User reviews

"That western in the snow" - was my brother's response when he heard that I'd finally tracked down a copy of THE GREAT SILENCE, a.k.a. THE BIG SILENCE (I first saw it 10 years ago on BBC2's 'Moviedrome').

If you like Sergio Leone's films (such as THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY and A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS) then you'll probably enjoy this film by Sergio Corbucci. Violence, shooting, cussing, strange costumes, haunting music, trademark camera angles and the Italian style go to make up one of the best (lost)westerns I've ever seen.

These films aren't to everyone's taste, but THE GREAT SILENCE is worth watching just to hear the main theme tune which is a fantastic work of latterday composition - it sounds daft but I nearly cry when I hear it sometimes. By turns the score is dream-like, stylish, menacing, bizarre and even ridiculous (twanging sitar-like sounds). This is my favourite piece of Ennio Morricone's music.

As I said before the main reference points for this film are those of Sergio Leone, except for the snow-laden setting and the distinct lack of humour( THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY still makes me laugh, despite countless watching). Having said that this film has a distinctly original atmosphere of it's own, brought out in the brilliant and shocking ending. the director went to great lengths to preserve his radical finale (particularly unpopular with the producer) - there is a version of the film with a cop-out ending.

In short then, this is a great movie despite all the shortcomings of the particular genre( I'm not saying anything)- I once read that the term "Spaghetti Western" was a derisory one used by American film critics - but I can't think of any American westerns as enjoyable as some of these Italian films.

Twenty five years before Clint Eastwood made his departure from the western genre with his violent, cynical epic "Unforgiven", Sergio Corbucci had already treated us with one of the most dark and unforgiving tales of vengeance violence and that has ever graced the western screen. A forgotten classic that deserves recognition "The Great Silence" is Corbucci's definitive movie, powerful to the point of sadness. It can and it will shock it's viewer, with it's unforgiving nature, and themes.

Set around the snowy landscapes of Utah, "The Great Silence" stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as Silence, a mute gunfighter assisting a group outlaws for and a woman trying to avenge her dead husband. They are faced against a group of bounty hunters, led by Loco (Klaus Kinsky) a ruthless and merciless man who values only the money he gains from the killing.

Corbucci utilizes the snow-filled landscape to the maximum, creating a hauntingly chilling atmosphere that sticks with you from the beginning to the end and most likely, long after you've watched the film. The opening shot demonstrates perfectly the technique employed by Corbucci, with a long shot of Silence as he rides thru the desert of snow, there are no other environmental elements, just him riding calmly forwards accompanied only by a chilling tune from Morricone. This entire moment creates a image so strong so hypnotizing that I found myself re-watching it again and again. It is these moments that make "The Great Silence" great, experiencing the silence before the gunshot and the silence after it, the moments of reckoning, the moments that decide the fates of human beings. I emphasize on "human beings" because the characters here are not only likable but believable and they very much feel like real people, the kind you might like or despise or love or hate. It's not about Silence's skills as a gunfighter, but the human aspect bellow, that is what makes him feel real. None of this would have succeed had it not been for the brilliant acting of the entire cast. Trintignant and Kinsky make the biggest impression though, adding layers of depth to their respective characters without even uttering a word, just their facial expressions, the way the move, the confidence with which they act it is simply brilliant.

Commenting on the final scene would be a downright shame to those who haven't seen the movie just yet. But it is one of the most memorable, no not only memorable it is one of the greatest endings ever shot, with one of the best uses of slow-motion I have ever seen. Slow-motion that captures the darkest, saddest moment, the one thing no one would expect to happen in a western. This further helps to strengthen the major anti-violence theme as the credits begin to roll and the viewer is left to cope with the unexpected finale.

Ennio Morricone serves one of his best scores. I would easily rank this amongst "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" in terms of quality. But it is by no means similar to it. No. We are not soothed by the comfortable music heard in his collaborations with Leone. This score is, haunting and sad, like the movie itself it has an emotional effect on the viewer.

"The Great Silence" is as every bit as good as any of Leone's films. But is also as every bit as different from them. A uniquely dark voyage into the brutal reality of human nature, concealed as a western. Sergio Corbucci died in 1990, his movies weren't remembered by many, but those that did will never forget "The Great Silence".

The spaghetti western is a hybrid creature in many ways. it mixes the great American legend by demystifying it with European pessimism. It plays the landscapes and its inhabitants as ambiguous vehicles of destiny and violence (the background often conveys the mood more than the characters, as the films of Corbucci and Leone demonstrate). And although Fistfull of Dollars is mean and lean, it remains a pale copy of Kuroswa's superior Yojimbo. Despite it's beautiful opera, Once upon a Time in the West is too elegant. despite its biting humor and epic scope, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly is too playful...

