The Great Silence (1968)

The Great Silence is directed by Sergio Corbucci and Corbucci co- writes the screenplay with Mario Amendola, Bruno Corbucci and Vittoriano Petrilli. It stars Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, Vonetta McGee and Mario Brega. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Silvano Ippoliti.Snowhill, Utah - Winter at the turn of the century, and the local villagers have succumbed to thievery purely to survive. But with that comes bounties on their heads, which brings into the area the bounty hunters who are a law unto themselves. Enter the mute gunfighter known as Silence, who has a deep rooted hatred of bounty hunters...Something of a cult classic and massively popular in Spaghetti Western fan's circles, The Great Silence is as perpetually cold as the snowy landscapes that surround this tale. Death is a financial commodity, greed and corruption stalks the land, while the shades between right and wrong are as blurry as can be. The violence cuts deep, none more so than with the famous finale that closes down the pic with a pneumatic thud. The photography captures the winter scapes perfectly and is in tune with the narrative drive, while maestro Morricone lays a ethereal musical score over proceedings. There's some daft goofs such as a dead man blinking and manacles that mysteriously disappear, and not all the acting is of the standard that Kinski and Wolff provide, but this is one utterly unforgettable bowl of Spaghetti. Its reputation in the pasta circles well deserved. 8/10

It's hard to gauge this because the dubbing into American accents was not so good. Twas a distraction and would have been better with subtitles. The dubbing on its own is bad but that also throws the sound off at times. What's great about this spaghetti western is definitely the snowy scenery of the Dolomites in northern Italia. What a production filming in such conditions. Our protagonist (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and antagonist (Klaus Kinski) are both solid in their performances. Interesting social undertones with a fine hero out to destroy a terrible villain. But all that gets shot down, literally, at the end. In American westerns you know who wins. American westerns I love and have seen perhaps 1,000 of. So the ending here left me shocked. Many westerns come and go, to be forgotten about for all time. Not this one! --A Kat Pirate Screener

Sergio Corbucci's 1968 masterpiece is in my opinion the best non Leone spaghetti western. while the film for its downbeat ending and the usual dark and grimy feel its contrasting shot in beautifully snowy locations. the story revolves around a town where the justice of he peace Pollicut has but a price on a group of Mormon bandits who have been refused work in the village. Pollicut has hired bounty hunters led by loco to pick them off so he can give them reward money then claim plus interest repayment from the government. Pauline, wife of one of the victims, hires the mute hero Silence to get revenge. the films mute hero Silence is brilliantly portrayed by Jean Louis Trintignant who can only use facial expressions and body movements to show the emotional conflicts the character suffers during the film. While Klaus Kinski is fantastic as Loco the polite and smiling, but utterly ruthless villain. The likable frank wolf plays the sheriff sent to fix the town and his probably the most decent character in the film which means in this film means he's not going to be sheriff for very long. Vonetta McGee is excellent in her film debut as the doomed heroine. Spaghetti western favourite Luigi Pistilli is slimy perfection in the role of the Pollicut the film other primary villain while Mario Brega is great in his usual role of the chief henchman. The rest of the cast do well in their small roles.Sergio Corbucci made many spaghetti westerns and is best remembered for the classic film Django but this is his best film.

What made me start to love this film was the music, most notably the main theme. In fact, it was the first thing I found of the film. It's slow, starts with a strangely melancholy piano ring and strumming of guitars, then building up with violins and flutes and finally going back over the song again with a chorus. I found it happy at first, it was a beautiful piece. After I watched the film, I could never really listen to the song the same way again.Let me explain why. The first opening scene is of a man wearing heavy black clothing riding a horse,going through a snowy valley, then you see five or so people armed with rifles hiding behind a snow bank. The man on the horse comes within a few yards from them, and then stops. He looks around as crows fly onto a hillside, and then looks back down as the men jump out. But before any of the men can fire, the man on the horse pulls out a Mauser Repeating pistol and sends a flurry of bullets into each one of them with a shot to the face. The camera takes shots of each one of the dead men, blood streaming down from their faces. One man apparently stayed hidden, but suddenly then jumps out, throwing his rifle down and screams "Wait! Don't shoot! I won't do it again, honestly Silence!" The man on the horse looks down, without a change in his expression, shoots the other man's thumbs clean off and leaves him to bleed to death in the snow.The film is in no way a family friendly story, and this is only a small teaspoon of what The Great Silence has to offer. Released in 1968, during the heyday of the Euro-Western trend, the film wasn't exactly a box office success as about one hundred other Euro-Westerns were released at the same time, and was sadly overlooked. But now, the film finally finally has received the attention it deserves.The film follows the story of the Silence (the man on the horse, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant), who takes vengeance on the bounty killers who are after the reward money on the wrongly accused poor folk hiding away in the mountains. One of the bandits becomes fed up with hiding, and goes to find his wife and taker her away to a safer place. But the bounty killer Loco (played by Klaus Kinski), takes the bandits wife, Pauline (played by Vonetta McGee) and uses her to lure him out, then kills him for the reward money. Pauline, wanting revenge, seeks out Silence to kill Loco. But once Silence is on Locos trail, Sheriff Burnett (played by Frank Wolff) who was sent out to stop the Bounty Killers murder for reward, is the only thing between Silence and Loco. But this isn't your normal western, and just like in real life, the good guy's don't always win.The Great Silence is still something to marvel at, even to the modern film-goer. Straight from its blood soaked story, to its beautiful snowy locations, to its bleak and other wise depressing ending. The Great Silence will leave you never looking at Euro-Westerns (or any western) the same way again.