[HN Gopher] Jack Elam and the Fly in 'Once Upon a Time in the West'
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Jack Elam and the Fly in 'Once Upon a Time in the West'
Author : chimpanzee
Score : 118 points
Date : 2024-12-30 20:46 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (pov.imv.au.dk)
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| chimpanzee wrote:
| The scene discussed:
|
| https://youtu.be/QML28YQBvyc
|
| And the excellent scene that follows (after the train stops
| without any passengers departing, or so the gang thinks):
|
| https://youtu.be/uhYLfK8GSr0
| tpchnmy wrote:
| You brought two to many horses...
| vram22 wrote:
| Get three coffins ready.
| e40 wrote:
| This is the beginning of a very good movie. It is on my top 10
| all-time best movies. I watch it from time to time and see new
| things each time.
|
| I don't remember where I read the story, but it might have been
| in the DVD extras. Henry Fonda grew a goatee and dyed his hair
| black before he flew to Spain for the start of filming. When he
| got there and Leone saw him he screamed "nooooo" because he hired
| Fonda to be the baby-faced assassin.
|
| Also, aside from the visuals, the music in this film is probably
| the best match between music and video ever. Ennio Morricone's
| soundtrack is pure genius.
| roelschroeven wrote:
| > the music in this film is probably the best match between
| music and video ever
|
| I presume you're talking about the mood of the music matching
| with the video, but they match in another way as well.
| Undoubtedly you already know this, but I wanted to add for
| people who don't: the music was composed first, and was played
| during filming, allowing the actors to synchronize their
| movements with the music.
|
| The bit about Henry Fonda changing his appearance and Sergio
| Leone not agreeing with that: I think you're right it's on the
| DVD. There's a separate soundtrack with comments from various
| people while the movie is playing, and I /think/ it's in there
| somewhere, but I'm not 100% sure. They also talk about how
| Henry Fonda was very famous at the time, famous for playing the
| good guy. Seeing him playing the bad guys had quite a shocking
| effect on audiences, which was Leone's intention. A bit like
| Tom Hanks suddenly playing a vicious assassin (more relatable
| for people my age).
| svat wrote:
| > bit like Tom Hanks suddenly playing a vicious assassin
|
| FWIW, Tom Hanks was in _Cloud Atlas,_ where he played at
| least one evil character (though it was Hugh Grant I remember
| as more vicious, which was also out of type for him, at least
| at the time).
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| It is an excellent film. It is one of the "1001 Films to See
| Before You Die" (and I am happy I was introduced to it).
| szajbus wrote:
| I always thought that the movie would be better with another
| actor in the main role. I just don't buy the character played
| by Charles Bronson.
| indigodaddy wrote:
| The HDR on the 4k version of this movie is hideous.
|
| I'd recommend watching the disc in SDR mode. It looked great that
| way.
| CharlesW wrote:
| Interestingly, the AVForums review says HDR is the reason (if
| any) to prefer it. ("WCG" below is "Wide Color Gamut".)
|
| > _The biggest reason for sticking with your purchase is
| probably the application of WCG and Dolby Vision HDR, with the
| image now a lush -- but faithful -- palette that enjoys those
| sun-burnt skin tones (a few pink lips look kinda odd on
| occasion, but for the most part it 's well handled) dominating
| wood browns, dirty desert backgrounds and often stunning blue
| skies. Black levels are rich and deep, but don't swallow up all
| the shadow detail, and the film -- in comparison to the old
| blu-ray -- looks a whole lot more "4K" given what we've come to
| expect from the benefits of WCG and HDR, to the point where
| it'll likely end up being the default playback for those pot
| committed on this release._
| NotSammyHagar wrote:
| Such a fabulous movie. I searched, it's available on amazon prime
| in the us until Jan 1 it says(with limited interruptions...?).
|
| I want to see movies this great again - you can, but only with
| streaming. No CGI here but maybe a little syrup on Jack Elam's
| face ;-)
| garyrob wrote:
| One of my all-time favorite movies.
