The Bestest DVD Boxed Set of 2007 in the West

The Sergio Leone Anthology:

A Fistful of Dollars 1964 (DV4846-4847)

For a Few Dollars More 1965 (DV4848-4849)

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 1966 (DV4850-4851)

Duck, You Sucker! 1971 (DV4876-4877)

…and four Special Features DVD’s, one for each film.

For the American film industry, and, in fact, for film history itself, the Western is one of the most important of all genres. Today that statement is a bit hard to understand, the Western has never had the type of popularity it enjoyed up until the 1970’s. Since the 80’s, Western movies come and go like a circular fad -- like jelly bracelets or Tamaguchi*. Every eight to ten years there is a small resurgence, some TV shows and movies are released, and then, after a year or so, the Western Genre rides away, into the sunset, until the next time it is profitable for it to be around.

It was not always like that, Westerns used to be a huge money maker for the American film and television industry. However; Westerns did not just stay in America, something almost archetypal in its subject matter had the ability to inspire the imaginations of filmmakers all over the world.

The first true narrative film: including cross-cut editing, a beginning, middle and end was a Western by the name of The Great Train Robbery. The Great Train Robbery (DV1761-1764) was also the first blockbuster made. Thomas Edison was able to open hundreds of “Nickelodeons,” on the back of that film, and, for a year and a half afterwards, continued to fill seats. The movie even started the career of many pioneers of the genre, Justus D. Barnes, Donald Gallaher and quite importantly Broncho Billy (here’s his career count: Director – 384 films, Actor – 356 films, Writer – 237 films, let’s see Spielberg beat that!). The Great Train Robbery began a cottage industry that remained a fan favorite for over 50 years.

For me, however, most of American Western’s from the 20’s through to the 60’s are cheesy and hard to watch. The genre labored under its own clichés for years. The good guy in the white hat against the bad guy in the black hat became a laughable convention along with the town drunk and the romantic interest in the beautiful owner of a bar/bordello – don’t forget Jews cast as Native Americans – people of Judaic blood usually have hawk noses and darker skin “like” the Native Americans. Westerns became irrelevant and after awhile turned into a parody of itself. That’s what happens when a genre goes decades without being revamped. Little of what was made then relates to our view of the west now, watching Bonanza! for more than ten minutes really snuffs out all interest in Westerns, the cheesiness and Hollywood style no longer translating to an audience that wants realism and dirt in their Western, a realism and grittiness that came from two sources, neither of them American.

One of the most interesting aspects of film is the evolution that happens to movies as they are seen throughout the world by millions of people. Young kids will fall in love with certain types of stories and when they grow up to become filmmakers themselves they revisit their childhood by recreating a genre of film they remembered. One young boy who became deeply infatuated with American Westerns was Akira Kurosawa. Arguably, the most influential Japanese director in the world, Kurosawa never forgot about the Western, for he saw a strong correlation between the American West and the Japanese Meiji period. For Kurosawa, his homeland Samurai** were like those cowboys in the white hats.

Kurosawa first experimented with the genre in 1954's Seven Samurai (VH7917-7918), a movie that went back to its home country when Sam Peckinah remade it as The Magnificent Seven in 1960, a film that effectively predicted the change that Westerns were about to undergo. But it was Kurosawa's Yojimbo, (VH768) in 1961, that became the most important movie to the evolution of the Western. It was during a run in a theatre in Rome that Sergio Leone, another boyhood lover of the American Western, first saw Kurosawa’s movie. Not knowing Kurosawa’s own influences, Leone thought Yojimbo would make a great Western and, excited, made all of his film crew friends go and watch Kurosawa’s black and white masterpiece. Sergio almost immediately set to work writing the script and finding the funding to remake Yojimbo into A Fistful of Dollars.

(A quick note about Italians films: since the European market is so varied, with many different countries speaking many languages and because no movie succeeds unless it succeeds in America (that's not egocentrism on my end -- seriously), Italian cinema long ago evolved a shooting style that is much different than American. They will shoot the entire film without sound***, allowing all the different actors to speak in their native languages during the takes. Then, in post-production, an amazingly rich soundscape would be created and voice actors would dub the dialogue into the many different languages. It is for this reason that, for most younger American audiences, the Sergio Leone films in this collection are going to be a bit challenging at first, but trust me; it doesn’t take long before you get used to audio dub and you don’t notice the difference. Making things easier, the Sergio Leone Anthology has a new 5.1 mix, these films never sounded so good -- the multi-layered soundtrack created by talented technicians can now be completely appreciated.)

