A History of Sergio Leone
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2021
- A look at the career of Sergio Leone, one of my all time favorite directors.
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Really enjoyed this look at his work. Fun fact, right before he died he was able to raise 100 million dollars and was going to shoot an epic about the Battle of Stalingrad with Robert De Niro. Feel like we were supposed to have a whole other era of Leone movies before he unfortunately passed away
About the siege of Leningrad, actually.
It would have been a heartbreaking film.
It surely would've been the most ambitious production ever at the time, I read that he wanted 1000 tanks in camera for the opening shot
It's sad we never got more from leone😢
It's crazy how influential he was given he directed a relatively small number of movies
Im an aspiring writer and the themes of Sergio Leone's movies will definitely be an influence on me. The good the bad and the ugly has been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it at the age of 13.
Excellent review on one of the greatest film directors of all time. Sergio Leone is a cinema icon that every film student absolutely must be required to study his film making. Sergio is really in a league of his own, just like Morricone.
You see in this world there’s 2 kinds of Movie Directors Sergio Leone and then everybody else!!!! YOU DIG?
💯
Very good video thanks. And i am so glad you mentioned Enio Morricone . The combination of him and Sergio was a game changer.
My favorite composer! He elevated so many Italian films, not to mention his US work with films like The Thing or Untouchables. Truly a master.
@@CinemaStudies Without a doubt. And also to reference my favourite all time director who also loved classic samouri movies. Well I'm now subscribed.
My Leone ranking is:
01. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
02. Ounce Upon a Time in America
03. Ounce Upon a Time in the West
04. For a few Dollars More
05. Fistfull of Dollars
06. Duck you Sucker
07. Colos from Rhodos
Thank you for your insight and clear presentation.
Thanks man.
Once upon a time in the West is the Leone film I have seen the most, it’s one of my favourite films.
I didn’t know about their playing the music while shooting the scenes. This must have made an immense impact on the interpretation and camera. On many other levels I’m sure too including the energy of the whole crew.
And thanks for giving me a new angle and an excuse to watch it again!
great job mate. deserves much more views, but that's the world we live in !
Loved it!
Spaghetti westerns wouldnt have been popular without Sergio Leone.
Josh, thank you for this fantastic overview of Sergio Leone and his work. I had just finished watching A Few Dollars More, which was thoroughly satisfying, and I had so many questions. You answered them all. Thoughtful, well researched, clearly communicated and very engaging. I’m subscribing.
Thank you so much!
the last 2 are the only ones I haven't watched yet, definitely got me excited to check them out
Both are really great. Definitely worth your time. Be aware, Once Upon a Time in American is 4 hours so it may take a couple sitting.
I was searching for Sergio Leone on UA-cam and found this video. Really good content! I looking forward you to make more.
Really enjoyed that insightful discussion, thank you. You do have original things to say that not everyone has said already, which is rare. And I too see the second of the, “Dollars Trilogy,” as being the most moving of the three stories, with Lee Van Cleef’s performance being as strong as anyone’s in that film, if not stronger. And agree that it is probably somewhat underrated.
Though, of those three post-Leone examples of Clint Eastwood directed westerns, I would have chosen The Outlaw Josey Wales as the prime example of both Leone’s influence on Eastwood’s eye and style, but also the perfect post Viet Nam disillusionist, deconstructionist, anti-hero western that he ever made, with Unforgiven clocking in at a close second; wherein the mere fact of his central character’s existence cannot help but be a commentary on America in itself.
It taps into the sense of cynicism, loss of trust and loss of deference toward American institutions, but finds hope in the eclectic crucible of the American people themselves, in all their diversity. A surprisingly liberal message from a famously conservative man, perhaps, but also an honest and unflinching glance into the heart of Americana. These were all things that Leone’s movies conveyed, using American history to inch closer and closer toward reflections upon his own Italian history.
Until we get to his last movie, which is surprising in that respect. One would have thought he would have chosen Italian gangsters to hang his story on, so as to extend this commentary? But, by choosing a book about Jewish gangsters, he makes his movie much more focused on Americana and American history. I wonder why?
