The film with 3 names: in praise of Sergio Leone’s neglected spaghetti western (2024)

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How many movies did Clint Eastwood make with Sergio Leone? ›

Total (3 films)

Although not Leone's intention, the three films came to be considered a trilogy following the exploits of the same so-called "Man with No Name" (portrayed by Clint Eastwood, wearing the same clothes and acting with the same mannerisms).

According to biographer Sir Christopher Frayling, Leone was deeply hurt by the studio-imposed editing and poor commercial reception of Once Upon a Time in America in North America. It was his last film. In 1988, he was head of the jury at the 45th Venice International Film Festival.

(Italian: Giù la testa, lit. "Duck Your Head", "Get Down"), also known as A Fistful of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time ... the Revolution, is a 1971 epic Zapata Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Leone and starring Rod Steiger, James Coburn, and Romolo Valli.

After Clint Eastwood turned down an offer to play the movie's protagonist, Bronson was offered the role. During production, Leone recruited Donati to rewrite the script due to concerns over time limitations. The original version by the director was 166 minutes when it was first released on December 21, 1968.

While he evolved from a hot-headed youngster to a more mature figure, Yates wasn't a character with great depth or nuance. After Fleming exited, Eastwood wasn't happy with being made the main character, despite an increased salary.

Eastwood's big-screen breakthrough came as The Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's trilogy of excellent spaghetti westerns: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).

“Spaghetti” Westerns are a subgenre of Westerns whose name references the circ*mstances and location of their filming. Generally, a Spaghetti Western is a low-budget film produced by Italian directors (hence the “spaghetti” connection) and filmed in Europe, primarily in Almería and the Tabernas Desert.

Sergio Leone (born January 3, 1929, Rome, Italy—died April 30, 1989, Rome) was an Italian motion-picture director who was known primarily for his popularization of the “spaghetti western,” a subgenre of movies that were made in Italy but set in the 19th-century American West.

Spaghetti westerns, however, possess no “original” language. They weren't shot with any sound at all: Italian filmmakers, from directors of cheesy gladiator epics to Federico Fellini, often shot silently, synchronizing sound and dialogue in postproduction.

The Dollars trilogy (1964-66)

Already containing many of Leone's visual trademarks and a score by Morricone, A Fistful of Dollars set the template for spaghetti westerns to come.

Where is Sergio Leone buried? ›

Sergio Leone was buried, following his own wish, in the small Cemetery of Pratica di Mare, a hamlet of Pomezia, a place that in the 1960s he had turned into a film set for shooting some of his most famous films.

While it was Eastwood that provided Leone with a future icon to feature in his spaghetti westerns, and Leone helped Eastwood get his leg up into his career, Leone once suggested that he does not consider Eastwood a proper actor in the same vein as the likes of Robert De Niro.

It deserves recognition. In Once Upon a Time in the West, Leone turns the western askew. All the fundamentals are up for grabs. When you have a character Frank, played by 63-year old Henry Fonda, shoot and kill a young boy, you are in shocking territory.

While Eastwood eventually understood the artistic scope of "Once Upon a Time in the West," he still saw it as "just another pasta dish." He also realized that he would still be the poncho and the squint to the film's more colorful characters, roles eventually filled by Henry Fonda and Jason Robards.

Sergio Leone (born January 3, 1929, Rome, Italy—died April 30, 1989, Rome) was an Italian motion-picture director who was known primarily for his popularization of the “spaghetti western,” a subgenre of movies that were made in Italy but set in the 19th-century American West.

Clint and John never worked together, but they did meet when Clint visited the set of 1976's The Shootist. “John persisted with 'comfort westerns,' some of which made money,” says Eyman. But things were changing.

'A Fistful of Dollars' (1964)

In search of an actor to headline his Western “homage” to the Japanese movie Yojimbo, Italian director Sergio Leone wanted Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Charles Bronson. When somebody showed him an episode of Rawhide and suggested the 34-year-old Eastwood, the filmmaker scoffed: This guy?