Leone influenced your life?

[nighteagle]

Besides the more artistic interest that we all have in Leone´s masterpieces, did his movies and Morricone´s score somehow influence your real, everyday´s life?
Did you soak up energy from the music, spirituality, did you get psychological  help in difficult moments seeing yourself as one of his characters, did you feel stronger???
One example in my life: when I went to exams in my chemistry studies, and had to face a professor, I imagined I was Clint going to a duel, so I had to shoot well of course..
that HELPED me in real life .
What about you?
 

[cigar joe]

Well, I grew up in New York City and as soon as I could I left to live in the west and spent 24 years in Montana with short forays into Idaho and British Columbia. So Leone influenced me to go see what the real west was like.

[nighteagle]

That is interesting Cigar Joe, why did Leone influence you to  move west and see what it looks like and not  John Wayne movies? This is  a serious question, I am not kidding you, but understand my italian angle of view: shouldn´t real
american westerns provide for a bigger motivation for someone who grew up in NYC?  By the way, I camped near Kalispell, Whitefish and explored the  Rosebud Battle area...
does this tell ya something?

[Il Buono]

It's really nice to hear that I am not the only Leone-fanatic in the world, although it sometimes seems so talking to people my age...

I remember the first time I saw OUTIW, I fell asleep.  Of course, I was too young to see it.  But the second time I saw it, a couple of years ago, I was blown away...  I got goosebumps and it became a film to never ever -beyond mental illnesses- forget.  Since then, I have been crazy about the Leone westerns and I can't get those images and the atmosphere out of my head.  
I always wanted to do something with film, but thanks to Leone I won't give up on that idea, I really want to accomplish something.  I also catch myself, when making a storyboard or so, always using too much extreme close-ups!  I have Leone to blame for that.  

And sometimes, when I'm facing a big decision, or a great exam, I would dare playing the final duel of OUTIW on video...

[cigar joe]

Why John Wayne movies did not influence me the same way? I think it was ironically that Leone's movies were more real. What I mean is that Hollwood was black/white, good/evil (like GW Bush, ;-) you can shure see John Wayne's influence there, lol ), Leone was all shades of gray much more like the real life around me at the time.

I lived in the northwest corner of the state about 600 miles west of the Rosebud on the westslope of the Continental Divide actually just 89 miles west from Kalispell.

[caius]

i couldn't say leone changed my life, but he changed a way of life, he made think about cinema alot more, even to the extent that i would get on the internet to talk about him.

[caius]

i couldn't say leone changed my life, but he changed a way of life, he made think about cinema alot more, even to the extent that i would get on the internet to talk about him.

[Cusser]

OK, I concede I'm weird.  I saw GBU at age 14.5 and couldn't wait to shave so I could grow a genuine GBU stubble, even this morning I used a trimmer to shave it down to about 1/16 inch.  Also, I tend to quote quips from the Leone films in everyday life (like playing basketball with my daughter holding the ball and talking - "when ya gotta shoot, shoot, don't talk").  I have Spaghetti posters in my family room, and I just got a 47" widescreen HDTV a few weeks ago, so I'll have to soon initiate my 15 year old and 12 year old into GBU.  I have listened to Spaghetti soundtracks on cassettes in my vehicles since the late 1970s, and got the updated GBU and Once/West CDs last year.  I also live in Arizona and we own two horses.  I was lucky enough to see all these in theaters, including Once/West in 1969 and restored (twice) in 1985 and Once/America in 1985.  I just got a cell phone last month from Alltel and got my free ring tone as GBU.

[shorty larsen]

From my own part, my life has been changed not by Leone but by Morricone.

My father had already some Morricone LP (this is old!) back in the 60's, the western ones and Queimada or "Burn" with Marlon Brando.

Of course after seeing Leone's movies I became one of his biggest fans, but I grew up listening to this music so I was introduced to Morricone long before been introduced to Sergio Leone.

I became a weard fan of Morricone and I was able to purchase some 70 Morricone cds in the last 10 years.

Morricone is always present in my life. The man had produced over 500 movie soundracks. Every single day of my life one of his melodies is turning in my head. It's impossible to get them out.

Morricone represents to me the best memories in my life, my childhood, my house, my parents.

The theme from "Duck you sucker" called "Dead sons" blew my mind for years. Immediately after listening to this track all perception of time and space desappears.

I would say that, among the more than 500 movie soundtracks, the "Dead sons" theme is the Morricone sadest and most deep melody of all.

[redyred]

if it wasn't for these films i'd never have realised the brilliance of ponchos. they are both practical and stylish.
  <--- poncho joy face

also, morricone's music has influenced my own song writing.

[Groggy]

  Well, I listen to Morricone every day riding to and from school (annoys the hell out of the other students, by the by ).  And I usually listen to "Man With A Harmonica" and a few other tunes right before school starts.  I even made up Cigarette-Smoking Man-based lyrics for "A Gun For Ringo".  But I digress . . .

  In terms of my life, both Leone (and Morricone) and "The X-Files" are things I turn to in times of crisis.  Not necessarily to watch, but I have many scenes from both sources memorized.  Obviously people think I'm crazy, but what do they know?  And also last Thursday, I really felt as if I was going to kill myself (don't know why), but a few rounds of "He Is An Englishman" from The "HMS Pinafore" (don't ask!) got me back in shape.

I also seriously think that if weren't for Leone, I wouldn't appreciate films for what they are as I do.  I love actors as a general rule (when they have talent), I pay close attention to cinematography and score, and more subtle acting things, i.e. facial acting.  I do think Leone helped this in me, as I'm now a true film lover, and a film buff.  

Just my two cents.

[noodles_leone]

I really understood what cinema was after seeing OUATITW... in that way, i can say that leone didn't influenced my life but has completly chosen it: i want to be a director (and i will be a director) because of OUATITW.

[shorty larsen]

Yeah, I agree. Any person who wants to become a moviemaker MUST see OUTW. In terms of photography (how to use a camera, how to choose angles) and in terms of how to tell a story.

[grandpa_chum]

I really understood what cinema was after seeing OUATITW... in that way, i can say that leone didn't influenced my life but has completly chosen it: i want to be a director (and i will be a director) because of OUATITW.

same thing happened here... it made me realize my dream was to direct movies... and even a dream to ressurect the western in a way only leone or someone who studied leone immensely could do... i am on a mission to watch as much leone as possible and recreate the genre of classic spaghetti western... the only difference being my inspiration came from the good the bad and the ugly first and was helped along by his other 5 movies... not one i could choose over the others... the kicker was when i went to see duckyou sucker/fistful of dynamite on the big screen... it was so amazing seeing leone on the big screen for the first time... i'm currently devoting 6+ hours a day to studying leone films and researching subjects for the scripts i'm writing... starting off with preliminary non-westerns to hone my skills... currently 60 pages into my second non-western script... the first being 148 pages of solid-gold(all screenwriters think they have never written a bad script)... so yes... he's changed my life 180 degrees... going from no direction in life to being 100% focused!

[grandpa_chum]

oh... btw... i do see this as one of the biggest long-shot dreams in the history of the world... so don't take me as stupid... even if you told me i'd never set foot on a movie set i'd be completely satisfied pursuing these things as a hobbie... thats how i see it... as a hobby