It should be required viewing for all future directors and screenwriters. With an ensemble cast and Henry Fonda in the only evil role of his acting career and making Darth Vader look like a Boy Scout by comparison.
This is part of the opening sequence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW-jSa9_k3M
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26 comments:
I need to rent this and watch it immediately! :)
Excellent film!
I used to steal some of Sergio's characters and convert them to NPCs. Fonda's "Frank" was no exception; he looked everybit as noble & roguish as Aragorn, trusted by many PCs until they got to known him...and then it was often too late...
Makes me want to run a new scenario: "Once Upon a Time on The Borderlands"
Ciao!
Grendelwulf
I love Sergio Leone!!, his films are my all time favs... What did you think of Duck You Sucker/Fist Full of Dynamite, Not one of his well known films.. more political. But there is one scene in it that is my all time fav... when he's standing and this holy viel appears opening his long coat full of dynamite and you can hear children singing... Just WOW!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Ab7vNhd18&feature=related
Rob: Thanks for reminding me of this one.
--It has been a decade or two... ;)
Yeah, the camera work in this is just the best I've ever seen, the acting is understated and makes everything come alive with partials and nuances melding as part and parcel of each character's development and its two interwoven plots. There just isn't enough good I can say about this film from every quarter.
Delve: I shall look at the link. Thanks! I like most of SL's films, but by far consider this his best.
Grendelwulf: Fonda played Frank's character to the hilt and then some.
Stuart: Have fun. Get popcorn. :)
Timeshadows:You are always welcome in advance. Let me know when you view it again. BTW: I love Hitchcock's films, too (re: your email).
I also own and love this movie. Harmonicas can be mean.
Rob: One of the actors in the opening sequence of OUaTitW played a mobster thug in the version of the Mike Hammer film, Kiss Me Deadly starring Ralph Meeker. His end in that film was far more poetic. Heh.
That version of Kiss Me Deadly is one of my all-time faves.
Hey Dan: Yes they can. Its symbology comes full circle, which is the cool part about it.
TS: That's the great character actor, Jack Elam, the one with the "wandering eye" put to good effect in the opening sequence. Of course Woody Stode we all know from his arena duel with Kirk Douglas in "Spartacus," yet another classic film.
edit: I missed the "R": That's Woody Strode.
A good one fer sure.
My uncle recently loaned me the 'Lonesome Dove' DVD. Take a look here if it's new to you http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096639/
I really enjoyed it. What I liked most is the very authenticness of it.
(cue) Harmonica Riff (/cue)
For a Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly have been key sources of inspiration for the current Weird West game we're running. I recently had a friend recommend Once Upon A Time In The West as well, but haven't been able to track down a recording yet.
Cimmerian. Yes, Lonesome Dove was a good movie.
Stuart: I had to get mine off EBAY when replacing the old VHS version for the DVD. Many places do not rent it anymore for some strange reason.
The Man With No Name movies are far far better, and from the same era. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_no_name
Hi Euranno. I am glad those movies are better for you. Nice being individual, isn't it? :)
Ah yeah, I didn't mean to be so condoning.
I am a huge fan of movies from the 40s through 70s, and after watching the earlier Sergio spaghetti westerns, felt like "C'era una volta il West" was a bit too cookie-cutter and didn't live up to the earlier films. Maybe it was the lack of Eastwood, or maybe I was just growing tired of them :P
Either way they're all still great films, if anyone hasn't seen the earlier films with Clint Eastwood, I highly recommend them.
Ahh, more fruit from the same vine.
Or, more likely, more wine from the same vineyard at least. As fine a job as Sergio did with the "Man With No Name", it couldn't have been done without his inspiration (legally proven as well), Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo.
Of course, AK was inspired by western films by John Ford, so the vines just kept growing...
Ciao!
Grendelwulf
No Problemo. :
Yes. I've at least seen all those you have mentioned, and they are indeed very great films by SL. But he intentionally wanted to make the best western ever with this "Send Up" of OutitW, and IMO, he did just that. In fact, one of my other favorite films is directed by, and stars, Clint Eastwood: "White Hunter, Black Heart." But very personal reasons attach to my liking it. But such is life, such is art.
Ciao. :)
So many unforgettable moments in this film.
Not to mention the music. Perfection.
I'm going to check WHBH out, thanks for the pointer.
Greatest western ever. Greatest soundtrack ever. Greatest western villain ever (Fonda). Greatest hot western chick ever (Claudia). Greatest final gunfight ever (when Fonda and Bronson face off in the finale and the soundtrack swells, I get goosebumps to this day).
If you haven't seen this one, you can't consider yourself a serious student of movies...
"Nothing else matters now...not the land, not the money, not the woman. I came here to see you..."
Hey PiC: I agree totally. The score by Maricone (sp from memory) fitted a theme song for each persona. Really cool and one of the first movies to synch these in this manner, IIRC.
Mike!:) Good to see you about, and to hear your voice so strongly. You already -- in force --echo my opinion. :) Not to mention Jason Robards. Watch him closely at the end for the best acting (minute details) that you will have to actually rewind to realize how well he carried off those scenes.
Glad you brought this up, Rob. I've been longing for a good spaghetti western for a while now and just haven't been able to find the time for one. Now that the question of which one has been decided, I guess I've no choice left but to carve out a couple of hours.
I've always been a fan of spaghetti westerns, though I have to admit some of them are...well, let's just say "not good". Perhaps the worst was "Go Kill and Come Back" - arguably the most awful movie I've ever seen. Not terrible for gaming inspiration, though, I suppose.
How on Oerth did I manage to make a double post? And how do I fix it? Sorry 'bout that, Rob.
Rob: Yes Jason kicked booty in those scenes. I just rewatched the end last night (I have the two-disc special edition with commentary), and the scenes with Cheyenne and Jill in the house waiting for Harmonica are great. Both the fact that Cheyenne is dying the entire time(without letting Jill know) and he has an unrequited love for Jill that is just hinted at..masterfully done.
Mike: Right on. I have the same DVD set. Yep. Now that the cat is out of the bag (spoilers ahead), it is the very reason why one has to rewind to look over those acting sequences, or else their subtle and artful nuances are missed as the audience does not know he is dying at that moment. If you look, his repetitions of when Jill and he first met "Did you make coffee." His slowness (just minute decrements) of actions, his comment on the coffee, again, slow, referring back to his mother and how she made it while saying about the coffee, "Hot. Strong. And good." This is sheer acting genius, carried by the script, the actor, the intentional plotting (much is occurring to the viewer in afterthought, staggered to make you think and get immersed in the story, not just "watch" it). As you said--masterful.
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