THE GREAT SILENCE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 5/12/18

 

In 1968, the same year Italian director Sergio Leone unleashed his western masterpiece ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, his compatriot Sergio Corbucci (DJANGO, NAVAJO JOE) gave us this very different take on the usual "spaghetti western"--THE GREAT SILENCE, aka "Il grande silenzio" (Film Movement Classics).

It's a fascinating change of pace from the usual lurid, bombastic entries in the genre with sweaty men fighting and dying amidst much sound and fury in the blazing heat of the desert.  Corbucci's film takes place in a snowbound setting with dark figures riding their horses over plains of stark white or walking down the streets of a town glazed with frost.

Like the setting, everything's muted in this film, including its hero, The Great Silence (French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, ...AND GOD CREATED WOMAN, Z, IS PARIS BURNING?).  His backstory, seen in familiar flashback form, tells of him having his throat cut as a child by the same bounty hunters who just killed his parents as his father was surrendering to them. 

Silence, with his rapid-fire automatic pistol (the story takes place near the turn of the 20th century), is a hero who's also atypical in that, in addition to having deep feelings, he isn't the stoic, emotionally distant figure we see in Clint Eastwood's self-centered mercenary. In fact, he's a bit of a white knight, avenging women whose men have been murdered by bounty hunters. (Although he's not above charging a fee for his services.)

This time, in another departure from Leone, all of the bounty hunters in the story--namely, sadistic thrill-killer Loco (Klaus Kinski, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE) and his motley cohorts--are the bad guys, preying upon a haggard group of outlaws hiding out in the mountains until word of their amnesty comes through from the government. 

Some decide to give themselves up and are picked off, while the rest will eventually be lured to town only to fall into the bounty hunters' ambush.  It's here, with Silence going up against Loco and his crew as they hold their captives hostage in the saloon, that the film's shocking finale will take place.

But before that, Corbucci lingers upon Silence's increasingly fond relationship with the beautiful widow Pauline (Vonetta McGee) after she pleads with him to avenge her husband's murder by Loco.  Their scenes are thoughtful, contemplative--a respite from the bursts of bloody violence that erupt from time to time.

We also follow the tale of seriocomic sheriff Gideon Burnett, played by Frank Wolff (the ill-fated "Brett McBain" in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST) who is tasked by the governor to solve the bounty hunter problem but finds it quite a handful.  How Loco manages to outwit him as he's being transported in chains to the nearest prison is almost enough for him to earn a smidgeon of our admiration.

More than anyone else, this is Klaus Kinski's film.  In the cheerfully vile Loco he gives us a delightfully low-key villain, and deftly underplays the role.  Loco never heard of "dead or alive"--his pleasure is in luring errant felons into surrendering and then gunning them down with great satisfaction. 

This tendency will reach its peak in the film's final sequence, which suddenly turns into a bloodbath as the story ends on an incredibly nihilistic note.  I was floored by it, and left unsure how I felt about the movie as a whole as the final music of Ennio Morricone's haunting score began to swell.  And I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing.

Corbucci filmed two alternate endings (included in the Blu-ray extras), one of which is exactly how I wanted the film to end.  But regardless of all that, THE GREAT SILENCE is a haunting, beautifully-rendered, and very offbeat western that should stay with you for some time after experiencing it. 


Buy it at Film Movement Classics

Tech Specs:
New 2K digital restoration
1.85:1 widescreen
Italian and English soundtracks, English subtitles
Stereo

Extras:
"Cox on Corbucci"--Alex Cox pays tribute to the maestro
"Western, Italian Style"--1968 documentary on the Italian film industry, western style
Two alternate endings
Illustrated booklet with the essay, "Ending the Silence" by Simon Abrams
Original and new trailers

THE GREAT SILENCE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Duel To The Death ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

For half-breed twins Johnny Moon and Notah (William Shatner)...

...mortal enemies in a clash of good against evil...

...the time has come for a duel to the death.



Which Shatner will win?


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Duel To The Death ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

Clint Eastwood's Sci-Fi/Horror Film Origins (Video)

Clint Eastwood made his big screen debut as a jet squadron leader in "Tarantula" (1955).

And later that year, as lab technician Jennings in "Revenge of the Creature" (1955).

Four years later Clint would find TV success as Rowdy Yates in "Rawhide."
And in 1964, he finally hit it big in the Italian western "Fistful of Dollars."

But it's still fun to remember him as a young bit player in 50s sci-fi/horror flicks.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Clint Eastwood's Sci-Fi/Horror Film Origins (Video)

A Painful Stunt: "Once Upon A Time In The West" (1968)

There are some movie stunts that you just know had to hurt.

Especially if a stuntman lands wrong!

 

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Hope you enjoy it!

