Italian director Sergio Leone's rip off of Akira Kurosawa's masterful samurai flick Yojimbo (1960) has achieved a huge prominence in the bitter and cynical landscape of the European western. Although it made Clint Eastwood a star, and showcased Leone's exaggerated stylisations, it is the music by Ennio Morricone that has had a greater lasting appeal. Here is a selection of lobby cards used to promote the film in British, Spanish, French, and West German cinemas.
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It's interesting that Gian Maria Volante isn't more prominently featured in the imagery, as he is certainly the most memorable of the Rojo clan (indeed, the most memorable character from either family).
ReplyDeleteThat final German card is rather amusing. An outtake from 'Mr. Ed', perhaps?
;)
Great stuff! Saw this movie when I was about thirteen and it changed my life. I actually got to watch the Dollars Trilogy in order. No watching THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY and then back-tracking for me; no, Sir, from frame one of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS to the last moments of T.G.T.B.&.T.U.'s: "Hey, blond! You know what you are?! Just a dirty son of a... A-AYIYAYIAAH!!!"
ReplyDelete@ Jonny - I couldn't agree more about Volonte's relative abscence from the promotional material. His contribution is certainly the equal of Clint Eastwood's.
ReplyDelete@ Greg - I also watched these films in sequence Greg, I first encountered them in the days of VHS. I remember buying FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE on video for £15!!! You can get the entire trilogy on blu-ray for under £10 now. They didn't have the profound impact on me that they did you...the Eastwood film that had the greatest effect on me was THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES.
The one that alerted me to Eastwood (beyond merely casual viewing) was 'High Plains Drifter'. It's an odd mix of Western, revenge drama and slasher film - indeed, it deserves to be mentioned far more in film commentary that examines slasher film antecedents.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I've found that the best piece of writing pertaining to the production context informing the Italian giallo (beyond the Tim Lucas Bava book) is Christopher Frayling's "Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone" (1981). It really provides insight (albeit incidental) into the genre, given the people responsible for many cherished Spaghetti Westerns were later shooting gialli (when that cycle assumed box office prominence in the later 60s/70s).
You know you're into extremely unsafe territory when the first thing the Eastwood character does in HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is rape a woman! It is a generically fascinating movie as you astutely point out. Whenever I discuss it I tend to point up its relationship to the horror genre as well. It is also open to interpretation, something that is exceedingly rare in a Western.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to get myself a copy of Christopher Frayling's book for years. It looms large in any academic consideration of popular Italian cinema in the 1960's. Your ringing endorsement has made me more determined to finally purchase a copy. Many thanks for the tip off and the informative comment Johnny.