at its most effective — Duck, You Sucker earns every emotional beat it goes for. At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a national bank. When it turns out that the government has been using the bank as a hiding place for illegally detained political prisoners -- who are freed by the blast -- Miranda becomes a revolutionary hero against his will. Rod Steiger and James Coburn lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 1971. Duck, You Sucker resists tidy resolutions in a way that respects how messy real consequences actually are. The consistency throughout is what elevates it — not every moment is the best, but none of them are a reason to stop watching.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, Duck, You Sucker delivers. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Rod Steiger carries the material with a performance that rewards close attention. Worth starting sooner rather than later.