Once Upon a Time in the West

One of the harder things for me to do when it comes to this blog (aside from actually remembering to update, of course) is to decide which movie I want to review. After all, at this point in time I've seen about 600 movies*, and I don't want to spoil all of the great ones out of the gate. On the other hand, I also can't review a bunch of shitty movies without coming off as some sort of angry RAAAH! INTERNETS! blogger that is associated with bitching. So what to do? What to do?

I said to myself, "Ah, fuck it." Then I chose to review one of the best damn movies I've ever seen: Once Upon a Time in the West.

This is, of course, another work from Sergio Leone (See: Fistful of Dollars), and unlike the original film of his that I reviewed, this is completely an original work. Oh, he also gets to work marquee names such as Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, and Jason Robards, plus a sweet budget! Is this formula going to work?

Well, no shit! I mean, I knew I was going to see a great movie from the director alone, and a solid cast like that? Pleeeaaaase. What I wasn't aware of, though, and what still kind of sits with me today, was that I was about to witness the greatest western I've ever seen... Just ahead of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (ANOTHER Leone flick - srsly). How is this? What is it that sets this apart from other movies? I'll try a piece-by-piece sort of motion here by hitting on the keypoints of story, character, and well... I guess I already mentioned the directing, but I'll break it down for you as I get into the other 2.

Story-wise: this bad boy is a bit complex. In a strange way, we have 4 main characters in Cheyenne, Frank, Harmonica, and Jill. Each one has their own story, which of course relates to the charcter chunk, but more that later. This isn't just a movie about the west, really. It is about the changing times of the west, when the old code of the gunfighter was starting to fade, and the business era was kicking in. A quick piece of dialogue:

Frank: Nope, just a man....
Harmonica: An ancient race....

Whoa! Two lines to get an entire idea across? That's so awesome! AND THAT'S JUST A SMALL CHUNK! There's also the pure tradition itself: Bronson as the mysterious protaginist, after the dark, dark character that is Frank, with Robards providing an odd sort of narration: Narration within the story itself. The way you find out just why Harmonica is after Frank is so well-executed, so poignant... If your jaw doesn't drop either from revelation or from execution, then you just aren't human (or hate movies and should leave my blog immediately... fucker!). It is that damn good.

Yes, Sergio Leone IS cooler than you, and a better director, too!

Which, of course, brings us to the characters. Let's get one thing straight: they all have depth. On the surface, you have Harmonica as the hero, Frank as the evil, Cheyenne as the commentator of things, and Jill as the damsel caught in the middle. And yet, there is more to each character. Frank's desire to grow as a business man is what gets mixed up with Jill, Harmonica sees her as his ticket to Frank, and Cheyenne is just pissed off for being framed (best character ever, by the way). Each of them transforms in some way. They have their successes and their failures, and each of them comes off as remarkably... well, remarkably human. It is just amazing.

Leone just knew how to direct a great movie: end of story. I don't have to elaborate on that. His use of cinematography is remarkable. The contrast between the broad, landscape shots and the up-close, zoom-into-their-damn-face shots works in such a way that everything is functioning in this movie. And its all changing. And it is all that fucking railroad's fault. Leone gets this point across simply by use of the camera. Everything else is just the whipped cream on top of the icing that is even still on top of the cake that is this movie.

Oh, and one last special nod to two of my favorite scenes of all-time: the 10-minute opening scene, which uses all ambient noise for the most part, and Frank and Harmonica's duel. They're two of the greatest, most intense scenes I've ever watched. The former is somewhat comical before the shit hits the fan, too.

All of that, and I didn't even get to talk about the station, or the debut of Cheyenne... Guess y'all suckas just need to watch the movies for yourselfs!

Overall: 10. No questions asked. One of the greatest stories meets some of the greatest characters, and all in the hands of Leone. Wow.

* - Bragginininin', no?

Fistful of Confusion

So, after that review of Avatar, I got myself thinking, "Wait... I didn't like it because of it's plagiarist nature, but what about Fistful of Dollars?" So then of course, came that inevitable answer: review the damn movie!

Let's start off with the ugly part of the review: the lawsuit. For those of you unaware, Fistful of Dollars is western that takes, pretty much word-for-word, the plot of Yojimbo (EXCELLENT Kurosawa flick, by the by). It's about a man with no name (Clint Eastwood) who strolls into a town in the middle of the desert. Of course, this town is in the midst of strife. Two families have grown to prominence, and they preeeeetty much want to kill each other. Of course, in the midst of this is the town's token dramatic family. In a nutshell: the wife is held by the Rojos because their leader (Gian Maria Volonte) is infatuated with her. So, Eastwood goes to work in setting the families against each other.

Replace Eastwood with Toshiro Mifune and western with samurai, and presto! Yojimbo. This isn't just word-of-mouth, either. Kurosawa succesfully sued director Sergio Leone because of how similar to the two were.

So, now the good aspects of the movie. Well, the acting is enjoyable across the board for one. Eastwood is, of course, all man in this movie. His screen presence is powerful even though he doesn't have to do all that much (look tough, act cool, shoot punk bitches). Counterpart to him is Volonte, who plays a villain really well, as well as his brother Esteban, played by Sieghardt Rupp. He provides his role with an unmistakable cackle and a real menacing look when it calls for it.

All Man.... Sexy, sexy man.

Also, Leone just has this style... this flare, really. He knows the craft of movie-making, and even though he was still obviously honing it at this point, it's obvious that the guy just knew what he was doing. The plot and action moves with deliberate speed, the shots are wide and grand (until you get those excellent close-ups), and he knows when to build tension. The best part may be when the showdown between the two families finally happens. As each shot is fired, you see the characters get more and more thrilled with what they're doing... It becomes more twisted and demented. It passes the point of insanity. It's powerful, damn it!

Like I said, though, he still hasn't quite got it down yet. There are these moments where you just have say, "Huh?" A scene ends with both a fade-out and a musical crescendo... That doesn't make any sense at all! It's just so sudden. His timing is just a little bit off, I think. Not much... but juuuussssst enough to make the film seem a bit weaker than his other flicks. Also, at this point, characters never really develop. The only truly interesting character is, in fact, The Man With No Name. He's the only one achieving his means through questionable actions. Is he in it just for the money, or does he genuinely care for the towns plight? Everyone else is straightforward... save maybe the bartender. There are good guys and bad guys and that's that. Nothing more to it.

On the whole shot, though? A damn good western. Why can't I bring myself to shout out, "IT'S YOJIMBO MINUS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Maybe it's because Yojimbo was pretty much meant to be a western to begin with... maybe it's because Leone had a better sense of film than James Cameron. Ultimately, though, I think it's because Fistful took a plot strong enough that it deserved to be copied, and in copying it, the alterations gave it a style and feel of it's own. The acting is also light-years ahead of Avatar. In a way, then, it maintained the entertainment side of the biz and met halfway with the technical side. Avatar forgot the second half (effects =/= technical). So am I a hypocrite? It's for you to decide, I suppose.

Overall - 7: A most digable movie, indeed. If western's are your thing, check this stuff yo!