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Sergio Leone: Fastest Gun in the West
By
the 1950's, the influence and appeal of the American
West, created by early directors such as the late John
Ford and Howard Hawks, would reach internationally to
the Far East and the cinematic centers throughout
Europe. Ford, the director of such classics as The Man
Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Searchers, greatly
influenced Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, who's 1961
picture, Yojimbo, was the blue-print for Sergio Leone's
Spaghetti Western smash, A Fistfull of Dollars. Along
with Citizen Kane, Kurosawa's Seven Samurai set the
world on fire with its revolutionary blend of
cinematography, action and score; a practice Leone would
hone to cinematic bliss in later films.
For years, the western was a genre that was distinctly
American. It expressed our ideals, our beliefs, and
identified a code of honor which transcended law, life
and society. Collectively, these traits bridged the
cinematic gap between the American, Japanese and Italian
cultures. The cautionary morality tales had as much to
do with the open grandeur of the American frontier as
they did with the consequences of personal action.
Perhaps, more clearly interpreted through an outsider's
eye, Leone would redefine the legacy of the great
American western.
Thankfully, in Leone's films, there were no Indians for John Wayne to
kill and no Gene Autry to sing songs by the campfire.
There were no 'tarts with heart'. In fact, there were
few women of any kind. Whores populated the burnt out
brothels and were seldom found outside the bedroom.
Instead men and bandits roamed the streets, stalking one
another like beasts in the wild, armed with Remington's,
Colt's and Magnum's. They were unshaven and unclean,
staggeringly drunk and cunningly stupid. There were no
heroes, only villains who spared the innocent. The west
was a place where the good, the bad and the ugly all
kill; stark contrasts to the American westerns of the
time.
For the sake of future generations, the final showdown
of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and the opening
scene of Once Upon a Time in the West should be chiseled
into stone tablets, as they are composed in a manner
that can only be described as god-like. The cowboys,
with their hats drawn low above their staunch brow,
gazing in with eyes that would slice a diamond, stand
tight and motionless as their full length trench coats
flail in the winds of an open desert. It is these mythic
poses, where Leone turns mere mortals into giants that
stand as tall as any of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Few artists ever achieve such an extraordinarily
successful collaboration as Sergio Leone and Ennio
Morricone did on their films. Morricone was the yin to
Leone's yang, each masterfully accenting the others work
with texture, style and grace that has yet to be
duplicated. Leone's long and patient cuts of a face, a
walk, or a stare, coupled with Morricone's natural
soundscapes and textures, elevates tension to unbearable
levels, as the audience waits impatiently for the action
to occur. Few directors ever mastered the set-up as well
as Leone, and this remains as one of his most endearing
techniques as a master filmmaker.
Other than Leone, Stanley Kubrick is the only director
that can convey so much by saying so little. In the two
hour forty five minute opus that is Once Upon a Time in
the West, there are only thirty pages of dialogue. The
emphasis here is movement, tension and then, finally,
the action. The scenes are allowed to breathe and
develop as if happening for the first time; a touchstone
of vintage cinema lost on all but a few of the current
filmmakers. Leone would probably spontaneously combust
viewing a modern day action/adventure film.
Nonetheless, Leone lit an eternal flame to an era where
he claimed life has no value. Creating a genre that
spawned over 200 films is a claim few individuals can
make. Leone is one of those people. There has always
been a level of intrigue in Italian cinema. Fellini was
the first master of the craft, creating films with
inordinate meanings, but ultimately engaging and
enthralling pieces. Leone, the heir to the king, created
a legacy of robustly complete films with simple themes:
man against man against man, and may the fastest draw
win. Nothing more, nothing less.
In 1964, before Zeppelin shook the earth, Leone
introduced the world to The Man With No Name and over
the next few years, the director, Leone, and star, Clint Eastwood,
achieved international stardom with the films of
the Dollars Trilogy.
Eastwood, who follows Charlton Heston as one of cinema's
most triumphant leading men, spent the next thirty years
riding tall in the saddle, gun slinging and hustling his
way across the old west, building iconic status as a
relic from a past age. In 1992 he directed a film that
would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture
and Best Director. The film was called Unforgiven. In
the two hour film, Eastwood managed to deconstruct the
western myth he spent his entire career building,
finally collapsing under a harrowing crescendo of
bullets, blood and death.
Few endings are as satisfying as a three man dual after
a near three hour romp through the west. If the poignant
visuals don't grab you, the most indelible theme in
cinema history will. It's hard to tell what Leone film
is the best of the bunch. Each subsequent film grew in
scope, size, and scale, and the result was a more
complete, more mature film than the last. Once Upon a
Time in the West was as much an homage to the east as it
was to the west, an amalgamation of all the major
western archetypes and a strong sense of the old west
dying off. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly remains the
definitive western for most that have experienced the
film and Once Upon a Time in America is as ambitious a
project that has ever been attempted. One thing remains
clear; Sergio
Leonebelongs in the pantheon of cinema legends and
on the Mount Rushmore of the greatest directors of all
time.
Donnie Walker is a rabid fan of Film and Rock & Roll. He
is a relic from a past age, jaded cynical and strong,
but remains walking that line alone, where ever it . may
lead him. With a series of podcasts and articles in
development, as well as a screenplay, busy job and a
college schedule, he decided to create a website to
collect his passions in one place. Join the mayhem at BadlandsBlvd.com Article
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