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Half an hour story and two hours of style. But the style is so good!
After making his three films with Clint Eastwood, often referred to as the Dollars Trilogy, director Sergio Leone swore he wouldn't make any more westerns. Fortunately he changed his mind. In 1968 he made "Once upon a time in the West", which is now considered to be one of the best films ever made. It's made in the format of a western, but it is very low key, as far as the violence is concerned. The big shoot outs take place in the first half hour. After that it's a cat and mouse game between the various protaganists. They have the opportunity to kill one another again and again, but they prefer to wait for the right time.
I watched this film on Blu-ray today. The remastering is amazing. I've never seen an old film be made to look so good. In the close-up shots we can see every hair on Henry Fonda's half shaven chin. I strongly advise my readers to pick the 2013 Blu-ray version if they want to buy this film.
Ah, now I figured the a-z I made sure you had seen this. With Henry fonda in it I'd imagine you saw this before the dollars trilogy.
ReplyDeleteActually, no. I'd already seen the Dollars Trilogy before I wrote my reviews, but this was the first time I saw "Once upon a time in the West". As I think I mentioned in one of my other reviews, I always avoided westerns, due to being forced to watch them in my early childhood. You know the score... only three channels, no video recorders and only one television set in the house, so I had to watch what was on when it was on. I was so glad that my father worked on Saturdays. That meant I wasn't at risk of missing "Doctor Who". Hmmm... actually, for a few years he didn't work on Saturdays. For those years I used to go to my grandparents on Saturday. It was kind of a ritual. On Saturday the pop man came round. Did you have one of them where you lived? Just like the milk man and the bread man, he drove round delivering pop, but only on Saturday. My grandmother used to pour me a glass of orangeade just before "Doctor Who" started. That was my Doctor Who pop :)
DeleteNothing wrong with being devoted to Doctor Who, and how nice it was to have it come back when it was written off by the likes of Loaded and other lads' mags.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know about that. I never read the "lads' mags". That is, I occasionally took a glance at them, but they all seemed so boring. Racy covers that offered a lot, but when you opened them up the contents were dull.
DeleteI just remember Doctor Who fans being slagged off by Loaded. I heard a quote, and obviously with that attitude didn't need to get the magazine on a regular basis. :)
ReplyDeleteThe lads' mags are a strange thing. When did they start being sold in the UK? The early 90's? They seem to have filled a gap after the adult magazines disappeared from public view. Was it a change in the law in the 80's? I don't know. It must have happened while I was away from the country. When I was growing up it was usual for magazines like Playboy, Penthouse and the UK equivalents (Mayfair etc) to be on sale openly in high street stores like W. H. Smith's. They were also sold in the newspaper sections of large supermarkets. I remember that good old Mary Whitehouse campaigned against this. Today society is a lot pruder than it was in the 60's, 70's and early 80's. It's very rare to see adult magazines on sale in shops unconditionally open to the public, i.e. the public including children. If they are the magazines are usually obscured by cardboard or paper to prevent the covers being seen. The lads' mags have replaced them, but they're less sexual. A half-way thing.
DeleteThe last reason I would read a lads' mag is to read opinions about Doctor Who, pro or contra. They are just... strange. They don't appeal to me at all.