The Western is one of my favorite film genres that I watch often, like classic Film Noirs probably the reason why I love them is because it is near extinction compared to the sci fi adventure and horror films that are still being made today.
The Spaghetti Western is the sub genre of the Westerns made by Italians and Europeans that has a distinctive style compared to the classic Classic Westerns that influenced it.
One of the Spaghetti Westerns that I am a fan of is Sergio Corbucci's "The Great Silence", widely considered as the director's masterpiece along with "Django" that was released 3 years earlier.
The story is set in 1898 at the snowbound territory of Utah, a group of stragglers labeled as criminals are on the run from bounty hunters who have come to kill them and collect their reward. A mute vigilante named Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is hired to defend the stragglers from the bounty hunters, Silence is a skilled gunman who has a bizarre moral code that he follows vigorously.
He can only kill a man if he is defending himself which is the reason he provokes his target before shooting them or blowing their thumbs off which he justifies as self defense. The reason for Silence's motivation is rooted in his childhood when his parents were murdered by bounty hunters, since he was the only one left alive the hunters decided to cut his neck that damaged his vocal chords thus making him a mute. He rides in a stagecoach to Snow Hill, a secluded town high above the mountains that led to a clandestine encounter with Sheriff Burnett (Frank Wolff), the man tasked by the Governor of the territory to maintain peace and the psychotic and greedy bounty hunter Loco (Klaus Kinski) who disturbingly collects bodies of people he kills hidden in the snow.
Silence's reputation has grown tremendously as he is now known and recognized by bounty hunters, he kills Loco's partner Charlie in retaliation for killing a wanted man in front of his mother. Now he is off to Snow Hill this time to track down and kill Loco for killing a black man, the man's wife Pauline offers $1000 to kill Loco but does not have the money to pay him. She goes to the local banker Pollicutt (Luigi Pistilli) to sell her land but the corrupt banker also wants her body as part of the payment and she refuses.
It is interesting to note that the moral subtext and the political motifs were present and obvious in the film, the bounty hunters deem themselves on the side of right while the Mormons looked more like the oppressed people representing the poor during that age. The hysteria caused by the bounty hunters are mistakenly attributed to the Mormons who were trying to live a decent life in the wilderness without being hunted down like animals. The banker Pollicutt is a representation of the corrupt capitalist society that dictates the laws that the lesser people follow, while Silence who is a vigilante is the symbol of the revolution trying to fight the capitalist and corrupt system of that age.
Loco on the other hand is the symbol of anarchy that is caused by the changing times, his no nonsense approach of killing people and collecting bounty which he considers strictly business challenges the morality and the laws that were often blurred in the wilderness and solitude of the wild west. **SPOILER ALERT**
All of the buildup and sequences on the film lead to the grand finale where all sympathetic characters lose their lives at the end. No one was spared from Loco and his Bounty Hunter's onslaught who massacred the stragglers inside the bar after killing Silence which was heartbreaking. Corbucci could not have made a brilliant but remorseless film, I also thought all of the performances were great, Silence played by Jean-Louis Trintignant echoed The Man with no Name "persona but with more heart and humanity.
Frank Wolff who played the Sheriff reminded me of Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton in "The Searchers" who was played brilliantly another great actor Ward Bond.
Vonetta Mcgee was stunning as the suffering widow who offered herself to Silence and Luigi Pistilli playing the sleazy Pollicutt.
But all of remaining praises should be reserved to the great Klaus Kinski who played Loco, he was able to play the part subtly while underplaying the menace of the lethal bounty hunter.
His portrayal of Loco showed unusual control and restraint while remaining psychotic and dangerous showing the audience his efficiency not only as a ruthless killer but a mastermind capable of forming an alliance strong enough to eliminate anyone standing in his way. The Sheriff made the fatal mistake of letting his guard down allowing Loco to take him by surprise with his back turned, one of the brilliant scenes of the film that only a man like Loco can find amusing. A lot of people may not be familiar with Corbucci because he was eclipsed by the more popular Sergio Leone, but the difference of Corbucci from Leone is with his keen eye to brutality and violence which echoes a style similar to Sam Peckinpah. His west is unlike any other, full of ruthless characters devoid of remorse or pity and with this style he was able to craft a masterpiece that is still being watched today. "The Great Silence" with it's breathtaking cinematography aided by the haunting score of Ennio Morricone is an authentic spaghetti western classic.
Grade: A+
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