Went it came down to casting the lead role of the “Man without a name”****, Sergio had his own dream actors in mind. The first was Henry Fonda (he passed) and then came Charles Bronson, and James Coburn (they both passed). Finally, Leone was given an episode of Rawhide to watch, he never finished it – but, after seeing a photo of one of the ensemble actors Clint Eastwood, Leone decided to cast him. The young Eastwood had to bring most of his costume from the television show to Spain when he went to shoot A Fistful of Dollars. Leone’s production just did not have the costuming available that Hollywood does -- although Leone did buy the famous poncho. Eastwood, in the special features, mentions that he had to guard those clothes and take them home to the hotel with him everyday after shooting ended -- especially the poncho, which they had only one of-- that way no one would steal or (god forbid) wash his clothes, messing up the continuity of the film.

In Fistful, Eastwood did something that very little actors would even dream of doing – he purposely began to cut lines from the dialogue. Eastwood believed, rightly, that the mystery behind his character would be lessened if the cowboy spoke too much. Now Eastwood’s cold, strong, quiet gunslinger has become the genre norm.

After the worldwide success of A Fistful of Dollars (Fistful was not yet big in America, it took until The Good the Bad, and the Ugly, before Leone was to be a box office draw in the states), Leone followed up with For a Few Dollars More. Eastwood returns, playing a younger, slightly naïve bounty hunter to Lee Van Cleef’s colder and calculated, much more experienced gunslinger. Van Cleef is amazing in his two movie roles with Leone, his aquiline features and black eyes suite the iconic image of the fantastical Western Gunslinger better than any actor before or after him. Even Leone mentioned Van Cleef’s eyes resembling bullet holes that go straight through the film, the screen and into the viewer just as if they were shot in the heart. Van Cleef, however, was almost not cast, Leone went through another long list of actors with no luck, later he was in Los Angeles to meet with more actors and talent agents when he saw a trenchcoat clad Van Cleef walk across the road. Leone knew immediately who he was and that he had to have Van Cleef in For a Few Dollars More. Van Cleef, at that time, was a studio stock cowboy, appearing in many Western movies and TV shows. Leone would already have seen a majority of Van Cleef’s work, so the traditional audition was not called for. Van Cleef was soon on a plane to Spain. He and Eastwood worked great together, each one has a steely look and long stare that creates sparks in the middle space, and as a result For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly crackle with dynamic tension.

Where A Fistful of Dollars is slightly awkward and rough, For A Few Dollars More is polished and engaging. Leone finds his voice with More, his signature blend of panoramic landscape and extreme close-up was first used here in a perfect ratio. Leone’s talent with casting gave his frame a thick texture indicative of a rough, violent life. The faces themselves become landscapes, telling a story in pot marks, crevices and mountain-like wrinkles. Leone’s visuals are always engaging, not only will he focus in on the smallest facial expression, but he will also pull the camera back to show literally miles and miles of the surroundings – sometimes the actor(s) are only an insignificant dot in all the painting-inspired scenery. In For A Few Dollars More, Leone polishes his style and finds his voice. It is in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that Leone’s directing, the actors acting, the crew cohesiveness and the writing peaks, creating what could be called the best movie Sergio Leone, Lee Van Cleef, Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach were ever associated with.

This new DVD version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was carefully renovated, reconstructed and re-mixed. It is now close to Leone’s original cut of the film that he premiered in 1966 at the Coliseum in Rome. To bring the film back to Leone’s vision, the DVD producers found foreign cuts of the film that had the different sequences in it (each market had a slightly different cut of Leone’s films, they were often trimmed for time, content and/or cultural philosophies) which they remastered and recut back into the film. The producers even re-recorded new lines from Eastwood and Wallach -- forty years after the actors played the characters. The digital remaster is gorgeous, the colors are vibrant and the details are sharp. You can find as much detail in the close-ups as you can in the landscapes -- even the furtherest mountaintops are in focus and full of color.

Although, again, Van Cleef and Eastwood are great in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as Angel Eyes and Blondie respectively, it is Eli Wallach that stands out in this film. One of Hollywood’s early method actors, Wallach creates one of cinema’s most engaging characters with the almost stereotypical, dirty Mexican bandito, Tuco. His accent and body movements are all Tuco and nowhere does Wallach poke his head through. He does such a believable turn as a purely malevolent, greedy creature, that you honestly look right over him and half the time take his performance for granted. Wallach is so entertaining and over the top in a totally believable way that it is a pleasure to watch his antics opposite the minimalism contest between Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef.

