707. Once Upon A Time In America

Once Upon A Time In America
1983
Directed by Sergio Leone

Anyone who is a frequent reader of my blog will know what's coming with this one.  I will obviously dislike this film for having such a graphic rape scene.  I actually was looking online right before I started writing this post to see what other people thought of that part.  I found a forum where the general consensus seemed to be it was partly Deborah's fault because she kissed him first.  I had to close the window before my head exploded.

Anyway, I will try to cover the entire movie with this review.  This story isn't told chronologically and the running time is quite long so I will give as succinct of a summary as I can. Basically, the film tells the story of four Jewish gangsters in New York City.  The movie spans decades and we become extremely well acquainted with these men, who are all pretty much the worst.

I think a lot of people will say that the rape scene is necessary, that it worked, and that it wasn't gratuitous.  Perhaps all that is true, although I am still incredibly sick of having to see sexual violence play out on screen.  It still is frustrating and baffling how the characters behave after this event.  I am particularly annoyed at the ending, but, as always, I will abstain from spoilers.

Still, there is no denying that this is an extremely well made film and one that warrants a place on The List.  Can you imagine how my review for Irreversible will go?

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Jodie Foster turned down the role of Deborah.

Sergio Leone has suggested that the film could be an opium induced dream of Noodles'.

479. C'era una volta il West

C'era una volta il West
Once Upon a Time in the West
1968
Directed by Sergio Leone

After a string of "I guess I can see the merit in that" movies, we finally get to a really great film.  Not only is Henry Fonda a bad guy (really take a moment to let that soak in people), but women are only slightly degraded!  That is a big step up for westerns, ladies and gentlemen.

A railroad tycoon sends the evil Frank to bully a landowner into selling his land to the railroad.  Frank ends up killing the guy's entire family instead.  Whoopsies.  Anyway, it turns out the landowner had a new wife, a former prostitute (and I thought meeting guys on Tinder was embarrassing) that actually inherits the land.  What a silly misunderstanding!  Meanwhile, Frank is being pursued by a mysterious man with a harmonica.

Like I said, this is just a fantastic movie that I think is even better than The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  I always love a good revenge tale and that is just a small part of this great story.  The action is great without being upsetting, the characters are well rounded and interesting, and, of course, the style is beautiful.

One of the best westerns I have ever seen.  Check it out!

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

One of the actors that played a gunman committed suicide after a day of shooting.

Trailer:

449. Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
1966
Directed by Sergio Leone

Finally, we break the streak of dull, pretentious movies with probably the most famous spaghetti western of all time.  This is just a fun watch, which is, unfortunately, a nice change.

The three eponymous characters (guess which one Clint Eastwood is) are all completely obsessed with tracking down gold that was stolen from the Confederacy.  It is pretty reminiscent of Treasure of Sierra Madre, but there is much more manliness involved (yeah, I said it; Eastwood is manlier than Bogart).

Don't get me wrong; I think this movie is amazing.  However, I never really understood why it was considered such a masterpiece.  Sure, the scenery is amazing but it seems weird that such a fun, entertaining movie is so critically acclaimed.  Am I jaded now after seeing such boring movies?

Fantastic film and the cemetery scene is flawless.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Eli Wallach and Sergio Leone communicated in French since Wallach didn't know Italian and Leone didn't know English.

Eli Wallach almost died several times throughout filming.

Sorry for the short review but I have done a lot of writing today!

Trailer: