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Once Upon a Time in The West (1968)
With: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale
Isn’t
it weird that an Italian man reinvented the western genre? Well, the great Sergio Leone certainly showed the Americans a thing
or two about making westerns. His “spaghetti-westerns”, and in particular his trilogy of A Fistful of Dollars,
For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, have now become classics. However, Once Upon a Time in The West
does stand on its own: whereas the Clint Eastwood films of the famous trilogy were all about fun and clever one-liners, this
one feels more serious, more dramatic and darker. From the start, we know it’s not going to be the same kind of film:
if you’re expecting the unforgettable energetic opening titles of A Fistful of Dollars in Once Upon a Time in The West
then forget it! Here, it’s all very quiet and subtle, every shot is brilliantly constructed and the dialogs are limited:
here, it’s Ennio Morricone’s masterful music that’s left to rule. Every character has his own little theme
song, Charles Bronson’s haunting harmonica tune is the most famous one. Henry Fonda is absolutely brilliant as the evil
villain, who murders in cold blood a father and his 3 children under the orders of a crooked rich man. Charles Bronson is
a harmonica-playing loner with a troubled past who seems to have a bone to pick with Fonda. Claudia Cardinale is an ex-prostitute
and the wife of the man who was killed by Fonda. Once Upon a Time in The West is truly a perfect film: the music, the actors,
the directing, the writing, everything is brilliantly done. Overall, this film is undoubtedly a masterpiece and one of the
best westerns of all time. A perfect display of Sergio Leone’s genius.
Overall: *****/5
Red Sun (1971)
With: Charles Bronson, Ursula Andress, Alain Delon
This enjoyable
western stars Charles Bronson and Alain Delon as partners who both hold-up a train which carries the Japanese ambassador.
When Bronson is double crossed by his left-handed partner and is left for dead, the latter
wakes up with two goals in mind: find Delon and get him to tell him where he’s hidden the money. Meanwhile, a
samurai who was guarding the ambassador has a mission of his own to carry out: he must get revenge from Delon, who killed
his friend in the train and he must also recover a very expensive sword, a present from the Japanese Emperor to the President
of the United States. Directed by Terence Young, this western has a great premise as it puts Bronson’s tough cowboy
with a serious brooding samurai. Both of them are going to have to try and get along in order to find Delon but the inevitable
clash of fighting styles, cultures and personalities makes it very hard for them to do just that. Bronson wants to find Delon
and get him to talk before killing him but the samurai wants to kill him instantly and this creates some tensions. Ursula
Andress is Delon’s girlfriend, an ex-prostitute, and is as beautiful and sexy as ever. Bronson and the samurai kidnap
her in order to get to Delon quicker. The relationship between the samurai and the cowboy is great fun and the comedy is well
executed. The addition of Ursula Andress into the story adds some spice to the whole thing. However, the random arrivals of
the Indians towards the end of the film are a bit out of place and unnecessary and they only slow down the rhythm of the film.
Fans of samurai films and westerns alike will find a lot to enjoy here. Overall, Red Sun is great fun and contains some good
ideas and an interesting, original premise, it’s too bad it all gets slightly predictable towards the end. Oh well,
it’s still a very enjoyable film…until the Indians show up and get their asses kicked.
Overall: ***1/2 /5
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