In Mexico, during the last days of Pancho Villa’s revolution, two men
from very different backgrounds meet. One of them, John Mallory
(James Coburn), is an intellectual Irishman and a fugitive IRA
revolutionary; the other Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger), a simple but brutal
Mexican labourer-turned-bandit whose ambition in life is to rob a bank
in Mesa Verde. Impressed by Mallory’s skill at handling dynamite,
Miranda successfully involves him in the bank job. Crying „duck you
sucker!” as dynamite detonates the bank, Mallory discovers that the
bank is also being used as a jail for a ragbag collection of starving
political prisoners. Because of this, he and Miranda immediately
become heroes of the revolution, much to Miranda’s disapproval. But
there is not much the Mexican can do about it — especially as
government troops, led by the cruel Colonel Guttierrez, are hot on their
trail. What follows is a series of explosive encounters in which Mallory
has ample opportunities to yell „duck you sucker…”.
