History Trivia / AFistfulOfDynamite

* ExecutiveMeddling: Rod Steiger's casting was Creator/{{MGM}}'s idea and didn't sit well with Creator/SergioLeone, who wanted Creator/EliWallach (which caused Wallach to threatened to sue Leone, ending their friendship). It didn't help that Leone and Steiger didn't get along during the shoot, forcing Creator/JamesCoburn to mediate. Like most Leone films, the movie was significantly shortened in its international release, with heavy trims to its violence and political content: from 155 minutes to 138 for America, and to just 121 minutes in the UK.[[note]]Other scenes were significantly recut, notably the massacre of Juan's family, with insert shots of his dead sons clumsily inserted into the scene of Juan discovering them in the cave.[[/note]] It was also retitled ''A Fistful of Dynamite'' to capitalize on Leone's [[Film/AFistfulOfDollars earlier movies]].

** ''Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' (early European video releases; discontinued when [[Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico that title]] [[NamesTheSame was used again]]).

** Japan: ''The Sunset Gang''

** According to Creator/SergioLeone, Creator/SamPeckinpah agreed to direct this film after Peter Bogdanovich had turned the project down, but for financial reasons he was turned down by United Artists. Leone's collaborators (especially writers Sergio Donati and Luciano Vincenzoni), noting the director's frequent embellishment of the facts concerning his films, claim that Peckinpah did not even consider it--Donati claimed Peckinpah was "too shrewd to be produced by a fellow director".
** And of course, the role of Juan was written for Creator/EliWallach. Wallach was enthusiastic to work with Leone again and turned down his current project for the chance, but United Artists wanted a bankable star, so they got Rod Steiger. Some foreign dubbing companies caught wind of this during the release of 'Don't Turn the Other Cheek' and had the same foreign actors voice both Steiger's Juan and Wallach's Max.
* WorkingTitle: ''Mexico'', ''Once Upon A Time...the Revolution''.

* ActorAllusion: Juan berates his son, asking him why he named him Napoleon even though he completely lacks imagination. Rod Steiger himself [[Film/{{Waterloo}} played Napoleon]] just a year before.

** The role of John Mallory was written for Jason Robards, who had played Cheyenne in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest''. However, the studio wanted a bigger name for his character.