Leone’s accuracy in portraying the West during the Civil War is almost creepy. This Italian had such an interest in our American culture that he is the first to re-envision the onscreen Civil War in a more realistic fashion. Often American members of his production crew would ask Leone how he came up with a certain idea – thinking Leone had just made stuff up -- Leone, on occasion, would pull out a book of old civil war photos and point to what he had painstakingly reconstructed in the film, effectively shocking the American. Who do you think put those long raincoats on the cowboys first? Yep, it was Leone, and he had the picture to prove that trenchcoats used to be the style. Leone even chose, as a backdrop to his plot in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a little known Civil War campaign that took place in the American West. In the special features DVD there is a documentary which goes into great detail about that historical event, but rest assured that a lot of the action Leone’s characters run through are based upon actual happenings, including the destruction of a strategic bridge and the siege of a beautifully wrought and Expressionistic Western city.

Finishing off this must watch DVD collection is a little seen film called Duck, You Sucker! Although fun movie to watch, I was just not as impressed with this film as the others. For some reason the genre breaking ideas of Leone’s earlier works come across as formulaic convention in this one. Leone finally succeeds in hiring James Coburn, but his Irish accent is ridiculous and his presence much less engaging than Eastwood or Van Cleef. Rod Steiger, usually an amazing actor on the level of Wallach, does not make a believable bandito, he looks and acts way too Caucasian for the illusion to work, and the unfortunate make-up job does not help. As a rare classic, Duck, You Sucker! should be watched and will be enjoyed -- the explosions sequences are gigantic -- but it is the weakest film in the DVD collection.

The Sergio Leone Anthology is a most important addition to the TLC library, Leone is a master of his art and with this collection we are given the opportunity to rediscover his genius in fresh, beautifully restored prints that have extended scenes and a new audio mix (the gun shots and bullet ricochets will blow you out of your room!). Whether you remember your father watching these movies on television when you were a kid, whether you’re a fan of Leone students like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez or Guillermo Del Toro, or whether you have never watched any of these so-called “spaghetti westerns” – you owe it to yourself to check out these editions, they each are completely engrossing and the special features are way above average.

*What is the plural form of Tamaguchi? Tamagotcha? Tamagoatcheese? Dunno.

**More correctly -- the Ronin, which were unemployed Samurai who wandered the country looking for work and hiding from enemies.

***"Without sound" is abbreviated MOS in the film industry. MOS is an inside joke going back to the German filmmaker Erich Von Stronheim, who, working in the US, would scream out “Without sound!,” whenever a shot was silent. But, with his strong German accent it came out “Mit owt sownd!” Even now, on clapboards, smartass 2^nd AC’s will abbreviate “Without sound” as MOS)

****"The Man Without a Name" was a misnomer and purely an American marketing term. The films were released almost all together in America and in an effort to tie the first three films together Hollywood had the great idea of capitalizing on the mysterious nature of Eastwood’s cowboy by calling him “The Man Without A Name.” In each film, "The Man Without a Name," had a name and here they are in order: Joe, Manco and Blondie.

Trivia #1: Leone gave two clues as to the background of Clint Eastwood’s character in For a Few Dollars More – his name is Manco, which in Spainish and Italian means “thief” or “an injury that comes about from thievery,” that symbol is strenthed Manco’s leather wrist guard which might have something to do with a thieving injury.

Trivia #2: The bridge in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, blown up by Blondie and Tuco, was built by the Spanish army. Almost all of the Civil War soldiers in the scene were members of the Spanish Army too. In what must have been an enormously frustrating predicament, the first time they were ready to shoot the bridge explosion, an almost slapstick miscommunication between the Spanish Captain and the First Cameraman caused the Captain to blow up the bridge before the cameras were rolling! Leone was red in the face and so mad he almost had a heart attack. Feeling bad about a mistake that was all their fault, the army spent a few weeks rebuilding and rewiring the bridge for a second take, this time, however; the Captain put the fuse in the hands of someone who knew the lingo of filmmaking – the special effects man.

Here are the trailers:

written by Phoenix Mangus, all complaints will be dealt with at high noon in the middle of a deserted street.