Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinefan
Quote:
Originally Posted by kid-glove
Excuss me, first 50 minutes of OUATIW and 'nothing happening in slow motion' doesn't belong in the same sentence.
Agreed on BGM. It was composed first, and played on the sets for Leone to choreograph the visuals, to keep their union in proper sync and harmony.
k-g,we differ,I found it very very slow,was almost fidgeting,maybe trained by the fast pace of everything these days :D . Esp slow was the first 11 min where the three guys wait for Charles Bronson to arrive in the train.
But that elegiac tone IS consistently maintained throughout. Stylistic consistency, from start to finish, in conjunction with desert setup & amoral tone of its thematic premise, should pass for aesthetic consideration. The slow buildup to Harmonica's Intro is one of the best. Leone manipulates the natural sounds to fit the desolate mood of the place (which will be book-ended in the end with Buzzing Workers, Free Society, and Birth of a City). The creaking door to the windmill to the buzzing fly as the sweat drips down wrinkled face (typically Leone actors in their rusticity) - the indifference/bleakness of time and space - that breaks into explosive gun-play. Quick arms! And with harmonica in his mouth, the tacit, tactful avenger is introduced. And efficiently the narrative is driven forward from Harmonica to McBain family to Frank to Jill to Cheyenne. All the while it's maintained resourcefully "somber". So as to signify the death of "Old Wild West" as it were, and how the urbanization would change the mythic West and render these characters 'faceless' in passage of time. Both the White men are left dead by the end. Cheyenne's character passing away is as solemn as it could be. And Frank is much a product of time and place. Unlike Ford who sides with, and glorifies the White American in "Searchers", Leone doesn't take sides with Frank. He observes how Harmonica ('Native' American) gets back at Frank. The Harmonica(s), Frank(s), Jill(s) and Cheyenne(s) are nothing more than pawns who grazed these barren lands in sands of time.