How Sergio Leone Influenced Filmmaking - Essay Example

? Topic- How Sergio Leone influenced film making Table of contents I …………………………………………………..3 II. Introduction………………………………………………….4-6 A. Leonestyle of film making………………………… 4 B. Leone films and direction………………………….. 6 III. Sergio’s transformation of the American films……….…….7 IV. Films made by Sergio Leone - their visual features and its impact on cinema…………………………………………………………….. 9 V. Criticisms …………………………………………………11-12 A. Critics against Leone……………………….……….11 B. Sergio’s films – the positive dimension……..……….11 VI. Conclusion…………………………………………………. 13 References…………………………………………….……. 14 Abstract Using moving images to emote human emotions like love, fear, birth, death and other living sentiments on screen, to present before the audience the experiences they feel in their own lives is the essence cinema. There are other mediums to reach out to the audience like puppetry, theaters and drama but with time and technology the celluloid world of cinema is definitely on the lead. There were many phases in film making like the era of silent films, Eastman color films etc. One such significant phase was the American westerns that led to the beginning of the Spaghetti Western genre of films. Spaghetti Westerns were popular all over the globe like Europe, USA, parts of Asia and Africa (Jones, 43). Sergio Leone was a master of such film making. Leone was not the inventor of spaghetti films but he made classic movies using it. With this sub genre of film making Sergio Leone took the style of film making to new heights. However, Sergio’s style is often disputed by critics on its originality. Nevertheless, Sergio’s contribution to film making remains undisputed as his style is quoted by many modern day film makers like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. Introduction In the early forties, film making in Italy was in poor shape because of the ongoing world wars (Karg, Van Over and Sutherland, 14). The films made were basically made to spread anti war sentiments and for political propagation. Post war In Italy during the 40s and 50s, films were made to depict the change in human psyche. This was known as the period of neorealism. It dealt with everyday conditions of poverty, death and defeat (Italian neorealism, n.d). The Italian film industry began to show reforms with the beginning of American western genre films popularly known as the Spaghetti Westerns during 1970s mastered by Sergio Leone. It was a departure from the usual sword-and-sandal epic films (Heifetz Stricke, 1). Sergio’s spaghetti films were successful in Italy because of their differences from the classical westerns films (Bondanella, 255). There were distinct features like the identification of the central character was always kept hidden, women being used only as widows or were completely absent, equal level of violence enacted by all characters and a hint of dark humor. These films were made in Italian studios and had American and other actors (Traina, 1). Films made by Leone were narrative, artistic, and had other conventions. His films revived the career of many aging Hollywood actors and saved Cinecitta which was almost shut down because of the failure of Hollywood movies (Film Series/ Events). Sergio Leone made remarkable influence in modern European cinema by changing the pattern of traditional Hollywood motion pictures. Leone introduced many new concepts in film making through the Spaghetti Westerns. He was notable for many special cinematic features like taking close ups of the actors to make the emotion appear more realistic and convincing. Spaghetti Westerns films used the dry locales in Spain instead of presenting conventional themes. Sergio collaborated with Ennio Morricone while developing the film scores that became a style of its own. Extreme close up of the eyes of the characters, shoot out and blending of the close range and long range shots were other trademark features (A tribute to the masterful Sergio Leone). Leone’s style of film making Sergio’s style of film making is disputed to have been copied from the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa (A tribute to the masterful Sergio Leone). He incorporated Morricone’s music to portray emotion, dramatic camera movements and his signature style taking close ups of the eyes of his characters which soon began to be used by other directors too (A tribute to the masterful Sergio Leone). Leone was criticized for it but he defended himself by stating that his close ups were not aimed at increasing the beauty of his character but to show a more realistic emotion. The first two movies of Leone – A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More depicted human values less and focused more on money and revenge. In fact, A Fistful of Dollars almost wiped off the American classical film making style (The Sergio Leone Anthology). He later switched to a more traditional treatment for his movies as the west began to develop with the beginning of railways in America (Bondanella, 258). Leone’s films and direction Leone came from a family of Italian directors. Leone began his directorial debut in 1959, when he completed the direction for the film In The Last Days of Pompeii on behalf of his mentor Mario Bonnard. This movie established Leone’s directorial ability (Senses of Cinema). In 1969, when the Italian film industry suffered downturns and financial catastrophes due to the failure of Hollywood movies, Leone revived the