Sergio for me still the best because I saw Once upon time in America in 1986 and it was a revelation for me that Sergio was just genius 🤩😍🤩😍
This is really well done! Your commentary is insightful and authentic. It feels as though youve really spent time digesting your own impressions and you articulate them well. Would love to see you expand on your reviews.
Thank you! Stay tuned. More is in the works!
Once upon.....both of them are the best movies of all time......period......beauty.....art.....like a picasso.....no not like a picasso because like the most beautiful painting that anyone can appreciate..... picasso is strange....more like Kubrick....
For A Few Dollars More is certainly more than just a "little bit underrated"...FAFDM is incredibly underrated...And yes, FAFDM is better than Fistful of Dollars...GREAT job on this video, though...I thoroughly enjoyed it...
Finally, someone who appreciates For a Few Dollars More as much as I do!
THX Josh. good stuff. j.
What an excellent review. Just made my day. You deserve way more subscribers & views
cool video, congrats. Leone was indeed a great filmmaker, and you've got the ranking right imho. I'd also put Once Upon A Time in the West a notch above the Good the Bad and the Ugly
Oh and you have just made me buy ,The Good the bad and the Ugly again on blue Ray. I have Once upon a time in the west and John Carpenter the thing.
The face thing in Leone comes from Fellini, the gritty stories from Italian Neorealism like "The Bicycle Thief". The debt is more to Italian cinema than to American or Japanese.
I’ve just started getting into early Italian cinema and I see exactly what you mean. I think all 3 are important tho
Great video! Leone is on of my top 5 fav directors.
Thanks, me too! This was a really special video for me. Glad you enjoyed it!
@@CinemaStudies What did you think of My Name is Nobody... I believe was made from a story by Leone.
@@dustinabraham it’s on my watchlist but I haven’t seen it yet. How is it? Worth watching?
@@CinemaStudies It's pretty good. It's a comedy. I don't know if you have seen any of the Trinity movies, but it is more like those than the Dollars movies.
@@CinemaStudies I definitely have plenty of westerns I would recommend if you ever are looking for ideas.
Fantastic video. You really make me want to go back and watch Once Upon a Time in The West.
Thx man. I hope the passion came through. I really love these movies.
an excellent summary. congratulations. i often feel that duck you sucker is underrated because it is described as a western. it isn't. it's a comment about revolution and betrayal and the horrors of the mid 20th century. i have never seen a film with so many executions and massacres.
Thanks. I need to revisit that one. I liked it quite a bit but haven’t revisited it like I have the westerns.
As a Mexican I approve Duck you sucker as a realistic view to the Mexican revolution.
bravo
Leone is arguably the greatest film director of all times, probably the most underrated, because of the several westerns he directed.
Kubrick is often addressed as the greatest, and he surely was great, but Kubrick was never able to make something such as "once upon a time in America", he never reached that peak
Yeah I love Kubrick but he’s never been one of my all time favorite directors because his movies don’t connect with me on an emotional level. Intellectually masterful but I just value a more visceral connection. Leone is all about drawing out the emotion of each moment.
Kubrick is more like the Camera master. I like his tracking shots, the camera moves incredibly smooth and perfect, also Kubrick's movies have scenes made of long takes like 1 min aprox.
But definitely Leone is my favorite, way better stories, music, characters and photography
@@eduardogomez2232 I’m watching Barry Lyndon in the theater this afternoon. Interested to see how it hits me on the big screen.
Maybe you are right when you say that Duck You Sucker is underrated because of the title at the release (i agree that Once Upon A Time: the Revolution whold have been the best title). However in my opinion is not worse than TGTBATU and OUATITW. It was a movie more difficult to do because it's more personal, darker, there's not a true villain, and it's not a true western but it's a political drama placed in a hystorical moment in which western is already dead (a passage between the first and last movies of the Time Trilogy). So i believe it cannot be compared with the other movies.
Kurosawa based his film on Shakespeare, King Lear if I remember correctly. This timeless story was even turned into a Sergio inspired spaghetti Viking films in Iceland. (“The raven flies”and “In the shadow of the raven”.
Well I’m pretty sure Ran was Kurosawa’s take on King Lear but yes he was often inspired by Shakespeare. Was not aware of the Viking versions of this story. That sounds really cool.
