Valerii, Tonino. Filmmaker who assisted SL on FOD and FAFDM, and is the director of record on MNIN (in fact, SL directed some scenes). His other SWs include Day of Anger and The Price of Power.
Valli, Romolo. Dr. Viellga in DYS. Distinguished Italian actor whose many other films include
The Leopard and
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.
Van Cleef, Lee. Col. Douglas Mortimer in FAFDM, and Sentenza/Angel Eyes in GBU. American character actor who, thanks to Leone's films, became a European film star. His first film role was as one of the baddies in
High Noon. Full bio here:
http://www.leevancleef.com/bio.htmVera Cruz (Robert Aldrich). Western starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster set (and filmed) in Mexico. Thought by many the prototype for SL’s Dollar pictures, it features two protagonists (one in white, one in black) in an uneasy alliance to capture a box of gold.
Viale Glorioso. Unproduced script by SL, based on his childhood experiences.
Vincenzoni, Luciano(born March 7, 1926) Respected Italian screenwriter and script doctor for some 65 films, all worked on between 1954 and 2000. He is probably best known for his scripts of
For a Few Dollars More (1965) and
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly(1966), but he also wrote a great number of other SWs, including
Death Rides a Horse and
The Mercenary. He also wrote the screenplay (from a story by Donati and Leone) for DYS (1971). As his reputation grew he was able to contribute to such international projects as
Orca: The Killer Whale,
Raw Deal (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) and finally Malena (2000). The genesis of GBU probably goes back to one of Vincenzoni's earliest scripts, "La Grande Guerra" (1959).
Viva Villa! (film).
Volonte, Gian Maria. Ramon Rojo in FoD, El Indio in FAFDM. Bio here:
http://www.italica.rai.it/eng/cinema/biographies/volonte.htmWallach, Eli. Tuco in GBU. Wallach came to prominence in such films as
Baby Doll and
The Misfits, then notably as the bandit Calvera in
The Magnificent Seven. After his wildly successful interpretation of Tuco, SL pursued him for the part of Juan Miranda in
Giu la testa, but withdrew the offer in favor of Rod Steiger.
Warbeck, David. Mallory’s friend in the flashbacks to Ireland, called Nolan in the script.
Warlock (film). Western starring Henry Fonda as a Wyatt Earp type, a hired gun who travels with sidekick Anthony Quinn and a faro table. Hired to clean up the town of Warlock, he soon finds he has competition from the local lawman (Richard Widmark). According to some, this was SL’s favorite Western.
Water motif in OUATITW. According to
The Anatomy of Criticism,“Water . . . traditionally belongs to a realm of existence below human life, the state of chaos or dissolution which follows ordinary death, or the reduction to the inorganic. Hence the soul frequently crosses water [e.g. the rivers Jordan or Styx] or sinks into it at death” (Frye 146). Morton’s goal (and we should heed the
mort that is part of his name) is a vast, chaotic ocean; he is seeking limitless salt water, not Sweetwater. The water there does not represent a life-sustaining fluid, but rather the death that Morton (who has “tuberculosis of the bones”) is rushing toward. Although he never makes it to the Pacific, water is present at his demise: “he dies crawling like a snail towards a puddle in the middle of the desert—the urine of his own puffing and wheezing locomotive” (Frayling 260). The crashing waves on the soundtrack underscore the irony of the situation (Morton’s great ambition coming to so little), but also re-emphasizes the association of water and death.
But water imagery can have opposite associations, and in OUATITW, when water is linked to Jill, it represents life. Women generally are associated with water (for many reasons, one being that the womb is a "watery" place) just as men are associated with dry land. The fact that Jill is constantly linked with water in various forms (she's constantly in search of a bath) seems to suggest a *particular* identification between her and it. Since water is necessary for life and civilization, Jill, by bearing drinks to the boys at film's end, represents a nurturing presence. She is, if you will, the Mother of the coming age, the matriarch of a culture about to be born (exit Harmonica and the West). This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius (aka Jill's America).
Weisser, Thomas. Author of the highly unreliable
Spaghetti Westerns—the Good, the Bad, and the Violent (1992).
http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=3644.0Weld, Tuesday. Carol in OUATIA.