| mjw_byrne wrote:
| Just adding another comment to say how brilliant this film is. So
| atmospheric, such great music, such a grand presentation of the
| wild west and it's demise. It makes other westerns feel half-
| baked.
| ethbr1 wrote:
| Good filmmakers and authors use a genre to make a specific
| work.
|
| Middling filmmakers and authors make a work about a specific
| genre.
|
| It's also a treat to watch Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, Yojimbo,
| and Sanjuro; then Leone's Dollars Trilogy; then Dirty Harry;
| then Woo. "The mysterious stranger" throughout the ages,
| indeed.
| snowwrestler wrote:
| I always took that opening scene as establishing how tough and
| capable the 3 waiting gunmen are. How hard would it be to catch a
| fly inside a gun barrel?? But this guy does it first try. Seems
| to imply incredible reflexes.
| more_corn wrote:
| Yeah, reducing it to a story about sound misses the development
| of the character. Why did he do it, how did he do it? What does
| it say about him that he chose to and that he could?
| lazide wrote:
| For anyone familiar with guns (as most Americans in the
| audience would be, anyway), it also illustrated how unhinged,
| dangerous, and reckless the gunman was.
|
| You're really going to point a loaded gun at yourself,
| including looking down the barrel (and potentially shoot your
| self in the face), to appreciate the fly you just caught? The
| fly you still haven't killed? Which can now escape while you
| appreciate it?
|
| And which, it turns out, ends up escaping when the gunman gets
| distracted. And which you could have killed at any point along
| the way in about 10 easier ways if you didn't want to try to be
| fancy?
|
| Well, it turns out that does indeed fit their character haha.
| And is good foreshadowing for most of the 'bad guys' in the
| movie, and to some extent the ending.
|
| A really amazing classic, if you're not stuck in 'TikTok
| attention span' mode anyway.
|
| Also, a really funny parody of the spaghetti western (which
| includes some of the same folks - 'Support your local
| sheriff').
| dnh44 wrote:
| Oddly I remembered it as the fly escaping too but I've
| rewatched the scene now and he clearly lets the fly go.
| lazide wrote:
| Even better, considering how often Harmonica gets let
| go/ignored throughout the movie, despite clearly not being
| who he says he is.
| pjbeam wrote:
| One _possible_ out for Snakey here is that in old percussion
| cap revolvers (like Colt Dragoon), the safe thing to do was
| keep an empty chamber in front of the hammer when not engaged
| in active shooting. It's been a while though, and my fuzzy
| memory leans more toward the guns supposed to be Single
| Action Army-esque and not cap/ball era so maybe no excuse for
| Snakey after all.
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| > Also, a really funny parody of the spaghetti western (which
| includes some of the same folks - 'Support your local
| sheriff').
|
| "Why, if I'd pulled that trigger while your finger was in the
| barrel, that gun woulda blowed up in ma face!
|
| Wouldn't have done my finger a helluva lot of good either."
|
| I loved this movie when I was a kid.
| jtwaleson wrote:
| Friendly reminder to fans of the genre that you can visit the
| film set of the cemetery in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly near
| Burgos, Spain. It's free and I the middle of nowhere. I went this
| summer and it was an amazing experience. Search for Sad Hill
| Cemetery.
| pcardoso wrote:
| Related, the film was shot in what is now a pretty cool small
| theme park close to Almeria.
|
| https://minihollywoodoasys.com/
| gitaarik wrote:
| You can also visit Sad Hill Cementery from The Good, the Bad
| and the Ugly. It was rediscovered and renovated by fans in
| 2015. It's near Burgos, also Spain, but not close to Almeria.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sad_Hill_Cemetery
|
| It's also a very beatuful area for hiking around there.
| pjbeam wrote:
| My read of the end of this is that the author of TFA replaces the
| "elevated" interpretations in the cited academic works with "the
| fly scene's purpose is the be awesome (Leonesque)"--is that
| right?
|
| Love this movie and the scene but definitely don't relate much to
| more involved interpretations. That said, I'm the first to admit
| I'm no sophisticate and am interested in other takes.
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