@@CinemaStudies Those Spaghetty Viking films are directed by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. “The raven flies” and In the Shadow of the raven.
Why nobody talked about the TEN COMMANDMENTS?
One made in 1966 and was an exact remake of the Heston version.
The actor was:
H....TON
Pay attention as there are 4 blanks between H and TON.
It wasn't Heston but HAMILTON.
I wonder why people don't remember the 1966 Columbia remake of the 1956 Paramount original.
It's quite surprising that people can talk about dinosaurs 65 million years ago and cannot recall the 1966 Ten Commandments.
My theory is that the 1966 Ten Commandments was literally destroyed so as not to compete with the 1956 version. What the Paramount executives forget was that the 1966 Columbia remake give more popularity to the Paramount original
" You need to learn to distinguish rank. I'm a captain". He wasn't a " civil war general".
Thanks for this master class in film .
Thanks! That’s a huge compliment! I just want to make the kind of videos that I would want to watch. So glad you enjoyed it.
I know he wasn't the LEAD director, but Sergio's fingerprints are all over MY NAME IS NOBODY, which you can put up there with his other masterpieces underneath Once Upon a Time in the West
A great movie. The only problem is the length of some comedic scenes (as many of Terrence Hill movies). Still one of my favorites
Director Tonino Valeri worked on several Leone movies, so not really that surprising. Also, I believe Leone was Executive on My Name Is Nobody as well.
Sergio died 2 young
I always found it funny how 3 of the greatest westerns to have ever been put to the silver screen were put there by an Italian and not an American
ok now i have issue with the "shoots the boy in cold blood" comment. It was heartless, true, but he had a good reason. He and his men were trying to frame Cheyenne and the boy only got killed because he heard hsi name, Frank. Had that fellow henchman not stated Frank's name out loud, that boy probably would have lived. I don't know, but there was logic to the killing rather than just for kicks. Funny, it reminds of the breaking bad episode where a young lad was killed who witnessed their train robbing. And that killing made sense, too. He was a witness. Had to happen.
Look up the definition of “in cold blood”. It doesn’t mean that there was no motive, only that it’s a heartless act. There’s no mercy or hesitation.
I'm not as huge a fan of Once Upon A Time in America, although it's a better film than many realize, and it takes some time to do it justice. There are issues with the first Fistful of Dollars movie in terms of plot, but Few Dollar More is better.
Good the Bad and Ugly and Once Upon A Time in the West share the top spot for Westerns of all time for me, though there are great sleeper Hollywood westerns, the problem is they never quite got as much in them as Leone did in those two. Beyond some of the best revenge finales in all of film history, the films do such a great job of transporting you to lost times, and making statements about development of the West (Once Upon A Time) and the futility of war (GBU). The fact that Leone got those two films in the can is a remarkable achievement and it's going to take a miracle for anyone to equal or best them.
Shooting in Spain may have been a budget and legal consideration, but the fact that Leone's have a more Mexican than American taste to the scenes somehow makes them more distant to an American audience, and thus more fantastic, plus the Old West was Spanish territory that had been captured and was only just being Americanized. I've also always thought Leone's non American lens made him able to see the West without agenda or judgement. His films work a lot because the messages are found, never telegraphed. It allows the viewer to make up their own minds, and thus makes you more a willing witness. And yes, Morricone made the films also. That was just pure fate.
you got yet another opinion of contention. Once Upon a Time in the West is not the first time the composer made his music first and then the movie was made. Marcone did that for the A Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly. As far as I have researched.
That’s true, but my understanding is that the previous films were only partially composed prior to shooting, for particular scenes. West was entirely composed beforehand which is why it is so operatic.
I can't pick a favourite.
I hate Chris Frayling. His insistence that Leone is somehow rejecting his socialist background with Duck You Sucker (or A Fistful Of Dynamite or Once Upon A Time: The Revolution...take your pick) is utter bullshit! Rather than castigating revolution, it is a lament for the people who die through them and how they are put down ruthlessly by capitalist forces. Chris also doesn't seem to have noticed that in this movie, the revolutionaries win and the general is gleefully riddled with machine gun fire. Rather than hating revolutions, it's a lament of the high cost to working class people taking part in fighting those revolutions.
