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Messages - Bronsonica
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1
« on: May 29, 2021, 03:20:17 PM »
He heals way too quick for a mere mortal he has "Something to do With Death."
I'd have to watch again but did Charlie ride a pale horse? Clint did in Pale Rider and so did the Lone Ranger after he seemingly recovered from being mortally wounded.
2
« on: May 29, 2021, 03:11:00 PM »
Colonel Mortimer for delivering the line to Wild: "I generally smoke just after I eat. Why don't you come back in ten minutes"
One of the best lines ever for coolness !
A brilliant piece of screenplay, that line. Memorable.
3
« on: May 29, 2021, 03:05:12 PM »
Cinematic effect. The 3-way showdown performed to Morricone was classic cinema. The logic or otherwise of AE's position was insignificant. A straight shootout between Clint and LVC immediately after Tuco died would have been just another western ending.
4
« on: May 28, 2021, 08:47:29 AM »
Going back to the original theme of this topic, I wouldn't say Harmonica is a supernatural character. To me, he is an onlooker who steps in when necessary but is generally content to observe and rationalise, though he does appear to know rather more than he should.
A good example is his unspoken refusal to play Cheyenne's little game in the trading post, preferring instead to let someone else take his place (and, in doing that, he is very like Russell (Paul Newman) in Hombre, another Sergio reference). Harmonica just watches while Cheyenne humiliates the other man but then, when Cheyenne walks off with his gun, he comes forward and demands its return.
Harmonica himself gets shot in the arm by Woody Strode in the opening scene. A supernatural character would not get shot. Equally, if he was omnipotent, how on Earth did Frank manage to catch him on the train and why did he need the definitely human Cheyenne to rescue him?
I can see how Harmonica might seem to be an ethereal character because he has a way of gliding quietly into shot when no one knows he is around, but there are people who have that sort of stealth and I think Leone used it as a character trait, probably basing him on a character in another western.
5
« on: May 28, 2021, 07:38:00 AM »
Very true, Cusser. I once read somewhere that Clint in an interview thought the film should have been called something like "The Bad, the Vicious and the Ugly"! 
6
« on: May 28, 2021, 07:27:40 AM »
Interesting topic and especially as Clint is generally excluded. I would say it's a toss-up between Indio and Mortimer for number one while several minor characters vie for the other three places.
One that hasn't been mentioned above, who really impressed me when I first saw the film decades ago, is Calloway.
You soon realise that Mortimer is a bounty hunter and is after an outlaw called Calloway but we don't actually see Calloway until LVC shoots his horse from under him. I expected Calloway to be a typical western baddie, someone like Victor Jory or John Ireland or Claude Akins, but instead we get Jose Terrin who has been made up to look like a character in a horror movie. I would place him at number three in the list.
For numbers four and five, take your pick from Old Prophet, Groggy, Nino, Cuchillo, Wild and, another under-rated one, Tomaso.
7
« on: May 28, 2021, 06:53:16 AM »
It's a good example of Leone reversing a reference. The original action by Gary Cooper certainly upset John Wayne who banged on that it was "un-American" (I remember him talking about it to Michael Parkinson). I wonder what Wayne thought of Clint's action?
8
« on: May 28, 2021, 06:40:17 AM »
Richard Widmark would have been an ideal candidate for Mortimer (equally at home as a colonel, as a crack shot, as a psychotic) and most of all in his element as the kind of emotionally scarred man who is obsessed with inflicting vengeance. I don't suppose he would have been available, though, and he would have been way above budget at the time.
9
« on: May 28, 2021, 06:26:24 AM »
These are really interesting photos. You tend to think they are from dropped scenes but the third one, where Clint is talking to Luigi Pistilli with the girl obviously amused, looks far too relaxed and I think that is definitely a between takes shot. The two with Gian Maria Volonti are a mystery, though. They could well be from footage that was discarded. I agree with others above, though, that it would be out of character for Indio to have such seemingly casual relations with women.
10
« on: May 28, 2021, 06:10:32 AM »
The obvious conclusion is that Clint would have played Harmonica, LVC would have been Frank and Eli would have been Cheyenne. But.
In the real OUTW, Henry Fonda was famously cast against type and played Frank. Suppose Sergio had adopted the same strategy if he had signed the GBU stars for this film? In that event, Clint would have been Frank and, assuming Eli was Cheyenne, that means LVC as Harmonica would have avenged Angel Eyes by shooting Clint in the showdown.
Turning this scenario upside down, who would have played who in GBU if Sergio had signed Charlie, Henry and Jason for that film? Well, Jason Robards with his marvellous penchant for playing garrulous types would be a natural for Tuco and perhaps even better than Eli Wallach. As Henry Fonda was the Bad in OUTW, you might think he would be Angel Eyes with Charlie as Il Buono. But there was no casting against type in GBU, so surely Henry would be the Good and Charlie the Bad? Charlie did, of course, sometimes play villainous characters, such as Kintpuash (Captain Jack) in "Drum Beat".
11
« on: May 28, 2021, 05:19:30 AM »
Q10. During the rollcall, Tuco recognised AE and pointed him out to Clint who also recognised him. Later, when AE invited Tuco to sit down and eat, he called him by name. Also, they both spoke about being old friends.
12
« on: May 28, 2021, 05:05:30 AM »
I saw FAFDM first, when it was released, and liked it so much I looked forward to the next. I then saw GBU and OUTW in order of release. I would think this is the best viewing order because these three are classics and there is a definite sense of sequential order to them. None of Leone's other works compare and I would just watch those as and when chosen. Until I saw the Leone films, I had been a huge fan of The Magnificent Seven, but Leone took the genre to a plateau that was beyond anything Sturges or Ford or Hawks or Peckinpah could achieve. I think the only directors who compare with Leone are Daves and Mann, but they lacked his inimitable style and their characters are too "talkie".
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