Something a bit different today, I've recently watched Clint Eastwood's spaghetti western trilogy and though I'd just share what I thought of it with you guys. Before we start though, for those of you that don't know, a spaghetti western is a western themed film filmed in Italy (in this case Italy was cheaper!)... hence spaghetti.
Anyways onto the films, you'll all have heard of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', but there's two other films previous to this infamous hit. These are 'A fistful of dollars' and 'a few dollars more'. Rather than talk about them separately, most of my points arch over all three films, so everything will be included here.
The films contain very little talking from the main man (Clint) who remains nameless throughout the films, I love the mystery surrounding his character. He's the hero of the trilogy but not a thing about his character is explored. The lack of speech means a lot is expressed through looks and face movements, something Clint is pretty good at to be fair.
The lack of speech also allows for all that otherwise quiet time on screen to be filled with quite frankly epic music. I had no idea just how much classic western music came from this trilogy, but I can guarantee no-one could watch these films without hearing a sound they know. It's easily astounding to hear where this music actually originated from, hearing it where it was intended to be it a genuinely special feeling. The only down side of this focus on music for me is that it drags out scenes to somewhat laughable lengths, I enjoy films creating tension (especially required for a stand off between two cowboys) but the scene begins to drag after a while, you can have two people staring each other off for quite literally two or three minutes before anything happens. If you enjoy a large scale build up like this that's perfectly understandable, I'm just saying for me it was a little too much
This iconic music is coupled with a damn awesome style in the film, Clint isn't dressed as a typical cowboy, instead he usually supports a poncho (I swear to god the only person capable of pulling off that look) which he 'rocks' unexplainably. I love they gave him an outfit, because it allows for this amazing moment in 'The Good' when he changes from his outfit at the time into the denim shirt and poncho, I personally felt far more comfortable and almost safe. I also had this inescapable feeling that he was back at his pinnacle in the story and anyone crossing him now would be stupid to try.
The only other grinding point within the films (small scale to be honest, it's a struggle to find anything to criticise!) is the acting of the extras. Pretty much anyone in the story that's not Clint is an Italian employed to be in the film to save a few pennies where they can. No problem with this (I'd rather have the film with poor acting than no film at all!) but because they can't speak English they've been instructed to mime something similar and been dubbed over at a later stage, this is blazingly obvious nowadays, and coupled with their poor movements in front of the camera (pretty obvious they're not big actors) these characters feel quite awkward on the screen.
Despite that though I do thoroughly enjoy these films. I love the characterisation of Clint, he's the kind of character you get every once in a while, where he can be up against anything and you know he'll succeed. This might seem boring to some, but to me it gives the sense that you know the bad guys are playing with proverbial fire, and you're waiting to see when they get burned.
My favourite part of all of the films - Clint's comical acting coupled with his crack shooting provides some amazing one liners. My pinnacle, he walks past an undertaker and mentions he'll need to prepare 3 coffins, turns around and shoots 4 of the bad guys of the film. He then turns round, makes an apology to the undertaker for miscounting and puts in an order for another coffin. Genius.
Overall : 8/10
-James
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