A Painful Stunt: "Once Upon A Time In The West" (1968)

HANNIE CAULDER -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/17/16

One of the last purveyors of the "traditional" western in the 60s and 70s was Burt Kennedy.  Not a particularly flashy or stylish director, he did a workmanlike job with  such entertaining but generally "meat and potatoes" westerns as THE TRAIN ROBBERS, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF!, DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE, and THE WAR WAGON.

In 1971, British film company Tigon decided to deviate from their usual Hammeresque horror movies and make a western, hiring Kennedy to handle the director's chores.  Kennedy, whether by his own design or Tigon's, took this as an opportunity to embellish his usual old school western style with elements he obviously admired from the more offbeat work of such innovators as Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah.

This resulted in the odd but keenly interesting hybrid HANNIE CAULDER (1970), starring then-current sex goddess Raquel Welch as a frontier woman who, having been widowed and raped by three scurvy outlaws known as the Clemmons brothers, seeks to learn the ways of the gunfighter from a passing bounty hunter so that she can embark on a quest for revenge.

The Italian influence is obvious in the locations--Kennedy filmed in Spain in settings familiar to spaghetti western fans, including actual town sets used earlier in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. His nods to Peckinpah include bloodier violence (especially in the use of squibs), stronger profanity, and one scene which utilizes extreme slow motion to draw out a particularly key moment to its fullest. 

Hints of both Leone and Peckinpah's pessimism and lack of sentimentality also emerge--or at least they try to, since Kennedy doesn't really have the heart not to let things get either warm and fuzzy or downright lighthearted at times.  Hannie may be out for blood and her bounty hunter friend Thomas Luthor Price (Robert Culp) may assume a steely air most of the time, but their relationship eventually tends toward the mushy side.

Even the outlaw rapists are allowed to be funny, since they're such a pathetic bunch of filthy morons that we enjoy laughing derisively at their antics (they're constantly squabbling and screaming at each other) even as we look forward to their inevitable demise.

 

 This is especially true thanks to the casting of legendary actors Jack Elam, Ernest Borgnine, and Strother Martin in the roles, all of whom, incidentally, had themselves previously worked with either Leone (Elam in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST) or Peckinpah (Borgnine and Martin in THE WILD BUNCH). 

While the rape-revenge motif makes HANNIE CAULDER a precursor to much more exploitative fare such as I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, the actual outrage is done with relative restraint and manages to convey the trauma of the act without wallowing in it or, worse, trying for any kind of titillation (despite having sex-symbol Raquel playing the victim). 

A few brief-but-disturbing shots (mostly from Hannie's point of view so that we identify only with her) and it's over, setting up what the film is really about, which is her evolution from housewife to gunfighter and her eventual showdowns with each dirty outlaw in turn.
 


These come after a long sequence in which Price trains Hannie in the ways of the shootist while they wait for his gunsmith friend Bailey (Christopher Lee) to fashion her a personalized pistol.  Bailey has an oceanfront adobe house in Mexico (that is, Spain), allowing Kennedy to indulge his artistic side for awhile as Hannie and Price's relationship progresses to slow hand-in-hand walks on the beach at sunset.  It's also the setting for an exciting gun battle when a group of bandits show up looking for trouble and Hannie must learn whether or not she really has the ability to kill. 

In the title role, the beautiful Raquel is interesting to watch by default, especially when dressed up as a female version of Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name", while her performance is, as usual, entirely adequate.  Culp, one of my favorite TV actors from his many appearances including his own classic series "I Spy", is at his lanky, laconic best as reluctant gunfighting tutor Price, who gets to indulge in a cool shootout or two himself while going about his profession. 

Lee seems to enjoy his non-vampiric role--he was sick and tired of being Dracula by that time--and Elam, Borgnine, and Martin, of course, have a collective field day as the scum-of-the-earth Clemmons brothers.  Also appearing to good effect are aging British sex bomb Diana Dors as a saloon madam and Stephen Boyd (Raquel's co-star in FANTASTIC VOYAGE) as a mysterious gunman in black.

The DVD from Olive Signature Films is a new high-def digital restoration in 2.35:1 widescreen with mono sound and optional English subtitles.  In addition to an informative commentary by director and author Alex Cox (REPO MAN), extras include the featurettes "Exploitation or Redemption?" with film scholar Ben Sher, "Win or Lose: Tigon Pictures and the Making of 'Hannie Caulder'" with Sir Christopher Frayling, and the text essay "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" by film critic Kim Morgan, which is also featured in the attractively illustrated booklet included with the disc. 

As the Clemmons boys open the film by staging a bloody bank robbery and later have to face the vengeful Hannie in variations of the classic western showdown, Kennedy succeeds in giving Leone and Peckinpah fans the satisfying bursts of realistic violence they've come to expect by 1971.  Yet his traditional style persistently bleeds through, so to speak, making HANNIE CAULDER--a British production filmed in Spain by an American director--one of the era's more interesting westerns simply by being such a tantalizing hodgepodge. 

