The ending (spoilers!)

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I can't say that I wanted Kinski and his gang to triumph in the end, but the unhappy climax is stunning, one of the most powerful endings to a film I've ever seen. The happy ending, which according to Alex Cox was used only in North Africa, where distributors insist on them, feels tacked on & not a little ludicrous. Silence appears to suddenly regain his strength despite being very obviously in a weakened condition & the sheriff appears to have been well thawed out on the journey back to town. When Silence reveals his strange metal glove, all credibility is tossed aside completely. Obviously, Corbucci did not take this alternate ending seriously at all, as he doesn't appear to have shot any sound to go with it.
When one responds to sympathetic characters such as Silence, the sheriff & Vonetta McGee's character, you want everything to work out as well as possible for them, so Corbucci's preferred ending is upsetting, yet it is what makes this very good western into a great one. It's such a shame to behold, but alas, it couldn't really have gone any other way...

I rather like the fact that it subverts the western genre by having a more realistic, down beat ending. The western was a glorification of American heroism in taming the West wheras here it displays something 'nasty, brutish and short'.

I believe the director did this ending as penitence for the absurd Django finale: similar situation but polar opposite result.

The feeling you have during the final scene of this movie is "THE GREAT SILENCE". You are left shocked and saying "NO!!" inside at the injustice of it all because there is nothing you can do about it. The alternative ending is a nice thing to see for a "what if", but the original ending brings out more emotion and what makes this a unique movie. All western themes are turned upside down int his movie.

I think it is the most disgusting ending ever, it makes me sick. I think it is typical European to throw dirt at US history (nothing right or wrong). This has to be done, and could be done, since it wasn't done in US/Hollywood.

I do not know if the ending text has any accuracy but I wish it has (makes sence).

Interesting thing is that the STORY ends with the text, but the PLOT with a massacre, just like if Loco and his bunch was successful (there is nothing successful to kill defenseless or unarmed people). If they had showed Loco´s last stand, when he became unemployed, embarrassed, ashamed or killed, audience could have feel different.

What if we saw Loco and his bunch being killed after the massacre? Maybe we would feel more satisfied. If so, it proves that films and stories truly can affect our feelings in twisted ways. In a way, i think revenge is useless or pointless. Silence did not have to go there. He could have escaped but choosed not to (which he should have know was wrong). When it comes to Loco, his time came. A man doing actions such as the ones he did would create alot of enemies.

Corbucci maybe did the ending just because he wanted to be provocative and be as anti-Hollywood as possible.

Corbucci would have goneover the top by using the same kind of ending in Django. I think that the ending in Django is fine as it is.

--- Once Upon a Time in the West ---
Keep your loving brother happy! - Frank

Just watched this film and the ending blew me away. All during the final sequence I expected someone to rescue the situation. Guess we're conditioned to expect redemption of some kind. When Silence is shot - wow; when the girl gets it - omygod, again; when Kinski and his men slaughter the Mormons in the bar, I'm shocked but still expecting someone from somewhere to nail those guys. When they merely ride off, the film's power was totally felt. Sad, yes; a devastating cinematic treatment (using the western formula as a kind of mirror of modern times) of the total dehumanization that takes place when dollars are the only measure of life. This western fairy tale, if you will, turns the western genre in on itself; the viewer feels the despair of criminal capitalism taken to the extreme. We watch slaughter in a western, and no good guys ride in to balance the scale of justice. That's because Kinski's character represents justice here. The silence as they ride away at the end is the true silence, empty, cold as the terrain, and clear as a bell. Watching this, I can't help but think of all the violence happening, now, as I type these words, all over the world; perpetrated legally and with fanfare. Wow. What a film.

I watched the alternate ending with Alex Cox's commentary, "Sergio Corbucci was a weird dude."

Indeed. The alternate ending was completely a joke, and I can't believe how good the actors were to take the alternate ending seriously as well. Corbucci does things differently. There's no happy ending a la Leone; Leone was probably so enamoured with the Western that he couldn't bring less idealism with his Dollars Trilogy's happy endings.

Corbucci had a penchant for dark cynicism and was a Communist who believed in the glorious martyrdom and tragedy of the "revolution." So I suppose that's why you'll see such a bloody ending.

I think this ending single-handedly kills the romance of the Western genre, whether European or American. There was absolutely nothing redeeming about the "wild West," and Corbucci made a great, strong statement.

I didn't see Django's entirely, but the ending was pretty ridiculous too and even Leonesque. Somehow the hero gets all the bad guys. There was no way Django's virtually mutilated hands could operate a shootout and kill 6 (not really sure about the number but quite a few) guys at once. Franco Nero looked damn cool marching off, but come on, that just kills my suspension of disbelief no matter how naive I can be.

So I think Corbucci like someone has mentioned already tried to have a more respectable, serious, powerful ending in The Great Silence to redeem himself for the ludicruous ending in Django.

Kinski was reptilian... classic Kinski. Jean-Louis Trintignant was hot... he could have been right up there with Eastwood.

Do you know where I'm going? Anton Chigurh No Country for Old Men