industry with the filming of A Fistful of Dollars that was a western remake of the samurai film Yojimbo. In his films, Leone captured the Spanish landscapes and their aridity fully. He portrayed his actors as the traditional villains in Europe with weather beaten, bearded faces and an uncanny liking for violence. The actors were violent than the conventional standards. This form of movie was not shown in Italian cinema before and it quickly became a cult genre (Senses of Cinema). Once Upon a Time in America was the last film made by Sergio Leone in 1984. In his movie he tried to move out of the Western Spaghetti theme and explore the American gangster psychology. The film was four hours long and was explained using flashbacks and non linear opening to prevent the audience from coming from a conclusion. But it was not approved of by the US distributors. The film was shortened by two and half hours and was shown in a chronological order. The movie that was finally released in 1984 did not do well at the box office and was a failure (Once Upon a Time in America). Sergio’s transformation of the American films Before Sergio Leone, western films portrayed the myth surrounding the cow boys. This was seen in almost all western movies. The cowboys who rode on horse backs, smoked cigars, were ruthless and violent. This depicted the western psychology in the films. But this was changing towards the end of the last century. A Fist Full of Dollars was the first film that began the genre for American western films or the Spaghetti films in Italy. He transformed the classical concept of using American landscapes and explored the Spanish and Italian terrains (Lehman, 2). It was the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly directed by Leone that truly established the Spaghetti Western type of movies (Film Series/Events). The film changed the pattern of the usual western films. In this film, one of the protagonists played by Clint Eastwood as the man with no name was shown to be good over the other two who were actually portrayed as the good ones. This was a new concept for the westerns at that time. Violence was portrayed more brutally then the general conventions (Lehman, 3). Leone films were famous for their twisting climax too like in the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly where there three protagonists are shown to kill each other if any one of them shoots. This was not seen in westerns movies before (Lehman, 5). Also the music scores in the film consisted of gun shots, whistles and trumpets solos (Bondanella, 256). Films made by Sergio Leone - their visual features and its impact on cinema During his life time Sergio Leone made only seven movies (Edwards, 1). His films were huge hits with the masses as it gave them a new form of entertainment like extreme violence blended with classicism. The first three films made by Leone known as Dollar Trilogy – A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad , and the Ugly were made consecutively since 1964. His last film, Once Upon a Time in America in 1984 was a disaster and it gradually began the fall of Sergio films. The first film made by Sergio in Spaghetti Western genre, A Fistful of Dollars, was a remake of the samurai movie Yojimbo by Kurosawa where swords where replaced with guns. It marked the stardom of Clint Eastwood who made famous as the man with no name in the movie. The notable point in the movie was the style in which old western world was shown. Use of dirt instead of traditional clean faces of the characters, the extensive use of dry landscapes, portrayal of blood and violence in the grittiest manner, dark humor and a mixed character of the protagonist were the striking features of the film. The movie was not free from flaws but was enjoyable for its audience at that time (Berardinelli). The second movie made by Sergio in the dollar trilogy was A Few Dollars More. This was more like the savage, blood thirsty, menacing westerns made in Hollywood. Here Clint Eastwood once again played the man with the no name though his character was named as Monco. The movie showed Eastwood’s character to be in the good though he was no better than the other two protagonists. This was iconic as it was never experimented before in the westerns movies. The film set the style of using wide angled shots and extensive close ups. The music by Ennio Morricone who blended together the western motifs with orchestra, the sound tracks that were goofy became the trademark for Leone films. The props and costumes were iconic like the poncho used by Clint Eastwood’s character. The gestures and body language of the characters in the film like the way the cigar was held also became a cult. The most critically acclaimed film in the dollar trilogy was The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The movie used cinematic techniques like freeze frames, intertitles, point of view shots for the first time. These methods along with Morrocone’s much twisted coyote cry, surf guitar sound tracks created a niche in cinematic techniques (Lazenby). The last movie made by Leone was Once Upon a Time in America in 1984. The movie did not do well and was a massive flop. The film that tells the story of five decades was not made in a chronological manner so as to keep the audience engaged in an opium illusion. However in US, the film had to be shortened by ninety minutes. Many shots were cut. The movie lost its texture and appeal after that (Ebert). Critics against