What we have here, is nothing less than the ultimate essence of the Spaghetti Western: irony, cruelty, tenderness, beauty, violence, larger than life characters... and chaos. the chaos is as present in the general mood as it is in Corbucci's wild and messy camera-work (from beautiful panoramas to crash zooms and close ups that accentuate the villains' ugliness).

The story is straight and simple but allows for great characters as the mute bounty hunter Silence (Trintignant, conveying impossible emotion with nothing but his haunting eyes) travels to a snowy town to bring down the killer of his client's husband and coincidentally fulfill a more personal vengeance. He is pitted against a range of pathetic and ugly villains, headed by a sleazy and psychotic Loco (Kinski, mesmerizing as the cruel but contained and playful killer).

All the while the nihilism and harshness of nature weigh over these characters as people freeze to death, a man drowns in a frozen lake and the survival of the fittest is demanded in a bloody fashion, leading to a devastating ending that seals this tight film together as a magnificently macabre opera of death. Unmissable.

This is among the very few films that make you truly disgusted by its violence; not because of the amount of blood as in many other films but because the victims of the bounty hunters are human beings, slaughtered brutally in front of their own family members. Corbucci has disguised this film as a piece of popular cinema, but gives us shocks once in a while, and finally surprises us completely in the unexpected end. This is how he makes his anti-violent message very clear, and it is easy to agree with him.

IL GRANDE SILENZIO is more pessimistic but also more human than any western by Leone or Peckinpah. It may not be a pleasant experience, but if you want to see a masterpiece of cinema instead of a traditional western, it is definitely worth waiting in line for.

Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece "Il Grande Silenzio" aka. "The Great Silence" is more than just one of the greatest Westerns of all-time. Unlike Corbucci's earlier masterpiece "Django" from 1966, which is a violent Spaghetti Western, but also full of dark humor, "The Great Silence" is an uncompromisingly bleak movie from the beginning to the end, a brutal tale about misery, greed and selfishness, about injustice and the desire for revenge.

Winter of 1898, in the mountain town of Snow Hill, Utah. People who were forced to steal in order to survive an ice cold winter, are mercilessly chased and murdered by unscrupolous bounty hunters, who don't care who they kill as long as there is a reward on their victim's head. The most atrocious of these bounty hunters is vicious Loco, outstandingly pictured by Klaus Kinski. In their calamity, desperate relatives of the head hunters' victims hire a mute gunman called Silence, in order to avenge their loved ones and end the killings.

The acting in this movie is brilliant. Nobody could be as diabolical as Klaus Kinski in the role of Loco, Jean-Louis Trintignant performance as Silence is just great, and Vonetta McGee is amazing as Pauline, a beautiful black woman, who falls in love with Silence after losing her husband to the bountykillers. The supporting cast contains such great Spaghetti Western actors as Luigi Pistilli, Mario Brega and Frank Wolff. The Music by Ennio Morricone is, once again, excellent (how couldn't it), the main theme is one of his greatest compositions. The locations are very well-chosen, impressive images of a snowy mountain wasteland make you almost feel the cold. "The Great Silence is", after "Django", Sergio Corbucci's second film that could be described as one of the most important Westerns of all-time. Both brutal and both masterpieces, the two movies are still completely different. While Django was violent but, in its dark way, also humorous, The Great Silence is sad, serious and brutally bleak. Incomparable in every aspect, "The Great Silence" even surpasses "Django" in its brilliance, and easily deserves to be named as one of the greatest Westerns ever made.

The Great Silence is a must-see, not only for fans of Spaghetti Westerns, but for every lover of film. Brilliant And Unique, one of the greatest Westerns ever made! 10/10

A voiceless vigilante enacts revenge, if you've been tricked or tripped up he can make amends, for a fee he will dispense, compensation, recompense, with the weapon of his choice (a Mauser C96), he will avenge. Loco makes collections for the state, if there's a bounty on your head he will checkmate, always dead never alive, as he conspires and connives, has the backing of the local magistrate.

The town of Snow Hill lives up to its name as Pauline Middleton, wonderfully performed by Vonetta McGee, seeks revenge for her husband's killing at the hands of Loco, a devious and scheming bounty hunter (just as wonderfully performed by Klaus Kimski), by hiring the man with no noise who goes by the name of Silent, and bears a close resemblance to a similar spaghetti western character you may have come across, played perfectly by the suave Jean-Louis Trintignant. The ending may leave you a little confounded as it takes a tangent you most likely won't be expecting or indeed be familiar with.

