The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci, 1968)
I've had the DVD sitting here for a while waiting to be watched, but I'm extremely grateful I waited to get my hands on the new Blu-Ray, which represents a tremendous upgrade in image quality. During the first scene, though, I worried that something was wrong with my copy because I kept seeing a weird lattice of light on Trintignant and his horse, but I guess that was some misguided effect that Corbucci was going for. It's there
on the DVD, too.
I don't know that I'll ever watch enough spaghetti westerns (or Italian cinema of this period in general) to accept the practice of asynchronous sound. I find the use of dubbing so alienating. When I read reviews praising Kinski's performance, I'm just like, but, like, it was only half Kinski! I get the appeal of being able to pair up these various international stars, but I'm not convinced it's worth it.
But I digress. I wasn't familiar with
The Great Silence's reputation for being bleak af, but, yep, well earned. Startlingly so, even. I confess, though, that's it's a movie I like more in long shots (and more on a theoretical level) than in close-ups. Even in the first scene, for example, the build-up is really strong, but when the gunfire begins, it just sort of happens. There's not necessarily a whole lot of rhyme or reason to it, no illustration of the gunslinger's skill. It's just bang bang bang, squib squib squib. Likewise, as much as I like the ending, it bothered me that Silence has no evident plan of attack. He just shows up and stands there and ... things happen. Although the net effect is bewildering and awesome, there's still the nagging sense that a page of the script flew away in the wind and nobody bothered to retrieve it.
Trintignant is an interesting presence in the film. I had the damnedest time trying to reconcile his preppy look with his character and his surroundings. Kinski has some strong moments, but it was actually Frank Wolff and Vonetta McGee that most engaged me.
If you haven't seen the two alternate endings, you really should. They're fascinating and hilarious.
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