Once upon a Time in the West (1968)
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Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
One of the best westerns ever made, but please don't watch it on Youtube in 480p. It deserves far better.
It's weird. I got 1080p when I came across it earlier.
PS. Beyond being a mere western, the film was Leone's stylistic reply to Claude Lelouch visual story telling with minimal dialog in "The Man and the Woman" (Un homme et une femme) of 1966, much like another 1968 film "Bullitt" by Peter Yates and a fairly similarly styled "Andrei Rublev" by Andrei Tarkovsky. Leone's and Yates favored quicker cuts, Tarkovsky and Lelouch had longer takes.
And Tarkovsky really went for looooooong takes in the "Stalker".
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
I do too now. But I clicked on "It's a mad, mad, mad world" and that was in HD. And the "Guns of Navarone" too. They did somefeenk to "OUTITW"..
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
The gunfight between Bronson and Fonda is one of the best ever filmed. Also, one of Fonda's best performances -- and playing against type. Just think that OUTTW and On Golden Pond were only 13 years apart. Look at the difference in his appearance and demeanor.
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Leone could certainly kill a lot of people on camera without murdering anyone off it. I read somewhere that Lee van Cleef and Gian Maria Volonte had that clause inserted into their contracts.
Oh, and YouTube is probably throttling the free streaming video quality/bit rate. They do it to audio too where the musical tracks are limited to 128 Kbps AAC, which is, accidentally, the same speed as the free streaming option on Pandora/Sporify/Google Music/iTunes.
Oh, and YouTube is probably throttling the free streaming video quality/bit rate. They do it to audio too where the musical tracks are limited to 128 Kbps AAC, which is, accidentally, the same speed as the free streaming option on Pandora/Sporify/Google Music/iTunes.
Mitch Gross
Veteran
What I love about that gun fight (spoilers on a 50 year old movie) is that there's really hardly any gunfight at all -- it's a bit of semi-circle walking and the most epic payoff of a re-occuring flashback motif ever. And then BLAM, he shoots him. But baby that crane shot in the flashback! It's a wonderfully over the top operatic moment in a shamelessly over the top operatic movie. There's not even an attempt to give a reason for the archway they use to exist. It's just dropped there in the middle of nowhere because it's just so perfect for the moment. Glorious.
Batutta
Major Contributor
Definitely one of the greatest opening scenes of all time. And the scene after it is amazing too. My favorite Leone though is probably For a Few Dollars More as it's leaner and more entertaining. This one and The Good, the Bad and The Ugly are a bit too bloated storywise, not that I'd call them bad movies by any means. They are both chock full of great stuff.
Mitch Gross
Veteran
With Once Upon a Time in the West the "bloat" is kinda the point. The movie could easily be half its length but instead it luxuriates in its grandeur.
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
My feelings exactly. That is why someone shouldn't watch it in 480p on Youtube. It deserves better. Many classic, big, epic, films (2001, Lawrence of Arabia, Thin Red Line, Once Upon a Time in America, Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Gandhi, Passage to India, There Will Be Blood) could be trimmed a little if you just want to keep the story moving forward, but that's not the point. You want to "luxuriate in their grandeur."
A few days ago I found a higher quality stream (albeit in Russian ... not that it mattered, I wasn't seeking dialog) ... I watched the last half hour ... yes, it's kind of long but Leone managed to deliver a different angle or focal range and the actors action/reaction with every cut ... the editing officially credited to Leone's long time associate Nino Baragli could not have been easy but was just superb ...