College weekends being what they are, I was a bit thrown off of my desire to watch a film every day. I did end up seeing "Kicking and Screaming"on Saturday. Ugh.
Anyway, tonight's film was "Once Upon a Time In The West."
I'm a huge Leone fan, and I've only seen 2 of his films at this point. I am absolutely astonished by how perfect a film "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" is. Well, "Once" didn't disappoint.
Henry Fonda delivers a chilling performance, and is probably a better villain than Lee Van Cleef's "Ugly." Charles Bronson doesn't quite live up to Clint Eastwood, but still portrays Harmonica wonderfully.
Leone films (in my limited experience) aren't so much about the acting and the story, but about the directing and the score. Scenes play out almost like paintings when in the hands of Leone. He is a master (and influenced heavily by Kurosawa) at building tension during battle scenes, making the preceding staredowns far more important than the actual action. Ennio Morricone does outstanding work on the score once again, adding to the tension of certain scenes, while bringing a bit of levity to others (particularly with Cheyenne's theme.)
Don't let the long running time of this film scare you off, because it's an extremely effective film. I am trying to expand the amount of Western films I've seen, but thus far, this is #2 on my list. (I bet you can guess #1.)
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