Great job
Take this as a complement, for someone so young
Duck You Sucker underrated
GBU and OUaTitW tie
OUaTiA the greatest mob movie ever sorry godfather ( I put Miller’s Crossing above The Godfather)
I agree that Duck You Sucker is underrated, but I understand why. However, some of Leone's best work is scattered throughout the movie
3
4
The greatest thief director. Had to pay a significant percentage to Akira Kurosawa for stealing the entire movie A Fistful of Dollars. He would even have the cast wait while he pulled the original frame by frame, and then told everyone where to stand. 😂😂😂
If you’re gonna steal, steal from the best!
It has been suspected that the stress of producing Once Upon A Time In America, combined with its lackluster performance in America, may have exacerbated Leone’s heart problem and contributed to his death of a heart attack on April 30, 1989 at the age of 60.
It was also his overeating addiction that killed him: just look at some pictures of him on the set of the last films with his stomach ever bigger. Very unfortunate.
@@Ab-vw2sg True. That probably didn't help either.
A fine video, thanks. Tho I don't think Good Bad Ugly has any real tragedy or historical significancy. It is a western about western stuff, well executed, but it is essentially a film about nothing
I always described The Good the bad and the Ugly as a fictional historical epic if that makes any sense
once upon a time in the west. yeah. no. not better than the good the bad the ugly. that 9 minute intro was interesting but not enough to warrant a second viewing. the pace was agonizingly slow. i get the artistry of it though. the main plot had several holes in it. for instance, the train scene where everyone was dead. the choo choo man was shot. all sorts of others shot. i still have no idea who did all the killing. their own men paid to shoot each other? Cheyenne, and his men? Did they do it? How did Cheyenne even get away from his jailor escorts. NO IDEA. I am not still not sure. so the plot had holes that made no sense. and then there is Harmonica, who bought the farm for $5000. Did he just give it back? They make no mention of the fact that the lady technically doesn't own the Station land anymore but Harmonica just leaves. So, why the hell does the lady get to stay on Harmonica's land. These plot holes completely destroy the movie. No. Not better than the good the bad the ugly which had no plot holes at all.
🤷🏻♂️ I’ve watched West way more times than GBU and enjoy it more. I don’t intellectualize Leone movies very much. They’re all about feeling to me, and West hits me in my soul in a way that GBU does not. Just my personal experience.
@@CinemaStudies I dont wanna take that away from you but the plot holes, the missing pieces. not recoverable. i do appreciate the story telling style, thr filling of details after most of the story is told. ya. that's not enjoyable either. I do recall Cheyenne saying he got shot by Mr Choo Choo but again, how did Cheyenne even get to shoot Mr Choo Choo. He was on his way to jail. No mention of how he got away. At least in the good the bad the ugly we see Tuco kill the henchman taking him to jail. Cheyenne, there must be two of him. lol
@@CinemaStudies no disrespect intended, but you voted for Biden, didn't you. FEELINGS not FACTS
What you call "plot holes," I call "respecting the audience". The movie is crystal clear about both the train scene and Cheyenne's escape from his escorts. You just need to pay attention. As for the "who owns the land" issue, again, it is crystal clear that Harmonica is not interested in claiming it: did you really want an info dump about how they managed the bureaucracy?
@@valerianolanza4146 yes this!
First off
If you’re gonna critique anyone..pronounce their names correctly.
It’s not Sirgio Leeonee. Listen carefully and learn my little americano. His name is pronounced
Sayr gio Lay oh nay.
I enjoy your presentations.
(Do more research) 🎩
Thanks for watching
My little pretentious film snob! Everyone I know, even Quentan Tarantino, pronounces it that way. You can't say some asshole comment and then give a tiny compliment at the end and act like it's ok, you're just a prick. People like you ruin movies. And social media. Are you making better videos with more accurate pronunciations? If so, throw me a link and I'll watch em. Otherwise, just shut up.
No need to be nasty friend, if we all judged others based on our cultures, we'd never get along. I'm sure you don't know how to pronounce Japanese or Zulu names and I don't believe your head should be put on a spike for that.