HANNIE CAULDER -- DVD Review by Porfle

Porfle's Trivia Quiz: "THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY" (1968) (video)

This quintessential Italian western was the climax of Sergio Leone's celebrated "Dollars" trilogy.

It cemented Clint Eastwood's stature as a major movie star.

And joined the roster of all-time classic westerns.

But how much do you remember about it?


Question: How many people does Angel Eyes kill at the ranch?

A. One
B. Two
C. Three
D. None
E. All

Question: What gives away the three assassins at the hotel?

A. Floorboards
B. Voices
C. Spurs
D. Trigger
E. Shadow

Question: What does Tuco put in the gun shop owner's mouth?

A. Cigar
B. Sign
C. Silver dollar
D. Gun barrel
E. Bullet

Question: What state is Blondie from?

A. Oklahoma
B. Kansas
C. Nebraska
D. Illinois
E. Delaware

Question: What name does Blondie tell Tuco is on the grave?

A. Bill Carson
B. Arch Stanton
C. Ned Ryker
D. Bob Horton
E. Vance Reed

Question: In the final duel, who besides Blondie gets off a shot?

A. Angel Eyes
B. Tuco
C. Neither
D. Both
E. Other

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Porfle's Trivia Quiz: "THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY" (1968) (video)

Porfle's Trivia Quiz #23: "ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST" (1968) (video)

Perhaps director Sergio Leone's best western...

...and certainly one of the finest westerns ever made.

How much do you remember about it?


Question: When a gunman says "Looks like we're shy one horse", Harmonica answers...

A. "One of us will have to walk"
B. "You brought two too many"
C. "You'll be shy of more than that"
D. "Horses are cheaper than guns"
E. "Two of you can ride double"

Question: Which member of the McBain family is murdered first?

A. Maureen
B. Patrick
C. Jill
D. Timmy
E. Brett

Question: Harmonica warns Frank of a sniper by remarking...?

A. "Watch your back"
B. "Time sure flies"
C. "Sign of the times"
D. "A lofty perch"
E. "Someone left the window open"

Question: When Frank describes himself as "just a man", Harmonica adds...what?

A. "...who's lived too long"
B. "...a violent species"
C. "...with a penchant for death"
D. "...an ancient race"
E. "...who kills other men"

Question: Jill tells Harmonica she hopes he'll return someday. He says...?

A. "Not likely"
B. "Keep a lantern lit for me"
C. "If only I could"
D. "Only at the point of dying"
E. "Someday"


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Porfle's Trivia Quiz #23: "ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST" (1968) (video)

Big Jake/Tuco Mash-Up (John Wayne/Eli Wallach) (video)

I was watching the shower scene in "Big Jake" (1971) again today and it just struck me...

...how similar it is to Eli Wallach's bath scene in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1966).

So I decided to sort of mash them together and see what happened.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Big Jake/Tuco Mash-Up (John Wayne/Eli Wallach) (video)

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Half-Breed Twins In A War Of Words ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

Johnny Moon (Shatner) confronts his evil brother Notah (also Shatner).

Shatner is really in his acting element here.

The stilted dialogue is rife with colorful and oddly-worded putdowns.

We know that things just aren't going to end well between these two.

Read our review of the movie HERE.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Half-Breed Twins In A War Of Words ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

Shatner Does Own Stunts In Wild West Saloon Brawl! ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

Half-breed Johnny Moon (William Shatner) is mistaken for his evil twin brother, Notah.

In the fierce saloon brawl that follows...

...Shatner appears to be doing all of his own stunts.

Read our review of the movie here.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Shatner Does Own Stunts In Wild West Saloon Brawl! ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

"Wasp Woman" Actor In Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" (video)

Fans of "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) remember Frank Wolff as the ill-fated Brett McBain.

His story is brief but tragic, memorable in its dramatic impact.

But let's go back in time just nine short years...

...to Roger Corman's lurid, low-budget 1959 classic, "The Wasp Woman."

It's Frank!

The same year, he'd go on to co-star in another Corman cheapie, "Beast From Haunted Cave."
    
Don't worry, Frank. Your career will get better. 


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

"Wasp Woman" Actor In Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" (video)

"The Man With No Name": Funniest Moments (video)

"The Man With No Name": Funniest Moments

"Fistful of Dollars" (1964)
"For a Few Dollars More" (1965)
"The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" (1966)

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

"The Man With No Name": Funniest Moments (video)

Phantom Figures in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1967)(video)

Blondie (Clint Eastwood) and Tuco (Eli Wallach) are supposed to be all by themselves in that lonely cemetery.