"Western, Italian Style" (1968). A behind-the-scenes documentary short about spaghetti westerns, narrated by Frank Wolff (who also appears in it). It includes footage of SL on location in Spain preparing OUATITW. The documentary probably was originally produced for U.S. television.
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=k5eRML8SUUo
Western Union (Fritz Lang). Randolph Scott and Robert Young string telegraph wire for Dean Jaeger. There’s also an outlaw brother who causes trouble and precipitates a downer ending.
Williams, Treat. James Conway O’Donnell (Jimmy “Clean Hands”), corrupt labor organizer in OUATIA.
Winchester ’73 Anthony Mann Western in which Jimmy Stewart is on a quest to recover a stolen rifle. Another possible inspiration for aspects of OUATITW.
Wolff, Frank (1928-1971). Brett McBain in OUATITW. Began as a bit player in Roger Corman productions, graduating to more substantial parts. Played the heavy in Monte Hellman's
Beast From Haunted Cave (1959), then made several notable TV appearances, including episodes of
The Untouchables,
The Twilight Zone, and
Rawhide ("Incident of the Wanted Painter"). After working in Greece on Corman's
Atlas (1961), Wolff took the producer's advice and stayed on in Europe after the film wrapped. He had immediate success as Gaspare Pisciotta in Rossi's
Salvatore Giuliano (1962). Thus, poised to take advantage of the spaghetti western craze when it hit, Wolff was cast in several, notably Corbucci's
The Great Silence (1968). He also appeared in and narrated the documentary short "Western, Italian Style" (1968). When the SW trend ran its course, Wolff successfully transitioned into Italian crime movies. Nonetheless, in December 1971, Wolff checked into the Rome Hilton and killed himself.
The Woman at the Well. In OUATITW Harmonica forces Jill to go out to the well on the McBain farm. Ostensibly she goes to fetch water for Harmonica, but it is actually a ploy to get Frank's men to attack so Harmonica can kill them. The scene is one in a long succession that links Jill with water images. There are other possible allusions also. Biblical patriarchs Issac and Jacob both meet their future brides at wells, as does Moses. In all three cases water is drawn and the hero demonstrates some kind of courtesy to the females. Water and wells are archetypically associated with women. In OUATITW the well scene extends the "courtship" device operating between Harmonica and Jill, along with its ironic ("something to do with death") undercurrent.
Women do not figure prominently in SL's Westerns, with one exception. Leone's views on the matter were expressed in an interview with Christopher Frayling in 1982: "In my films, the women tend not to play a very important role because my characters had no time to fall in love or to court someone. They were far too busy trying to survive - to pursue what it was they were after. So the roles for women in Western films usually tend to be kind of ridiculous. The Rhonda Flemings in
Gunfight at the OK Corral. What's she there for? To make Burt Lancaster seem even more of a hero. If you had taken her out altogether, the film would have worked better and moved faster. Now, if the female character is at the center of the story - like Claudia Cardinale in
Once Upon a Time in the West - then that is very different."
Woods, James. Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz in OUATIA.
Yellow Sky (film). Shot in Death Valley National Monument, this William Wellman Western stars Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark, and Ann Baxter. The dusty setting may have inspired the desert scenes in GBU.
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa). A samurai film that was the source for FoD.
Zamfir, Gheoghe. Pan flautist who contributed to Cockeye’s Song on the OUATIA soundtrack.
Zapata Westerns. Films set during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1919 and therefore carrying a more explicit political message than standard Westerns, named for Emiliano Zapata, one of the prominent revolutionary leaders of the period. DYS can be considered such a Western, although because of its reactionary politics, it can also be considered an anti-Zapata.
Zuanelli, Marco. Wobbles in OUATITW.
Zwei glorreiche Halunken/Two Magnificent Tramps. The title of the German release version of GBU, a translation of the Italian working title. Nonetheless, the three leads are introduced by titles as in the other language dubs. Tuco is "Der Brutale," which could be translated "the brutal", Blondie is "Der Gute" and Sentenza is "Der Böse".
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