"For a Few Guitars More" - Christopher Frayling

[Novecento]

In this talk, Sir Cristopher Frayling discusses the Spaghetti Western, focusing on the defining partnership of director Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone in the genre's origins, the use of Italian cultural references and the iconography of the Catholic church, and the ‘Italianising’ of Western conventions.

http://www.watershed.co.uk/dshed/filmic-christopher-frayling-few-guitars-more

[Senza]

Cool! I will definitely check this out later.  

[drinkanddestroy]

awesome --  but where's the digital download?! 

[drinkanddestroy]

wow, very surprised to hear that anecdote (starting around the 10-minute mark) about  Morricone's assistant warning Frayling prior to an interview, "Don't mention the Westerns."
Morricone likes to say that only 8% of his the movies he scored were Westerns (35 out of 450) and doesn't really think of himself as a Western composer, though as Frayling points out, 35 Westerns is way more than Dimitri Tiomkin, Elmer Bernstein, or Jerome Moross ever scored.

Morricone is definitely most associated with his Leone work, and I am real surprised to hear that he doesn't like to think of himself as a Western composer. I've never heard Frayling ever mention that before, this is a pretty recent anecdote, maybe it's only in his old age that Morricone is starting to resent the Western associations! Frayling says that Morricone particularly hates the term "Spaghetti Westerns"!

 Frayling says he waited an hour into the interview before bringing up Morricone's association with Leone, and Morricone was fine talking about it.

I wish Sir Christopher would do one of these talks in America!

[Senza]

The man can talk about anything and make it interesting.
But it's surprising to hear that some of the people behind the dollars films don't want to be associated with them or are ashamed of them. I remember Luciano Vincenzoni said he wrote the movies as a joke, and when he watches these movies, he is almost ashamed of himself.

[drinkanddestroy]

Just finished watching this video. Great shit 

[stanton]

The man can talk about anything and make it interesting.
But it's surprising to hear that some of the people behind the dollars films don't want to be associated with them or are ashamed of them. I remember Luciano Vincenzoni said he wrote the movies as a joke, and when he watches these movies, he is almost ashamed of himself.

Westerns had a very low reputation then. For many they still have today.
Intellectuals were ashamed of watching westerns. And Leone's films were mostly bashed.

[Senza]

I just finished watching this now, I'm going to see if there are any more Frayling talks like this one. 

[drinkanddestroy]

Westerns had a very low reputation then. For many they still have today.
Intellectuals were ashamed of watching westerns. And Leone's films were mostly bashed.

Spaghetti Westerns were looked down upon,  but not Westerns in general.

I mean, maybe they were in Italy, but in America, I don't think Westerns were looked down upon intellectually. I wasn't alive then but nothing I've read would indicate that Westerns were looked down upon.

(It doesn't seem to me like Westerns won many Oscars, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it).

[Senza]

It would be good if they were to be resurrected once more.

[drinkanddestroy]

when you read Frayling's works, you'll see how he discusses that he was one of the few people who took spags seriously back in the day. He's quoted some comments from Carla Leone (Sergio's wife) about how she recalls fondly how Frayling was the first critic to recognize him. Apparently, Frayling's book Spaghetti Westerns, released in the early 80's, was (one of) the first book(s) on the subject, at least in the English language. Frayling had also contributed magazine articles on the subject when some magazines covered spags. He writes about it in the preface to the re-published book (I think it was in '97 or so).

Frayling's whole premise for looking at Leone's works (and spags in general) is that critics were viewing them as ersatz AW's, but he believes that you have to view them nas Italian or Mediterranean films, they are a piece of Italian culture, not American.

That book is interesting but it is a difficult read, he goes deeply into complex artistic/cinematic terminology that is difficult to understand (and he admits as much in his '97 preface, he is quite honest about the faults of the book as he saw them a decade-and-a-half later). Thank God his writing style improved dramatically by the time he penned STDWD   

[Senza]

I'm loving STDWD atm, it's actually giving me more ideas that I can add to for my GBU sequel which I said I'd post here once I've finished it. It's becoming more and more precious to me