But there are mysterious figures lurking in the background.

Watch...


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Phantom Figures in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1967)(video)

Main Titles Theme From "Savage Guns" (1971) -- Lallo Gori

Main Titles Theme From "Savage Guns" (1971)

aka "His Name Was Sam Walbash, But They Call Him Amen"

Music by Lallo Gori


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Main Titles Theme From "Savage Guns" (1971) -- Lallo Gori

Quentin Tarantino and Legendary Italian Director Team Up For DVD Extras

Tarantino Joins Action Director Enzo Castellari For Severin's INGLORIOUS BASTARDS on 7/29

LOS ANGELES, CA, June 23, 2008 - Enzo G, Castellari, the Rome-based writer/director recently hailed as "The '70s Italian Drive-In God" by L.A. Weekly, was feted by longtime fan Quentin Tarantino at a recent pair of Hollywood events. Footage from the events - a raucous screening of two Castellari action hits and an in-depth summit between the two directors - will be featured on the special 3-disc DVD of Castellari's INGLORIOUS BASTARDS to be released July 29th by Severin Films. Tarantino's next movie is rumored to be a remake of Castellari's 1978 World War II adventure.

Enzo Castellari has been one of international cinema's most celebrated writer/directors for more than 4 decades, specializing in all-star testosterone-fueled films that have defined the EuroCultgenres of 'spaghetti westerns', war sagas, crime dramas, sci-fi, fantasy and more. Castellari remains a stylistic hero to a generation of filmmakers that includes Tarantino, who has called the 70-year-old former prizefighter one of his favorite action directors.

On May 6th, Tarantino hosted 'Enzo Castellari Night' at Hollywood's Silent Movie Theater. The following day, Tarantino joined Castellari at The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills for a rousing 3-hour career-spanning discussion that ranged from the challenges of the original BASTARDS production to Tarantino's plans for his own upcoming version.

Castellari's 1978 international hit remains perhaps the biggest and most badass war movie in EuroCult history. Exploitation legends Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson and Bo (WALKING TALL, KILL BILL) Svenson star as the leaders of a gang of condemned criminals who escape from an Alliedprison convoy with a plan to blast their way to the Swiss border, only to find themselves'volunteering' for a suicide mission deep inside Nazi occupied France. Academy Award nominee Ian Bannen (FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, BRAVEHEART) co-stars in this explosive action epic that has now fully restored from original vault elements for the first time ever in America.

"Part of our desire to restore and release INGLORIOUS BASTARDS on DVD was the opportunity to work with Enzo," says Carl Daft, co-founder and CEO of Severin. "Besides being a remarkable director,he's perhaps the most charismatic badass in EuroCult history. After we'd recorded a terrific audio commentary with him in Rome, we knew we wanted to bring him to Los Angeles for some kind of special event. Quentin couldn't have been more enthusiastic about being involved in these DVD Extras. We look forward to restoring and releasing more Castellari classics in the months ahead,hopefully featuring more of Quentin's ardent participation."

Severin Films was formed in May 2006 with offices in Los Angeles and London, and is dedicated to releasing the most provocative and controversial features from around the world. The company's previous successes include the Unrated Director's Cut of GWENDOLINE starring Tawny Kitaen, EuroSleaze auteur Jess Franco's MACUMBA SEXUAL, THE INCONFESSABLE ORGIES OF EMMANUELLE and THE SEXUAL STORY OF O, Walerian Borowczyk's IMMORAL WOMEN, Lucio Fulci's THE PSYCHIC, and the two-volume limited-edition collections BLACK EMANUELLES BOX. Their current releases include the psycho-sexual 'giallo' thriller THE SISTER OF URSULA and the adult 'Spaghetti Sci-Fi' epic THE BEAST IS SPACE.

Quentin Tarantino and Legendary Italian Director Team Up For DVD Extras

Invincible Armour Trailer

Hmm now where is that music from??? :) As I said this film is amazing and if you don't have it yet this trailer should convince you otherwise. Thanks to drunkenmaster the person who put this up on youtube. I forgot to thank the other two youtubers for their uploads, so a belated thank you also.

Enjoy!

Invincible Armour Trailer

Lee Van Cleef and Hwang Jang Lee

If you've ever seen Invincible Armour (and if you haven't go see it right now, seriously), you'll must likely remember the piece of music that plays as the theme and throughout the film. Its actually the title track from the Italian Spaghetti Western Day of Anger. Now I've always wondered what the film was like and if it compared to the awesome nature of Invincible Armour. Well wonder no more because here is the trailer complete with badass music. Needless to say Lee Van Cleef is a major badass much like Hwang Jang Lee in Invincible Armour.

Lee Van Cleef and Hwang Jang Lee