YouTube critique by someone

[Cusser]

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIzVDO2Z_-g

[dave jenkins]

The idea that OUATITW is a kind of recapitulation and synthesis of techniques and concerns of the Dollars trilogy is non-controversial. The notion that it therefore occupies a position in Leone's career analogous to those of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Kill Bill in the careers of their respective creators is silly. Jaws, Close Encounters, and 1941 in no way form a trilogy, and to suggest that Spielberg repurposed elements from those earlier films to make a kind of follow-on meta-film is little more than fitting superficial details into the author's procrustean bed of a thesis. Same with RD, PF, and JB viz-a-viz Tarantino's fourth film.

The rest of the critique is okay, but why at the end the shout-out to OUATIA while ignoring DYS?

[georgelegobrick]

This video started off as an essay I was assigned to write for my Film as Art college class. As I had done with other essays for class, I later recorded voice-over and edited in visuals and clips to better illustrate some of my points--and to impress my professors. I am glad to see it has been shared here, and I appreciate the comments and criticism of this community. In defense of my thesis however, I think you misunderstood my meaning of 'connected trilogy.' It was simply meant to refer to three related films--not in a series--but which collectively foreshadow the fourth film which follows them. As I am sure you know, the Dollars trilogy itself was not originally a trilogy; however, you still refer to it as such due to the films' common themes and details. Once Upon A Time in the West is the synthesis of techniques and styles found in isolation amongst the preceding films, just as with Raiders of the Lost Ark or Kill Bill. In Jaws, Spielberg returns to and builds upon the suspense filmmaking of Duel, but the supernatural aspects of CE3K and the comedy and pyrotechnic action of 1941 are not yet present. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Spielberg builds upon the suspense of Jaws with an added element of otherworldliness and awe, but again, there is no broad comedy or action set pieces. 1941 introduces the WWII setting seen throughout his filmography while also being a pastiche of films of that era, just like Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was the first movie Spielberg released which combined these elements found individually but not collectively among the preceding three films. We find the tense, almost horrific suspense sequences of Jaws in the opening boulder scene or deep in the Well of Souls. We see the paranormal and extraordinary in the mystical powers of the Ark (the scene of its opening parallels the arrival of the Mothership in CE3K). The introductory scene of John Belushi in 1941, where he spins his plane into a gas station and causes an explosion, is a predictor of the similar scene in Raiders where Indy and Marion escape from a Nazi airfield. And as much as Raiders is an action adventure film, the comedic dialogue and scenarios throughout are enough to trace its lineage from the comedy movie which came before it. While Raiders was certainly not intentionally made as meta-film, the reincorporation of independent elements from earlier films is obvious, and I believe my thesis which explains as much is not "silly." In the same vein as OUATITW was a film which actively worked to address the criticisms and success of Leone's earlier films, Raiders of the Lost Ark was a response to the King of Blockbuster's first critical misstep, and Kill Bill was an even more stylized return to form following the mixed response to Jackie Brown. The comparisons to Kill Bill as it stands within Tarantino's filmography are also obvious and I feel I do not need as strong of a defense to prove as much. I hope this response is satisfactory, and that if the thesis is still unacceptable, then at least my argument may seem more comprehensible.