Ennio Morricone

[I say, I say]

Recently I completed the famous Spaghetti Western 'Dollars' Trilogy being A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and of course I watched all three in a row. Believe me it was a lot less demanding than watching three Lord of the Rings Films and six Star Wars films. And more so I enjoyed it even more than those films put together.

 

However being a fan of the second volume of Kill Bill I noticed that some of the music was the same; in fact some of the tracks were from the works of Ennio Morricone; the man who scored the 'Dollars' Trilogy. Rarely has such music had an impact on me; but this does. As the bounty-hunters prepare to fire, the music throw so much into the scenes; the final duels are spectular. Music is one of the key elements that made that film. In many ways it is the same for Grim Fandango; I wondered what could have happened if Ennio Morricone had scored Grim Fandango?

 

Not that Grim Fandango would need a new soundtrack, its perfect as it is. However it seems to me that classic films do have classic soundtracks, they bring real atmosphere into a scene and even more into certain characters.

[El Virus]

Recently I completed the famous Spaghetti Western 'Dollars' Trilogy being A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and of course I watched all three in a row. Believe me it was a lot less demanding than watching three Lord of the Rings Films and six Star Wars films. And more so I enjoyed it even more than those films put together.

 

For some reason, every time you post something related to westerns, I have just finished watching one of them. Today it was "Once Upon a Time in the West", which is a truly great film (thanks for the recommendation Jofa). My only complaint is that the main character is a hero, which disappointed me, for I liked that special quality of non-American westerns of having no likeable characters (so to speak, after all 'the Man with no name' is one of the best characters in an entertainment movie).

 

I agree with you. The Dollars Trilogy is, for me, the only saga worth watching.

 

Music is one of the key elements that made that film.

 

Indeed. I tried to get my music teacher to find a way of making that music, but I was left empty-handed.

 

I wondered what could have happened if Ennio Morricone had scored Grim Fandango?

 

I cannnot picture it much different than the original one, or to those of the films he scored. Most probably it would have been just as good.

 

Still, McConnell (sp?) deserves some credit, Grim Fandango's soundtrack is outstanding; the only problem is that the tracks are too short. And this, as simple as it may seem, is a severe problem.

 

As I said on another thread, to you if I remember correctly, the Outlaws soundtrack is amazing. The soundtrack of this game, arranged by Clint Bajakian, is in my opinion far better to the one in Grim Fandango; as a matter fact, tracks 2, 7 and 14, are the best 'Spaghetti Western' music I've ever heard, even to that by Morricone himself. Check that game out, if you want to, you won't be disappointed.

 

Anyway, I better stop here, for I'll turn this into a Western films discussion if I get the chance.

[VampireNaomi]

Anyway, I better stop here, for I'll turn this into a Western films discussion if I get the chance.

 

Why not? We've had worse subjects in the past and I like reading your opinions.

 

Sadly, I can't really contribute anything since westerners are one genre I simply couldn't care less about. I find them boring and, since I symphatize with native Americans, most of the time they make me want to build a time machine, go back in time and kill all Europeans with their houlier than thou attitude before they go and destroy other cultures. Feeling angry enough to kill so many people is not very productive, so I avoid wild west movies all together.

 

However, I love 'Blazing Saddles'. That's brilliance. And last Friday I saw 'Back to the Future III'. I also saw the one in which Elvis played the guy whose mother was a native American and father a white guy.

 

... why is everyone laughing at me? What do you mean these movies are pathetic compared to the classics you're talking about?

[El Virus]

That's the thing with non-American Westerns, they are not really about 'history', or how the 'heroic Americans conquered the wild West'. They just use that peculiar time in history (a rather romantic and nostalgic time) to make stories which can revolve around it.

 

The best you can find out there are Italian westerns (a.k.a. 'Spaghetti') or Soviet ones (there's a subgenre in these ones called 'Ostern', the most beautiful ones, which do not take place in the American Wild West, but on the plains of Eastern Europe during the Civil War (the Reds against Whites war, I mean))

 

Instead, they are tales about people, such as in most European movies.

There are no heros, instead the main characters are just mere vandals or bastards, loners and killers, whose only quest consists in some sort of revenge or scam; Quoting a line in Once Upon a Time in the West "people who have something to do with death".

And they differ with the American western in several things, while the main character of these movies will be too ethical to kill the man who savagely murdered his brother, and decide to send him to the local jail and give the money to poor children and marry the girl; the Spaghetti-western characters will not hesitate to shoot him if he has the chance and they won't marry the woman whose life they have saved, instead they will just ride away.

And that is what is so special about them, once they have ended their quest, and after they ride away, the sole purpose of their life is gone.

 

And these are my opinions about this genre I like so much, I find them to be (as well as Film Noir) the mid point between art and entertainment.

 

 

 

Spelling/grammar issues, they are thanks to the keyboard.

[VampireNaomi]

I guess I've never had the chance to see a non-American western. Some of the titles you mentioned earlier sound vaguely familiar, though. They're probably the best films in the genre and some of the best movies ever made, period, but I doubt I'll like them. This just isn't a genre for me.

[El Virus]

If anybody is interested, I just ran into this.

 

You can find the music Ennio Morricone made for the Dollars Trillogy and any other Clint Eastwood film.

 

I strongly recommend A fisful of dollars; For a few dollars more*; Goodbye colonel; and The trio, specially 1:40 minutes past that song.

 

This style of music is amazing, quite melancholical & original. The choirs, trumpets and guitars sound great, and on a way that they resemble traditional Mexican melodies merged with Classical music.

 

EDIT: Oh, and in case you couldn't find them, here are tracks Sanctuary; Sanchez the Outlaw; The Sawmill; and The last gunfight. All from the Outlaws soundtrack.

 

*Link is not working; just scroll through the site and download it directly from there.