[MOVIE REVIEW] Once upon a time in the west
There is a genre called Spaghetti Western. The term was coined because the western films that were very popular in the United States in the 1960s were made by Italian director Sergio Leone. Of this spaghetti western, director Leone aka The Dollars Trilogy (a film series featuring Clint Eastwood as best actor) is also considered the best, although most critics consider Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) the best. was selected as the best director's work. Ennio Morricone, who composed many of the theme songs for director Leone's film, also provided the soundtrack for the film, sung by singer Edda Dell'Orso. It is a beautiful song that seems to reach the realm of the soul.
Director Sergio Leone seems to prefer the script/music shot sequences, over the usual film production sequences: screenplay-music-shoot . One film made in this way was Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) , and the actors are said to act on sets from which the main, ready-made themes play out. Isn't the environment this person created like a music video shooting location? It wasn't hard to imagine how good the acting skills of the actors would be in this way.
Like all westerners, there are villains and heroes. The villains are Frank, the world's villain, played by Henry Fonda, the hero is "Harmonika", played by Charles Bronson, 'the guy with the harmonica for some reason', and Claudia Cardinale, who plays Jill's love interest. Harmonica, who had been searching for years to kill Frank, who brutally murdered her older brother, finally meets in the desert town of Sweetwater, a western desert village that Jill's husband tries to build (despite being killed by Frank). revenge is over.
youtube
But western movie heroes don't live in one place with a woman. Harmonika also leaves, and Jill, wishing that she will stay with him, finishes the revenge game and sees Harmonika's eyes go into Jill's place and finds out - that she is gone too. Jill's love, regret and compassionate eyes, and Harmonika's acting, which showcases the unshakable appearance of a western man, are masterpieces that make this film truly heartbreaking. At this time, Theme music (for the character Claudia Cardinale) is out, and ah - if you listen to this song after midnight, you will fall into an indescribable whirlpool of emotions.
A famous line from the film also comes from this scene:
Harmonica: It's going to be a beautiful town, Sweetwater.
Jill: I hope you come back one day.
Harmonica: Someday
It's a very clear Cliche-like conversation, but doesn't this kind of conversation add to the flavor of western movies? That is cool. If Harmonika said "I'll be back" or "Sure" in this last line, it would be a low-level romantic comedy from the 2000s.
Below is a video from the Production Gallary, which consists of photos taken during the making of this film. You can see the natural and beautiful images of the actors (Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, etc.) who fulfill the sincerity and talent of director Sergio Leone and aspirations of this genius director with extraordinary performances.
youtube
Finally, we will upload a video of this beautiful song sung by 3 different singers in a row. Edda Dell'Orso's version, the singer of the original song, can be heard via the video above, is also a legendary version to compare, so I will omit it and upload 3 versions. Steffi Vertriest's version is also very sad, or if you listen to Andre Rieu's concert version, or Patricia Janeckova's version, you'll be impressed. I love Patricia Janec kova's version, which version do you like? By the way, Janeckova's teenage voice is very beautiful compared to her current voice, isn't it? This video is from the Miss Reneta student competition (in Havirov, Czech Republic, 2012), and seems to render the beauty(?) of well-dressed young women standing around them meaningless.