Sergio Leone's sprawling epic is true testament of the filmmaker's vision trumping the stigmas of genre. This is the one Spaghetti Western I have seen which rises above the camp and cliche to create a masterfully shot, beautifully crafted tale of good versus evil, love and loss, which perfectly romanticizes that great American icon: the gunslinger.
The immense story is set in the wildest of the West, where people are few, guns are many and unbridled lawlessness is only kept in check by the honor of the vigilante. The medieval knight is refashioned in dusters and spurs; his lance has six deadly points. It is an unforgiving world where hands constantly hover over pistol holsters and rapists are offered cups of coffee by their victims. It is ruthless and barbaric land, driven by greed and fueled by fear. It is a "quiet, simple country life".
Jill McBain (Claudia Cardinale), a tough-as-nails prostitute from New Orleans, ventures out into the desert and discovers that her secret husband and his family have been killed by bandits. Suddenly she is finds herself at the center of a triangular conflict between an assassin hired by a railroad baron, a bad to the bone outlaw, and a mysterious desperado known only as Harmonica. Motives remain mysterious, as do allegiances, which slowly unfold themselves as the manliest men outwit and outgun one another.
Henry Fonda stars as the ruthless killer Frank, whose job it is to get rid of the widow Jill and seize her land for the railroad company. Fonda isn't normally the first man who pops into my mind when I think of villains, but Leone took one look his wolfish, ocean blue eyes and decided that was the look of evil. Indeed, Fonda is as cool a bad guy as they come, who is calm in demeanor and draped all in black with nothing but those two specks of piercing blue flashing into the camera. He towers in his stoic nature.
Charles Bronson plays Harmonica, the spurned man in the white coat out for revenge. There is little development in his character, but the harsh lines on his face speak clearly enough. The end of the film has the climactic shoot out of white versus black, God and Satan, which was a little too blatant, but what can you do? And finally there is the convict, Cheyenne (Jason Robards), who is a very fun antihero. Most of the humor comes from his character and he also has the best shootouts.
No Western would be complete with out some good ol' pistol fights, and here they are fantastic. Leone was smart in raising the drama, but keeping the spectacle in a believable plane. At times the film is almost operatic in its gravity, but the shootouts were never more than men with pistols. One iconic scene involves Cheyenne on a train which is brilliantly choreographed and which tons of later films have ripped off.
This film took me by surprise. All of the elements of the film fight convention, yet come together so perfectly to create a really interesting, fun, exciting, intelligent film. For Leone, the gunslingers were Titans and he gave them a story worthy of that lofty thought. The score, set and costumes are all terrific, but it is the performances and the arresting cinematography that really make this movie shine. I felt a keen awareness of the passage of time and the pumping of blood in my veins while watching this. I realized it wasn't out of boredom, but rather it was because that was what Leone wanted of me.
4/4
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