Sergio Leone : Master of technique,treatment and style
iView Author: Shashank Walia
(Delhi, India)
EMAIL: shashankwalia [at] live [dot]com
Sergio Leone – Master of technique,treatment and style
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Well I still remember the day I saw The good,the bad and the ugly – fourth film of the great Sergio Leone. The film had a huge impact on me with its dynamic cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli ,crisp and fast editing by Eugenio Alabiso and Nino Baragli, reallife locales, quality character development, brilliant background scorecomposed by Ennio Morricone,spectacular direction and screenplay by Sergio Leone.
Sergio Leone is often misunderstood by various film critics and film students as a stylish filmmaker but in real sense his techniques and aesthetical sense were as brilliant as his style. His first two western spaghettis: A fistful of dollars and A few dollarsmore acted as ground base for an epic masterpiece – Once Upon A Time in theWest.
Although Once Upon A Time in the West had very few similarities in termsof aesthetical and technical value concerned with the former two but one thingwas common and that was a unique style of presenting a story on screen.Although the film bombed at the box office at that time with audience expecting another action based comic western spaghetti from him which rather turned outto be a political-crime drama with elements of action and comedy in it.
Also what cost the film a failure was ruthless editing by the Paramount studios. Nonetheless the film is now considered as amasterpiece because of its brilliant and spectacular cinematography, brilliant performances by the cast including Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robardsand Claudia Cardinale. Other important aspects of the film were backgroundscore, screenplay and sound design.
Once upon a time in the west holds very important and significant plots such as gangstersarriving on a left out Mexican railway station, arrival of the female protagonistin a new city finding whole of the family dead and of course the final showdownbetween the protagonist and the antagonist. One of the sequences in the filmhugely inspires Indian blockbuster film Sholay – the sequence where thegangster comes and finishes the whole family. The editing style, the characterplacement, the sound design and even the dialogue seems to be hugely borrowedfrom the scene.
Another important aspect of the works of Sergio Leone was his collaboration with his technicianssuch as background score composer Ennio Morricone, cinematographers Massimo Dallamano and Tonino Delli Colli, filmeditors Eugenio Alabiso and Nino Baragli andscreenplay associates Dario Argento &Bernardo Bertolucci .This collaboration always kept an understanding between him and his team which helped him in making such brilliant films. Sergio Leone was also considered to be very particular abouthis background score and thus Ennio Morricone became a master composer in the worldof cinema due to his stylized and brilliant compositions which were ripped offby various composers of the world. He was one the very few directors who usedto record background score before the production of the film and shoot the whole film with the score running in real time on the sets.
Thenext film of his was Duck You Sucker(Once upon a time in the revolution), another masterpiece which is highlyacclaimed because of it character development and performances by lead - Rod Steiger& James Coburn.The film’s best was involvement of a social message with high action and entertainment element involved in it. Today this film has garnered a great stature among the cinema lovers and critics despite its box-office failure at the time of its release.
Onceupon a time in the America – the film that proved that Leone can also makegreat film out of the western genre came in to market and bombed badly due toruthless cutting of the film which also changed the structure of the film. Thefilm is now after its release in DVD is considered as one of the finest filmsever made and certain critics and film lovers even rate is as great as The Godfather.The film follows a non linear structure which after heavy cutting became linearand whole concept of the film was washed out by the studios. The film is knownfor its unique style of storytelling and performance by the lead actor Robert De Niro. The film belongs to genre ofcrime drama where how a group of Jewish children manages to become a part of organizedcrime is portrayed. Excellent technical values gelling with high aestheticalquotient makes this film the best film of Sergio Leone. The phone ring which was used as element toswitch on and off between present and flashback was an example of highaesthetical value involved in the film.
SergioLeone is considered to be as an inventor of the genre of western spaghetti andalso he gave rise to a new star Clint Eastwood.
His technique of cuttingbetween extra wide long shots and close ups became popular with major directorsof today’s time such as Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese. The last three film of Sergio Leone is considered as cult classictoday for its sheer magic of audience involvement. The man with no name trilogy may have been money spinner for the studios but its last three films that were brilliant cinematically.
