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 "There is something about the film’s brazen mixing of incompatible elements that defies categorization, imitation or even sober critical assessment. It’s anarchic and rigorous, sophisticated and goofy, heartfelt and cynical. The score, by Ennio Morricone, is as mellow as wine. The action is raw, nasty and blood-soaked. The story is preposterous, the politics sincere. But this plate of pasta — bitter and pungent, nourishing and perhaps a bit nauseating — should be savored on its own. It takes place at the end of the 19th century in “Snow Hill, Utah,” a place name that sounds infinitely more exotic in Italian. There, farmers have been driven off their land and forced into banditry, leaving them at the mercy of bounty killers, the most fearsome and sadistic of whom is played by Klaus Kinski." -A. O. Scott "And at the end of all this unnerving break from Western formula, [Corbucci] leaves us with a finale so grim and troubling it sticks with you. No Eastwood one-liners, no Eli Wallach or Lee Van Cleef smirk, just a brutal reality in a fictional Western filmed half a world away from where it’s supposed to take place." -Roger Moore (not the actor) You can't trust anyone with a gun in this one. Recursive revenge pits a bunch of hunters against a bunch of outlaws. The mute protagonist named Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant) goes up against a bounty hunter (Klaus Kinski) in defense of a widow (Vonetta McGee). It's tragic and violent and full of snow. There's no clear good guy with a gun versus bad guy with a gun dichotomy. And there's no helpless townfolk either. All the factions are subverted and the dynamics are dark. This is the Wild West (with snow). And in some respects it could've been titled The Great Subversion. It never received a proper release in the US back in the 1960s. So it reminds me of Army of Shadows in that regard. Another film from that era that was just too politically potent for its time. But it was restored a few years ago and is now available on a few of the streaming services including https://watch.plex.tv/movie/the-great-silence in Italian but also in English on YouTube and the Internet Archive. Like many Italian films of the era the lip movement matches English rather than Italian (if that's a pet peeve of yours). At this point in my film watching I appreciate the films that break story conventions and have unrelenting uniqueness. So if you're looking for a fresh take on this genre then look no further. Supplementary stuff (spoiler alert): The prolific Ennio Morricone composed yet another evocative score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5mHyAfABYA Here's a couple of short videos featuring Alex Cox (the guy who directed the beloved Repo Man). He dresses up in a poncho on the DVD/BD extras and talks a little about Sergio Corbucci while candidly insulting many films. Alex Cox on Corbucci: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmBzypMWbT4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=log13DxHKvs Django & Django a Quentin Tarantino Netflix documentary on Sergio Corbucci: https://www.netflix.com/title/81519575 More reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Silence
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Jun 1, 2023 22:00
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 07:46 |
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Probably the most brutal spaghetti western. The cold unforgiving themes perfectly mirrored in the icy landscapes. Sidenote: I've heard that in some versions of the film the Outlaws are Mormons. Presumably meant to be waiting for an amnesty for the atrocities of the Utah War where the Mormons fought the federal government. Which is unrealistic because Utah was functionally a theocratic dictatorship before it was formally a part of the US so they didn't need to hide in the hills as they controlled the entire territory with an iron fist (and still do)
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Jun 1, 2023 22:31
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The local bar/movie theater here in Salt Lake showed this last winter and it is a masterpiece, a stark and beautiful and horrible movie that's become one of my favorite westerns. It really does look like a storybook version of Utah, all red rock and white snow, which is pretty amazing considering it was filmed in the Dolomites half a world away. The cinematography is incredible, just an incredible use of the landscape with the frame drowned in oppressive white snow. I also love how it lulls you into a sense of false security. The first half almost feels conventional, or at least more like Corbucci's earlier crowd-pleaser, Django. It's got some humor, a silent and mysterious protagonist with a cool gun, and a charismatic but hateable villain. And then Kinski murders the sheriff and it all goes to hell in the bleakest way imaginable. The folks who run the free movie nights had shown Django earlier, and then warned us that The Great Silence was pretty different and much bleaker, but it still hit me like a gut punch. What a great film.
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Jun 5, 2023 03:49
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It's really a unique ending, I can't think of anything else quite like it outside of maybe some horror movies.
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Jun 5, 2023 14:23
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FreudianSlippers posted:Sidenote: That's mentioned in the English version IIRC. Basebf555 posted:It's really a unique ending, I can't think of anything else quite like it outside of maybe some horror movies. Yeah, when I first saw it I thought of Easy Rider and Scarface (1983). This article draws comparisons to Night of the Living Dead and The Devils as well.
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Jun 5, 2023 22:10
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Just finishing this up now. drat what a brutal flick. That ending!
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Jun 15, 2023 18:52
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I saw this film randomly on TV while visiting my in-laws at Christmas without knowing anything about it. I for sure did not see that ending coming and it made for one of the most intense movie experiences for me ever.
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Jun 19, 2023 20:23
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Got in just under the wire to catch this Film of the Month, and very glad I did, great pick! The description I read said that the film was inspired by the deaths of Che Guevara and Malcolm X, and it seemed to me almost like the film was anticipating what happened to Fred Hampton as well. It's said half-jokingly that the breakfast clubs he set up were the breaking point that made his assassination inevitable. We see the same thing here; the sheriff and the community combat the problem of the bandits by giving them food, and the establishment in guise of Pollicut and Loco have to put a stop to that. "All according to the law" in both instances.
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Jun 30, 2023 22:20
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Heavy_D posted:Got in just under the wire to catch this Film of the Month, and very glad I did, great pick! Yeah, that's a good point as Fred Hampton fits too. Corbucci also mentioned JFK, MLK and RFK. There were so many assassinations in the 1960s. I just finished watching Che: Part One and Che: Part Two earlier this week.
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Jun 30, 2023 23:56
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This was my final film for 2023 and drat, what a brilliant and brutal film. Also, just fyi over at Vinegar Syndrome just added Film Movement as one of their partner labels (I think) and they've got a few blu-ray copies for sale.
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Jan 3, 2024 21:52
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Greekonomics posted:This was my final film for 2023 and drat, what a brilliant and brutal film. I'm not much of a spaghetti western guy outside of Leone usually, but Great Silence is one I really liked.
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Jan 5, 2024 05:06
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 07:46 |
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People who've seen this amazing film, now "enjoy" the last attempt to try to get it released widely in the US via this incredibly stupid alternate ending. It picks up right after Silence's hands are shot at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p13gKTOpPc0
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Jan 5, 2024 06:10
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