Director: Sergio Leone
On the page this film is basically an average Western, but with Leone's direction it becomes a fantastic piece of cinema that is one of the most memorable Westerns made. This is a film with some spectacular directing. The shot selection and control of tone by Leone in this film is accomplished flawlessly. Leone uses such a wide array of shots, from intense close-ups that show each drop of sweat to wide-ranging shots of desolate landscape where the characters are just specks in the frame, and somehow it all seems appropriate. Then you've got the now iconic music by Ennio Morricone that sets the stage during all the suspenseful showdowns. This is a film that can only be described as epic.
This film is one of the best examples of how a great director can elevate a pretty bland and average story into something with tension and excitement unlike any other. I do like my films to have some greater meaning, and this one doesn't quite accomplish that too well, but it is impossible to ignore the level of talent that is needed to successfully pull of a film like this. Though I'm not saying all the writing is bland, there are some individual sequences in this film that are quite clever. I wasn't quite impressed with the two previous spaghetti westerns Leone did, but this is the one where everything really came together and where Leone's trademark style really comes into fruition for me.
Grade: A-
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