Friday Nov 26, 2010
Turner Classic Movies is showing this film tonight at 7:00 PM CST. TCM shows the movies without interruption , a relief given the two hour plus length. Sergio Leone's direction coupled long slow scenes with violence. The Bridge scene is particularly evocative of just how violent and deadly the Civil War was, new era weapons and old era medicine.
This was the third of the trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns. These cemented Clint Eastwood as an action hero, back then westerns were still the leading action genre. Eastwood starred in the first, A Fistfull of Dollars, as the quiet but efficient bounty hunter playing both sides against one another. Building on the success of this surprising low budget film made in Spain, veteran actor Lee van Cleef was hired to team with him in For a Few Dollars More. This was great casting, van Cleef had been around for years as the guy Gary Cooper let out of jail in High Noon and the ruthless sidekick to Lee Marvin in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. His scowling personna was just right for these movies.
In the third 'big budget' version, another Hollywood great was hired, UT grad Eli Wallach. Wallach was no doubt picked for his portrayal of the Mexican bandit in The Magnificent Seven.
At any rate the movie revolves around a search for lost gold by three different desperate men. In my opinion the movie resonated with the public on several different levels.
It came out in 1966 at the very top of the bull market in stocks, projecting the downturn in social mood to follow.
The backdrop of the violence of the Civil War fit all too well with the violence of Viet Nam. Why is everyone dying?
This was a big move from an emphasis on the group experience to the importance of well just looking out for one's self. Viet Nam was dramatically different from Afghanistan in that one could be drafted for Viet Nam. Survival was so important that many young men fled to Canada. The Man With No Name was a symbol for individual existence against a the most violent backdrop imaginable.
During my undergrad years at U Austin, 1966-1970, membership in Greek fraternities and sororities declined every year. Social Mood had turned down and the individual not the group became paramount. There was even a big confab my second year there appropriately named I the Starting Point.
The characters are not so immoral as amoral, the means justifies the end result.
Eli Wallach continued a successful career in films and does so to this day. Eastwood wisely packed up and came back to American, starring in two or three mainstream Westerns before hitting pay dirt as his own director in Play Misty for Me, still one of his best in my opinion. Lee van Cleef however no doubt weary of not seeing the big pay day in Hollywood, stayed in Europe grinding out B grade westerns. Eastwood reflected recently that he could have done that but did not, a wise decision. van Cleef eventually came back but to lesser also starring roles in TV and B movies.
The Dow Jones hit 1,000 that year. It then went sideways until 1982-84. The period saw four grinding bear markets with a 50% plunge in 1974 to Dow 577, still the all time low since 1966. We are in a similar period now, And most movies have taken a much darker tone, hence the popularity of vampire flicks on books and now television. Harry Potter's final battle with Valdemort will take two movies this summer to play out, see the connection?
Interestingly Eaastwood's latest film is about life after death, after all, that fits the social mood.
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