Spaghetti with a twist
Up until now, my only exposure to the whole 'Spaghetti Western' genre has been through Sergio Leone's 'Fistful of Dollars', 'A Few Dollars More', 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly', 'Once Upon a Time in the West', 'Fistful of Dynamite' and the odd ridiculous Terrence Hill comedy/westerns featuring his 'Trinity' character. I ran into this one this evening on IFC, and was struck right away with the different feel this one had. A lot of the same 'bigger than life' characters with outrageously precise shooting prowess, lots of 'in your face' violence, extreme close-ups, out of sync dialog, elaborate gun hardware and strange gallows humor, but on the other hand, it had characters that weren't quite totally good or totally bad, just with different agendas, and sorry to spoil the ending, but it was a real shock to see the 'hero' not come out on top, and those he hoped to save from the 'villain' slaughtered mercilessly and the sadistic bounty hunter ride off unsullied into the sunset. I loved the snow covered landscapes and sets, which gave the whole film a rather stark appearance in keeping with its existential themes.