Sizemore: Moviedrome
The Big Silence (Il Grande Silenzio)Italy 1969 Director Sergio Corbucci
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Sergio Corbucci
was also the director of the cult western Django, which was banned
in Britain for many years. Although The Big Silence is his best film,
it has never been shown publicly here or in the United States. It's easy
to see why. The film, like most Italian westerns is incredibly bleak and
pessimistic, but worse, it has the most horrible ending of any film I've
ever seen. It was considered so strong that the producers asked Corbucci
to shoot another. Apparently, that version played in certain Middle Eastern
countries, where action films are popular but they have to have a happy
ending. There was another reason for the film's suppression, though. When it came out in 1969, The Big Silence was extremely popular in Italy and Germany and especially in France. It stars the French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant as 'Silence', a mute gunfighter, and there was talk in Europe that Clint Eastwood was going to buy the rights snd recreate the role. But he didn't. What he did do was to take the external trappings of The Big Silence - the snow, the costumes, even the hero's hat and peculiar gun - and put them in a completely boring 1972 cowboy film that he produced called Joe Kidd, directed by Joe Sturges. The beginning of The Big Silence is a little ragged, but bear with it. Once you're aboard the stagecoach with Trintignant and Klaus Kinski - who plays the politest murderer out west - you're in for an amazing ride. The music is by Ennio Morricone; it's a great and very unusual score. |
