Alex Cox called this is the greatest Spag. Western of all time!
have just seen this and it doesn't shine a light on any of Leone's films. Was Alex smoking too much when he had this apparent revelation?
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MovieChat Forums > Il grande silenzio (1969) Discussion > Alex Cox called this is the greatest Spa...
Well, it's certainly better than Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.
Best Spaghetti Western? I think not.
It isn't even the best non-Leone Spaghetti Western.
At least, not to me.
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I certainly don't think it's "the best", but for me it's definitely up there. I try my best to not compare anything to Leone. I suppose that helps.
~ JB
Sit and drink Pennyroyal tea, Steal the life that's inside of me
He said it "may be" the best one. This is from the Spaghetti West documentary on IFC.
shareI definitely think it is Corbucci's best film, and maybe best of the non-Leone westerns, although there are many spags that are more entertaining, though not necessarily greater. Greatest Italian western? Now, that's just silly. This film is in no way on the same level as The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, or even Duck, You Sucker!, aka A Fistful of Dynamite. A Fistful of Dollars, or For A Few Dollars More? Maybe, but even that is pushing it.
shareI would say it's possibly the best. The Leone ones are good but there's a gritty realism to this film and the Dollars trilogy are slightly overrated.
shareThe original Django film is also very good.
shareOutside of the four Leone Spaghetti's there's a big drop off. Try as I might I have struggled with most of the other Spaghetti's and The Great Silence comes up short by a long way on Leone 's films. I've been everywhere looking for good spaghetti other than the four and have only found The Big Gundown and Death Rides a Horse to be anywhere near what I would call satisfying. I consider TGS to be visually pleasing but it lacks depth, character and craft that I associate with Sergio Leone's films. I know this film has its cult base...but it really can't hold a light to the best.
shareWhat holds it back, and considerably so, is the stilted, bland dialogue where everyone keeps emphatically stating the obvious - it lends the whole thing such a clumsy feel that's borderline laughable. And it doesn't help that it's immediately apparent that the film is post synched; of course, all Italian films are, but usually it's much smoother - here, the picture and the sound seem to come from two different places entirely and it's quite jarring. Additionally, further elaborating on the movie's problems, I wasn't entirely convinced by Trintignant as this fastest gunslinger in the West - he's okay, I guess, but not particularly iconic or memorable.
However, the cinematography is quite excellent as is the score and the story itself carries a lot of weight ultimately, so it's still by all means a worthwhile flick.
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan