The 1967 spaghetti Western Face to Face occupies a peculiar niche in the genre’s history. While the subgenre is inextricably linked to two towering figures of Italian cinema—Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci—the third “Sergio,” Sergio Sollima, remains a less celebrated but equally vital contributor. Though his Western filmography comprises only three titles, Sollima’s work, particularly Face to Face, stands as a testament to his ability to blend visceral storytelling with intellectual ambition. Unlike Leone’s operatic mythmaking or Corbucci’s anarchic brutality, Sollima’s approach is marked by a psychological complexity and moral ambiguity that set his films apart. Face to Face, often regarded as his most personal work, transcends the limitations of its formulaic trappings to explore themes of identity, power, and the fragility of human morality under duress.
The film opens in a Boston college, where history professor Brad Fletcher (Gian Maria Volonté) tells students of his departure due to tuberculosis. Seeking a warmer climate, Fletcher travels to Texas, where he inadvertently crosses paths with Solomon Beauregard “Beau” Bennett (Tomas Milian), a notorious outlaw arrested after a violent skirmish. When Fletcher’s act of compassion—offering Bennett water—facilitates the criminal’s escape, the professor becomes an unwilling hostage. Bennett, wounded during the breakout, begrudgingly tolerates Fletcher’s presence, reliant on the academic’s medical knowledge to recover. As the time goes by, their dynamic undergoes a radical transformation. Fletcher, initially portrayed as a meek, idealistic figure, when exposed to Bennett and his gang’s harsh but exciting lifestyle, gradually succumbs to the violent impulses he once condemned, while Bennett, hardened by a life of crime, after being exposed to Fletcher’s scholarly wisdom, begins to question his nihilistic worldview. Parallel to their journey, Pinkerton agent Charlie Siringo (William Berger)—a character inspired by the real-life 19th-century lawman—manipulates his way into Bennett’s gang, aiming to dismantle their mountain hideout. This dual narrative of internal conflict and external pursuit forms the backbone of Sollima’s exploration of duality and reinvention.
Sollima’s background as an anti-Fascist resistance fighter during World War II deeply informs Face to Face. The director often remarked on how extreme circumstances expose the contradictions in human nature, noting that “cowards become heroes, and heroes become cowards.” This philosophy permeates the film’s central premise, where the protagonists’ moral compasses are inverted through their volatile partnership. While Sollima had previously collaborated with Tomas Milian in The Big Gundown (1966) and Run, Man, Run (1968), both of which cast Milian as scrappy, morally ambiguous antiheroes, Bennett represents a departure. Here, Milian’s character begins as a brutish outlaw but evolves into a figure of reluctant integrity, a transformation underscored by the actor’s nuanced performance despite a distractingly artificial wig and makeup. Volonté, meanwhile, delivers a chilling portrayal of Fletcher’s descent into moral decay embodied in murder, rape and torture, his intellectual veneer crumbling to reveal a latent thirst for domination. The casting of two actors known for their versatility in genre roles adds layers of authenticity to the film’s psychological stakes.
The supporting cast further enriches the narrative. Mario Brega, a familiar face in Leone’s films, appears as one of Bennett’s gang members, lending his trademark gruffness to the role of a pragmatic outlaw. William Berger, however, steals the show as Siringo, whose cunning manipulation of Bennett’s gang culminates in a morally ambiguous finale. Siringo’s historical basis—a blend of real-life Pinkerton agents—adds texture to his portrayal as a man who operates in the grey area between justice and vengeance. His final confrontation with Fletcher, now a tyrannical despot ruling the outlaw camp, serves as a microcosm of the film’s central themes: the corrupting allure of power and the illusory nature of redemption.
Notably, Face to Face marks the acting debut of Carole André, a 14-year-old French actress who plays Cattle Annie, a spirited tomboy harbouring unrequited affection for Bennett. Though her role is small, André’s performance injects a poignant humanity into the film’s otherwise bleak landscape. Her character’s youthful exuberance contrasts sharply with the protagonists’ moral disintegration. André would later reunite with Sollima in the 1970s television series Sandokan, where she played Marianne Guillonk, a role that cemented her status as a cult icon in European pop culture.
Visually, Sollima’s use of Almería’s arid landscapes—a staple of spaghetti Westerns—avoids the sense of déjà vu that often plagues the genre. Working with cinematographer Raphael Pacheco, Sollima frames the Spanish desert as a psychological battleground, its stark horizons mirroring the protagonists’ internal turmoil. Ennio Morricone’s score amplifies the film’s existential dread. Unlike the anthemic themes of Leone’s scores, Morricone’s compositions here function as a subtextual commentary on the characters’ disintegrating identities.
Despite its strengths, Face to Face is not without flaws. The script occasionally strains credibility, particularly Fletcher’s abrupt metamorphosis from scholar to despot. While the narrative seeds this transformation—hinting at repressed aggression through his fixation on frontier history—the pacing of his moral collapse feels rushed. Additionally, secondary characters, such as the gang members, are underdeveloped, their motivations often obscured by the film’s focus on the central dyad. Yet these shortcomings are outweighed by the film’s willingness to tackle contentious themes. The scene in which a Mexican boy mistakenly identifies Bennett as a compatriot, exposing the outlaws’ racism, serves as a biting critique of xenophobia. Similarly, the film’s climax, which reveals vigilantes and bounty hunters as bloodthirsty marauders, dismantles the romanticized notion of frontier justice, portraying law enforcement as indistinguishable from the criminals they pursue.
What elevates Face to Face beyond its contemporaries is Sollima’s refusal to offer easy answers. Unlike the black-and-white morality of traditional Westerns, the film revels in moral relativism. Fletcher’s final act resonates as both tragic and inevitable, a testament to the director’s belief in the malleability of human nature. This philosophical underpinning, combined with its visceral performances and atmospheric direction, makes the film a compelling entry point for audiences seeking to explore the spaghetti Western’s capacity for introspection.
While Face to Face may lack the mythic grandeur of Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West or the visceral ferocity of Corbucci’s The Great Silence, but its exploration of psychological transformation and ethical ambiguity secures its place as a standout work in Sollima’s oeuvre. As the spaghetti Western genre continues to be reappraised, Face to Face deserves recognition not merely as a curiosity, but as a bold, deeply personal statement from a director who understood that the true frontier lies not in the desert, but within the human soul.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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