This is the beginning of a very good movie. It is on my top 10 all-time best movies. I watch it from time to time and see new things each time.
I don't remember where I read the story, but it might have been in the DVD extras. Henry Fonda grew a goatee and dyed his hair black before he flew to Spain for the start of filming. When he got there and Leone saw him he screamed "nooooo" because he hired Fonda to be the baby-faced assassin.
Also, aside from the visuals, the music in this film is probably the best match between music and video ever. Ennio Morricone's soundtrack is pure genius.
> the music in this film is probably the best match between music and video ever
I presume you're talking about the mood of the music matching with the video, but they match in another way as well. Undoubtedly you already know this, but I wanted to add for people who don't: the music was composed first, and was played during filming, allowing the actors to synchronize their movements with the music.
The bit about Henry Fonda changing his appearance and Sergio Leone not agreeing with that: I think you're right it's on the DVD. There's a separate soundtrack with comments from various people while the movie is playing, and I /think/ it's in there somewhere, but I'm not 100% sure. They also talk about how Henry Fonda was very famous at the time, famous for playing the good guy. Seeing him playing the bad guys had quite a shocking effect on audiences, which was Leone's intention. A bit like Tom Hanks suddenly playing a vicious assassin (more relatable for people my age).
> bit like Tom Hanks suddenly playing a vicious assassin
FWIW, Tom Hanks was in Cloud Atlas, where he played at least one evil character (though it was Hugh Grant I remember as more vicious, which was also out of type for him, at least at the time).
I always took that opening scene as establishing how tough and capable the 3 waiting gunmen are. How hard would it be to catch a fly inside a gun barrel?? But this guy does it first try. Seems to imply incredible reflexes.
For anyone familiar with guns (as most Americans in the audience would be, anyway), it also illustrated how unhinged, dangerous, and reckless the gunman was.
You’re really going to point a loaded gun at yourself, including looking down the barrel (and potentially shoot your self in the face), to appreciate the fly you just caught? The fly you still haven’t killed? Which can now escape while you appreciate it?
And which, it turns out, ends up escaping when the gunman gets distracted. And which you could have killed at any point along the way in about 10 easier ways if you didn’t want to try to be fancy?
Well, it turns out that does indeed fit their character haha. And is good foreshadowing for most of the ‘bad guys’ in the movie, and to some extent the ending.
A really amazing classic, if you’re not stuck in ‘TikTok attention span’ mode anyway.
Also, a really funny parody of the spaghetti western (which includes some of the same folks - ‘Support your local sheriff’).
One _possible_ out for Snakey here is that in old percussion cap revolvers (like Colt Dragoon), the safe thing to do was keep an empty chamber in front of the hammer when not engaged in active shooting. It's been a while though, and my fuzzy memory leans more toward the guns supposed to be Single Action Army-esque and not cap/ball era so maybe no excuse for Snakey after all.
Yeah, reducing it to a story about sound misses the development of the character. Why did he do it, how did he do it? What does it say about him that he chose to and that he could?
Just adding another comment to say how brilliant this film is. So atmospheric, such great music, such a grand presentation of the wild west and it's demise. It makes other westerns feel half-baked.
Good filmmakers and authors use a genre to make a specific work.
Middling filmmakers and authors make a work about a specific genre.
It's also a treat to watch Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro; then Leone's Dollars Trilogy; then Dirty Harry; then Woo. "The mysterious stranger" throughout the ages, indeed.
You can also visit Sad Hill Cementery from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It was rediscovered and renovated by fans in 2015. It's near Burgos, also Spain, but not close to Almería.
My read of the end of this is that the author of TFA replaces the "elevated" interpretations in the cited academic works with "the fly scene's purpose is the be awesome (Leonesque)"--is that right?
Love this movie and the scene but definitely don't relate much to more involved interpretations. That said, I'm the first to admit I'm no sophisticate and am interested in other takes.
Interestingly, the AVForums review says HDR is the reason (if any) to prefer it. ("WCG" below is "Wide Color Gamut".)
> The biggest reason for sticking with your purchase is probably the application of WCG and Dolby Vision HDR, with the image now a lush — but faithful — palette that enjoys those sun-burnt skin tones (a few pink lips look kinda odd on occasion, but for the most part it's well handled) dominating wood browns, dirty desert backgrounds and often stunning blue skies. Black levels are rich and deep, but don't swallow up all the shadow detail, and the film — in comparison to the old blu-ray — looks a whole lot more "4K" given what we've come to expect from the benefits of WCG and HDR, to the point where it'll likely end up being the default playback for those pot committed on this release.
This movie was in the second trilogy, "once upon a time", Once Upon a Time in the west, Duck you Sucker, and Once Upon a Time in America. And from wikipedia there's a much better and longer original European cut that is 3 hours 49 mins instead of the 2 hours 19 minute cut. I can't figure out how to stream that.
Friendly reminder to fans of the genre that you can visit the film set of the cemetery in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly near Burgos, Spain. It's free and I the middle of nowhere. I went this summer and it was an amazing experience. Search for Sad Hill Cemetery.
https://youtu.be/QML28YQBvyc
And the excellent scene that follows (after the train stops without any passengers departing, or so the gang thinks):
https://youtu.be/uhYLfK8GSr0