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Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Leone is one of the greatest.
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Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by Solid Snake PAC
(Post 11273317)
Once Upon trilogy? There are only 2. In the West and In America.
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Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by Jules Winfield
(Post 11273374)
You didn't see One Upon a Time in (bad post)?
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Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by Solid Snake PAC
(Post 11273395)
did it ever come to BD?
"in America" is being released as an extended edition (I know, I know, the first version was just way too short and just flew by) in the near future. The only omission I gather is "Fistful of Dynamite" (Duck, You Sucker). For some odd reason, the MGM folks released the trilogy without "Dynamite" even though the Sergio Leone DVD collection includes it. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
For what's it's worth I think the SD DVD of Once Upon A Time In The West is an amazing looking disk.
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Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Cristopher Frayling mentioned in the commentary track that "Duck, You Sucker" was at one time considered with the title "Once Upon a Time...the Revolution". Frayling himself considers OUTITW, DYS and OUATIA as a trilogy. Works for me.
As far as the greatest, cinema is too broad to apply that definitive a term to anyone. Sergio Leone is, after Hitchcock, my favorite director. His films are pure emotion and film (moving image + sound) at its purest. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Sergio Leone is one of the greatest directors ever. But, in that realm, I really don't rank them because each of the greatest directors are all very different in why they are great.
When I think about Sergio Leone, I think about Roger Ebert's quote on what makes a film great: "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." Sergio Leone could take a simple plot that sounds like nothing special when described (such as "three men competing to find some lost gold while the American Civil War is going on in the background") and, with his great sense of style, transform that simple story into one of the greatest films ever: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. A great film is "great" not due to the story or plot, but how the story is brought to cinematic life. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by Astrofan
(Post 11273539)
For what's it's worth I think the SD DVD of Once Upon A Time In The West is an amazing looking disk.
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Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by dhmac
(Post 11273579)
Sergio Leone is one of the greatest directors ever. But, in that realm, I really don't rank them because each of the greatest directors are all very different in why they are great.
When I think about Sergio Leone, I think about Roger Ebert's quote on what makes a film great: "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." Sergio Leone could take a simple plot that sounds like nothing special when described (such as "three men competing to find some lost gold while the American Civil War is going on in the background") and, with his great sense of style, transform that simple story into one of the greatest films ever: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. A great film is "great" not due to the story or plot, but how the story is brought to cinematic life. Leone possessed some true gifts--one of which is his ability to tell so much through faces. In fact, so many films today utilize the uber close-ups of faces that Leone embraced early in his career. Widescreen cinema was normally about compositions of many individuals in long angles, but Leone resorted to keeping the camera in so tight that you could see every pore, wrinkle and imperfection. He loved faces. Also, ironically he brought the west back to a stark realism even though his western frontier was normally filmed in Europe. This isn't John Wayne's west where everyone has perfect wardrobe and there are good guys and bad guys. His west was a grey area through and through. Rather than comparing Leone to other directors who either inspired him or were inspired by him, its best that we appreciate his impact on the medium. His contemporaries like John Ford wouldn't say much of Leone, but ask Quentin Tarantino and he'll probably tell you that he was one of the greatest of them all. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Christopher Frayling in his biography of Leone makes it clear that Leone perceived OUATINW, DYS and OUATIA as a trilogy (and quotes various Leone collaborators to confirm this.)
As for best director of all time, so difficult. My favourite director is probably Terence Fisher but he worked within a very narrow genre for the most part and there is no standout masterpiece in his canon. I suppose Orson Welles gets a gander for Citizen Kane alone (and possibly Chimes at Midnight). I suppose John Ford gets the personal gong for creating such a huge swathe of films, most of which are full of genuine sentiment and emotion. I think the director of The Prisoner of Shark Island deserves more praise than the director of A Fistful of Dollars or the director of Barry Lyndon, but that is just me. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by Time Warrior
(Post 11273794)
I suppose Orson Welles gets a gander for Citizen Kane alone (and possibly Chimes at Midnight).
The Trial The Stranger The Lady from Shanghai Othello The Magnificent Ambersons |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by Mondo Kane
(Post 11273598)
:thumbsup: I'm still blown away by the sound & clarity of that double-disc.
However, I can't stand Once Upon A Time In America. While West seems effortless I think there are many overwrought scenes in America. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by Astrofan
(Post 11273870)
I never saw it until I got the DVD about 7 years ago. I was absolutely stunned by this masterpiece. I was not a Leone fan during the time his films were originally playing in the theater. I pretty much ignored him.
However, I can't stand Once Upon A Time In America. While West seems effortless I think there are many overwrought scenes in America. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by chris_santucci
(Post 11272855)
That's pretty amusing that your criteria is between "great" or "greatest". Leone is hard to measure because, like Kubrick, his film volume is low and, unlike Kubrick, his variety was narrow.
I think Leone could have been one of the greatest of film makers had he been a younger man when "A Fistful of Dollars" was made. You can tell that he's was just getting his beak wet as the film is a carbon copy of Kurosawa. By the time he made "The Good, the Good, and the Ugly", his has found his own voice. I think "Once Upon a Time in the West" is one of the finest films ever created. I think the two films that followed don't hold the same brilliance. "America" for example, echoes some brilliance but carries too many flaws. It's almost as if Leone had reached his peak by the time "West" was made. You've given me an idea. I should do a retrospective of Leone on my blog sometime. It would be interesting to compare how he progressed as a film maker. |
Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
One of the greatest.
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Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
Originally Posted by chris_santucci
(Post 11273645)
This isn't John Wayne's west where everyone has perfect wardrobe and there are good guys and bad guys.
Spoiler:
I think you could make an argument that Wayne's Ethan Edwards was a darker character than any of The Man With No Name's characters. Also, in "The Man Who Shot Libery Valance", Spoiler:
While I do love Italian westerns, I do have to respectfully disagree with fans of that genre who characterize American westerns as lacking in nuance and moral complexity----I would argue that there were many great "adult" Hollywood Westerns made in the 50s. |
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