RogerEbert once stated “
‘Once Upon aTime in the West’ is good fun, especially if you like Leone’sway of savoring the last morsel of every scene. A final shoot-out between Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson, for example, takes at least 15 minutes. They walk. Theywait. They circle each other. They stare at each other. They squint. They spit.They take off their jackets. They wince. Just when they finally seem preparedto shoot after all, Leone uses a flashback. But why hurry a good shoot-out?”
Yes these are things that make the cinema of Sergio Leone great. Hats off to the legend for makingsuch epic and great films that are a source of inspiration for all the major directorsof today’s time.
Filed Under
Movies, Thoughts, World Cinema , Sergio Leone, The good the bad the ugly
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Priceless dude. Ennio Morricone, Tonino Colli and Bertolucci are technicians according to you ? Just curious to know if you think these guys are technicians then just who do you consider an artist ?
Awesome topic picked mate. Shall read it in the evening. But one comment for Mitch - are technicians not artists?
A technician is a guy who would come and tune Morricone’s piano before a recital. Artists are folks who create something original. This is a sad sad state of affairs of Indian cinema if even self confessed cinema addicts can’t distinguish between the two.
Just because an artist has technical skills doesn’t make him a “TECHNICIAN”. Try reading Sight and Sound instead of Stardust and you wouldn’t confuse the two.
[rant]
I am not reading either Star’bust’ or Sight and Sound. I probably belong to the ‘aam junta’, the front benchers, the people who make a bad movie hit and sink the ‘intelligent cinema’ down the drain. I am the face behind the success of K-Jos and Y-Chos. I don’t know names of directors from French New Wave or Timbuktu Indie Film Festival to throw around. All I can appreciate is Vijay Anand, Manmohan Desai, David Dhawan in heydays and Ramesh Sippy.
[/rant]
But I am often confused about the distinction - what are editors, cinematographers, sound technicians etc.?
Editors, cinematographers and sound technicians are the people serving popcorn and Pepsi to you at a theatre. Vijay Anand and Manmohan Desai were technicians who came and fixed your washing machine when it broke.
Subrata Mitra was the electrician / plumber / technician for Satyajit Ray’s colony before Ray asked him to shoot Pather Panchali. Probably Ray was impressed with his technical skills at changing a light bulb. Subrata also accidentally happened to discover and master Bounce Lighting before anyone else in the world.
Hahaha..that was a good one. Really. Really good one. You managed to throw in only one new name in this post though.
I am sorry for double post, but honestly I am still laughing at Mitch’s reply. In all earnestness, that was a smart reply!!
Beer anyone?
@Mitch
Well who said the technicians can’t be artists. Your post answering Tejas about technicians seems to give me an idea that what you think of technicians. Vijay Anand and Moanmohan Desai are technicians being director but Satyajit Ray is not, you seems to be completely coonfused in your own idea.
Secondaly in film world we call cinematographer, editors, composers and art director as technicians not because they know how to fix a bulb but because they know the technicalities required in making a film. The film is as much as technical as it is aesthetical. Without the technical involvement no film is being made ever till now. Also if a cinematographer is called technician by no means we snatch creative freedom from him it will be always there with him. So despite indulging in such unnecessary discussion if you may comment on the main article people will be much more impressed.
@Both,
I think I know what Mitch is referring to. For example, you appreciate Hussain’s paintings. Now, behind the making of that one artifact, lots of people are directly or indirectly involved. The subject matter, if it’s a live subject, people who maintain Hussain’s gallery, people who made his colors, people who made his brushes, etc.
The color-makers themselves might be great artists in a way that they do their job absofuckinglutely brilliant. With dash or artistry. There might be great designers involved in inventing new shades, new brushes, and those designers are those who know the technique of painting and the ‘art’ behind it.
To Hussain all of these ‘technicians’ matter a lot. But when you are admiring the painting itself, you admire Hussain’s use of colors, brush strokes, and you’re not concerned with the ‘technicians’ behind it. Not as much as Hussain himself might be.
See, ‘ishmart boy’!!
And I am still laughing. 
@ Tejas
I think thats what I said.
@Shashank - I was just trying to lighten up the mood a bit.
