| Unapologetically artistic and playful western epic western from Sergio Leone. A critical favorite and a great companion piece to the same year's THE WILD BUNCH. (Okay, WILD BUNCH was released early '69) You can't pass up a chance to see Henry Fonda as a truly evil character, black hat and all!Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti), the power-hungry owner of a railroad company, hires Frank (Henry Fonda), a gunfighter without a conscience, to kill anyone who stands in the way of the completion of the railroad. After Frank murders land owner Brett McBain (Frank Wolff), McBain's widow (Claudia Cardinale) hires two killers of her own to protect her and gain revenge: a mysterious, harmonica-playing desperado (Charles Bronson) and his rogue sidekick (Jason Robards). Using techniques previously unseen in the genre, Sergio Leone utilizes close-ups, color, and Ennio Morricone's trademark score to create a tense and somber meditation on death which is widely considered to be one of the best westerns in cinematic history. Soon-to-be legendary Italian directors Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA) and Bernardo Bertolucci (THE LAST EMPEROR) collaborated with Leone on the screenplay.
Leone tells a story here but the plot is almost incidental to a hundred joyously inventive bits of cinematic business, like the lengthy opening sequence that turns a few desperados waiting for a train into a polyphonic symphony of rhythmic sounds effects… dripping water, drumming fingers, creaking chairs, etc. DVD FEATURES: Theatrical trailer • Commentary track with contributions from directors John Carpenter, John Milius, Alex Cox, film historian (& Leone biographer) Sir Christopher Frayling, Dr. Sheldon Hall, and comments from cast and crew members • 3 new making-of documentaries: "An Opera of Violence" • "The Wages of Sin" • "Something To Do With Death" • "Railroad: Revolutionizing the West" featurette • Location & production galleries • Widescreen anamorphic format |
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