Leone Sergio Leone was always insecure with his Spaghetti Western films. The Spaghetti Westerns were amoral in character, filled with blood shots, were pretentious, and extremely violent. They were regarded as crap by the critics. Also, the trademark feature of jolting the audience every time with actions in the film was a kind of “electric shock” for the audience (Macnab, 2). Critics found the dollar films to be sadistic and morbid because of their cynical violence, and their depiction of the western genre as a whole (McClain, 52). His films were perceived by critics to send a wrong signal to the society (McClain, 54). There were also critics who criticized his dollar films as not being like the usual American west movies but had genuine appreciation for the historical realms of the films by Leone (McClain, 55) Sergio’s films – the positive dimension Sergio tried to resurrect the traditional American heroes and the western movies. He said that the violence in his films had a softer approach with a political hint. He tried to explore the virility of the young people through his cinema. He focused on the theme of seeking justice at one’s own cost. There were other comments which said that Sergio made some great stunts by showing blood. His film making influenced other directors too. Sergio changed the American music too. His collaboration with Ennio Morrocone produced some great tracks and scores. Conclusion The western genre of movies revived itself with the introduction of the Spaghetti Westerns. Sergio was trying to create a myth of a myth in the traditional Hollywood by including mythological elements that were related with their geographical or sociological history (Mathijs and Sexton, 1-2). There was a distinct difference between the protagonists or the heroes in the movies that were made before the World War 2 and after it. Sergio tried to recreate the image of the classic American hero by including an element of mystery in the character. He never really romanticized the cowboy nor did he emphasize more on the Native Americans. The violence in Leone films evoked the darkest urges in young men and women which also contributed towards the success of his films. His portrayal of a lone individual fighting against the odd to survive greatly influenced the imagination of the young audience (Mathijs and Sexton, 1). Sergio attempted to incorporate surrealistic concepts in his films like their illusions and juxtapositions, an attempt to create an illusion that things are never what they seems to appear (Ho, 2). Martin Scorsese extended his contribution to help preserve Leone’s works (Traina). Sergio Leone perfected the Spaghetti Westerns and opened a wide range of techniques and visions to be followed by film makers. REFERENCES A tribute to the masterful Sergio Leone, Fistful of Leone, 2007, June 17, 2012 from: http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/ Bondanella, Peter E. Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present. F. Ungar Pub, 2001. Italian neorealism, June 17, 2012 from: http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/davega/FILMST_101/FILMST_101_FILM_MOVEMENTS/FrenchNewWave/Italian%20neorealism.pdf Berardinelli, James, A Film Review, 1999, June 18, 2012 from: http://www.reelviews.net/movies/f/fistful.html Ebert, Robert, “Once Upon a Time in America”, Sun Times, 1984, June 18, 2012 from: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19840101/REVIEWS/401010365 Film Series/Events, 2011, June 17 2012 from: http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2011octdec/leone.html Heifetz Stricke, Sari, They are gunning for Sergio Leone, Los Angeles times, 2012, June 21, 2012 from: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/17/entertainment/la-et-guidefeature-20120217 Ho, Oliver, Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death, 2012, June 18, 2012 from: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/157817-sergio-leone-something-to-do-with-death Jones, David M. Deleuze and World Cinemas, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001 Lehman, Daniel, Sergio Leone’s Transformation of the Western in American Cinema, 2005, June 17, 2012 from: http://danielmlehman.wordpress.com/2005/12/14/sergio-leone%E2%80%99s-transformation-of-the-western-in-american-cinema/ Lazenby, Aaron, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 2004, June 18, 2012 from: http://www.filmcritic.com/reviews/1966/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ Karg, Barb, Over, Jim. V, & Sutherland, Rick, The Everything Filmmaking Book, Everything Books, 2007 Macnab, Geoffrey, Every dog has his day, 2003, June 18, 2012 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2003/sep/19/2 Mathijs, Ernest and Jamie Sexton, Cult Cinema, New York: John Wiley & Sons McClain, William, Western Go Home: Sergio Leone and the “Death of the Western” in American Film Criticism, Journal of Film and Video (2010) 62. 1-2, pp. 52-66 Once Upon a Time in America, June 17, 2012 from: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdreviews16/once_upon_a_time_in_america_dvd_review.htm Senses of Cinema, 2002, June 17, 2012 from: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/leone/ The Sergio Leone Anthology, 2007, June 17, 2012 from: http://dvd.ign.com/articles/794/794647p1.html Traina, Vincent, The influence of Sergio Leone on the film industry, June 17, 2012 from: http://www.helium.com/items/721716-the-influence-of-sergio-leone-on-the-film-industry Read More