Plus, I always have to reiterate to see if I understood it correctly.
mitch tejas, guys …in the entire post raving abt sergie leone’s films ….u cannot comment on anything else except a word that might have been used unintenionally incorrectly ??? “technician”
(read/seen somewhere)it took about 10 years to shoot and finish Once upon a time in America primarily cuz Leone wanted the aged De Niro to age like his character and didnt have enough faith in the make up dept doing full justice to the transformation.
‘One of the sequences in the filmhugely inspires Indian blockbuster film Sholay’ inspiration bro???!! its friggin cut paste
Alright, since I promised reading the article in the evening, here I am on my Friday evening.
Sergio Leone belongs to the class of directors that film institutes should incorporate in their syllabus for entire course. Making movies with spaghetti-string budget - simple stories you can describe in a few sentences, universal theme of revenge. It was great to see how for most of the parts aesthetics did not suffer despite small budget. Probably we should start expressing our gratitude with Kurosawa.
Another great things about Leone movies was that whoever took inspiration, with anything more than half of their hearts and brains invested, came out with good results. Be it Sholay the great, or comparatively lesser popular Khotey Sikkey. (I liked the later as well because of its similar theme and multiple reruns on cable)
Last but not the least - in action scenes Leone’s characters moved slow, steady and with terrific laidback yet vigilante attitude. Today’s characters have to be slo-mo’ed.
@DPac
He he, yes to be honest its copy paste only but i mentioned that way because i didn’t want to hurt the feelings of a hard-core Sholay fan.
@Kartik
Well you said it all right expect one the word was not use unintentionally. Its only a word may be in Mitch’s dictionary of film making its something else.
@shashank,
if u r not honest here in pfc where will u be?
@Dpac
See being honest is different and being rude and hurting others sentiments is different. I am being honest bu writing “One of the sequences in the filmhugely inspires Indian blockbuster film Sholay – the sequence where thegangster comes and finishes the whole family. The editing style, the characterplacement, the sound design and even the dialogue seems to be hugely borrowedfrom the scene.”
Its just that i used the word Inspiration in place of copy.
thats the problem Shashank,
its entirely ur prerogative whether u choose to be bit non confrontational in ur choice of words
but theres a difference between inspiration/tribute and all that stuff and cut and paste scene by scene copy..
Being confrontational all the time is tiresome and boring. Give me subtlety, sarcasm, wit, dry humor anytime…
Shashank dude, nice article. Do keep writing in via Project iView. Many of us here do focus on content rather than semantics…
@Dpac
See the thing is a 10 year old Anurag Kashyap or a 12 year old Sanjay Leela Bhansali may not know about “Once Upon A Time In The West” but Sholay can be there all time fav. film. So thats the point now you have a reach to world cinema and you can watch such film thats why you can say that its a rip off or a copy. When I tends to write I keep in mind that sort of readers too who may not have seen the source film. I hope you got my point. Also the article was about the cinema of the great Sergio Leone not about a scene of Sholay being copied from a film. It was stated just for reference sake. See for me Sholay is as great a The Stagecoach, Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, Once Upon A time In West and High Noon, no matter it draws a scene or characters from these films.
@D&C
Thanks for the encouragement will definitely keep on writing.
Shashank,
i do understand what the article was about bro. was just chit chatting on ‘the why’ of ur choice of words.
but i dont get what u meant by the your last comment though- esp this part -
‘When I tends to write I keep in mind that sort of readers too who may not have seen the source film. I hope you got my point.’
what do u mean there? what would change if u said one scene from sholay was a cut paste? and just for the record i too am a fan of Sholay albeit for different reasons..
I meant to say that everybody does not seems to have watched the source film - a film from where plot, story, character sketch etc is inspired or copy. For some Shashank Kaante can be his fav film - He may not have seen The Reservoir Dogs.
Hope You Got It
Some people are emotionally attached with a film and so when you tell that its a copy or so it hurts or changes their opinion. I don’t want that .Simple.
oh now i get it !!
u want to preserve the illusion for some ehehe
the proverbial blue pill red pill decision already made
anyway, looking for more from u bro..
write on
cheers