Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West
(1968) [Trailer]
Director: Sergio Leone (IMDB)

The first time I drove through the deserts of the southwest I remember thinking it was one of the most beautiful places on earth. So vast, rugged and untouched by man. Until that point in my life I had only seen images like that in the movies, movies like Once Upon a Time in the West. I was finally a cowboy reconnecting with the land, or some shit like that.

The story for this is a bit complex and hard to explain, so here's a quick account. A widow is visited by the man accused of killing her husband. Meanwhile a mysterious man named Harmonica shows up to help the accused man take down the real killer.

Like all Sergio Leone films I've seen, I loved this. There's so much good in this it's really hard to encapsulate it all into one short review. I thoroughly enjoyed the opening scene, it's orchestrated with regular sounds instead of music in a way that adds a sense of tension or unease and it really stood out in a weird, but good, way. There's also a fantastic scene in the middle of the film with this long tracking shot that follows Frank (Henry Fonda) in the background as his hops from train car to train car a while you see dead bodies disbursed about in the foreground... really good stuff. Speaking of Frank, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, and Charles Bronson are all great in their roles as well, and I am in love with Claudia Cardinale... sorry wife (at least she's probably all old and wrinkley now, unlike your boy Ryan Gosling...he's so hot right now.)

There's a lot more that I can talk about, but I'll leave you to form your own opinion if you haven't seen the movie yet. If you have, we'll have a discussion about it later. Okay? Good.

 

A Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars
(1964) [Trailer]
Director: Sergio Leone (IMDB)

This movie is basically a remake of Yojimbo, one of my favorite Akira Kurosawa movies. It's obviously different, in that it's set in the old west, but similar enough for Kurosawa to sue Sergio Leone's ass and win. This resulted in Kurosawa getting a percentage of the film's worldwide gross and distribution rights in Asia. Later Kurosawa said he made more off Fistful than he ever did with Yojimbo. Does that mean it's a better movie? According to capitalism, yes it does.

Two gangs in a small border town in Mexico are at each others throats. Clint Eastwood comes to town and sees an opportunity to play each side against one another and make a fistful of dollars along the way... see what did there? Things heat up, people die, Clint is a badass, end of story.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE. Hopefully if anything stands out in this review, it's that, that's why I made it in all caps. Everything in this is perfect. Morricone's score, as always, is incredible. It's just the best, and the following morning I'm humming it on the way to work. Just like every Sergio Leone movie I've seen so far, it has a unique style that stands on it own. I remember watching this as a kid and thinking Clint Eastwood was the coolest dude on the planet... he is. I've said my piece, go get on it.

Western Double Bill - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Unforgiven.

Just knocked out a seriously solid double bill featuring two of my (now) favorite Westerns: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Unforgiven. Both star your boy Clint, but both are extremely different.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(1966) [Trailer]
Director: Sergio Leone (IMDB)

Now this is a long ass film. 3 hours long roughly. If that's not your cup of tea, I would definitely avoid it. I, however, love a good long..... flick. Especially when it delivers quality, which this here movie does, in many ways.

It centers around three main characters: The Good...Clint Eastwood aka Goldie, The Bad...Angel Eyes, and The Ugly...Tuco. There's a fortune to be found. Goldie crosses Tuco, who crosses Goldie, who crosses Angel Eyes, who crosses both of them....something along those lines...I won't ruin it for you. All you need to know is the overall story is great.

There's lots that I love about this film, first and foremost is the score. Ennio Morricone serves up one of the most classic film scores ever made by modern man, it is truly epic (I know that word is thrown around a lot, but this shit's truly epic, no joke.) Also the direction is flawless, Sergio Leone is a true master of westerns. His style dances around lots of great wide shots, cool zooms, and classic action that keeps you into the movie through the whole ride. Definitely check this film out if you haven't done so already. If you have, do it again.



Unforgiven
(1992) [Trailer]
Director: Clint Eastwood (IMDB)

I had never seen Unforgiven until the other day. It's one of those movie I knew would be good but, for whatever reason, just never got to it. I found the blu-ray used for 4 dollars at my secret spot (you wanna know where it is....yeah.....no) so I went ahead and picked it up...cause 4 bones is a deal son! Now, I'm kicking myself for sleeping on this film cause it is phenomenal.

Your boy Clint is back, much much later in life however, as a retired gunslinger who finds himself running low on funds and propositioned by a younger gunslinger to join up on a business venture that will lead to some serious scratch...if you know what I mean. He joins up and also calls on the help of Red from Shawshank to go hunt down some guys who fucked up this prostitute with a knife. The story snowballs from there, eventually Gene Hackman gets up in the mix and throws some curve balls to derail things a bit.

Your boy Clint can direct a damn movie. This film is beautifully shot and the pacing is perfect. There are a lot of things about this movie that I really enjoyed, especially some of it's undertones. I think Clint was really trying to show a film about a man who breaks down during hard times. No matter how much time passes and who he thought he became, in the end when shit got tough, he turned back into the man he really was...and alcoholic murderer...NICE!