This French- Italian co-production is a Spaghetti Western masterpiece by Sergio Corbucci , being highly rated by the critics and is one of his best movies, along with ¨the Compañeros¨ and ¨Djanjo¨. It takes place in the snow-filled outdoors of Utah and based on real events during the great Blizzard of 1885 and shot in Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Dolomitas mountains located in the Alps . The film is plenty of dark fatalism and features to Silence (Jean Louis Trintignant in his first and unique Western , he had agreed to do the film in order to help out the producer, who was a friend of his), a mute gunslinger with a 7,63 mm Mauser Broomhandle gun , helping a group of desperado outlaws and an African- American woman named Pauline (Voneta McGee) attempting to revenge death her husband against the bounty hunters led by the ruthless Loco (Klaus Kinski) and payed by Pollicut (Luigi Pistilli) . Furthermore, an upright sheriff (Frank Wolff) appears trying peace and order.

This widely deemed picture , unlike most conventional Spaghetti Western , contains exceptional setting , colorful images with a sensational cinematography by Silvano Ippoliti and features a sensitive musical score by the classic Ennio Morricone . This splendid Western results to be a remake to Japanese Samurai TV series starring Shintarô Katsu (1973) . Jean-Louis Trintignant agreed to play in a spaghetti western under the condition that he did not have to learn any lines for the role , that's why the main character conveniently became a mute in the story. Nice production design and the snow in the town of Snow Hill was created by gallons of shaving cream . The movie was widely inspired by ¨Day of outlaw¨ (Andre de Toth with Robert Ryan , 1959) and set in 1898 in a small town called Snow Hill where is developed a massacre . The motion picture was originally directed by Corbucci and displays a twisted finale with dark surprise included . As trivia, explaining that Trintignant didn't know English , language used during filming , and Marcello Mastroiani, Sergio Corbucci's friend , suggested him playing a mute gunfighter named Silence , resulting to be the film title . Rating : Better than average . Indispensable and essential seeing for SW lovers.

Sergio Corbucci swaps the desert for snowy mountains, howling coyotes for howling wind, and supplies a strong silent hero so silent that he doesn't speak at all. Ennio Morricone changes tone completely and gives us a morose, sad soundtrack that perfectly matches the atmosphere of desperation that flows through the entire film. No doubt about it – this film leaves a mark.

In the mountains of Utah, starving citizens of the town of Snow Hill are forced to steal to feed themselves, and in turn have to hide in the mountains with a price on their head. The corrupt banker and Justice of the Peace Pollicut (Luigi Pistilli), encourages bounty hunters to hunt them down, as he makes a percentage on every 'bandit' brought in. However, the persecuted folks have help in the form of Silence, who really, really hates bounty hunters – and with good reason. Silence will only fire upon someone if they draw first, and he also likes to shoot the thumbs off bounty hunters, as Pollicut knows too well.

Worst of all the bounty hunters is Loco (Klaus Kinski), who doesn't even care why people have a price on their heads, as long as he gets the money, and there's no 'dead or alive' where Loco is concerned. If they're dead, he doesn't have to feed them. Loco kills the husband of Pauline, who returned from exile to visit his wife, and she hires Silence to kill him. Loco knows that Silence is too fast for him, and will not be drawn into a gunfight…yet.

There's also a new Sheriff in town that quickly twigs that things aren't quite right in Snow Hill. Burnett (Wolff, playing the only character approaching 'comic relief'), does not agree at all with Pollicut and Loco's tactics, even going so far as to arrest Loco and take him elsewhere for a trial.

That's enough plot! There's loads going on in this film, and plenty of it must have been quite daring for 1968. The interracial sex scene between Silence and Pauline for starters (and the music during this bit is outstanding, even for Morricone!), the bloody violence with headshots being a speciality, and the ending! The ending! Jesus! Buddha! Brian Blessed! The ending! Indy! The ending! I will not reveal it here, but it's certainly not something you encounter very often, in any genre. Jaw-dropping.

The acting is also faultless too, even if it is dubbed. Klaus Kinski is very restrained for the most part, but still comes across as a polite, malicious, sadistic murderer who is also smarter than everyone else. This might possibly be the best film I've seen him in. Luigi Pistilli isn't too far behind either. He's cowardly and scheming and likes to make others do his dirty work (mainly Mario Brega, who meets a gory end that stands out). Frank Wolff jumps between comedic and serious as the only male character in possession of a soul. His character follows the law to the letter, which may be a mistake in the hostile environment of Snow Hill. I'm not familiar with the actress that plays Pauline but she also stands out as a woman channelling her grief into one simple task – to kill Loco.

This one gets the highest recommendation for me!

This is Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece. A story of revenge, with an ending so "un-hollywood" it will remain in your memory for ever. And it may be unjust, and leave a very bitter taste. But it is a classic finale to a fantastic film.

The story sets itself in the aptly snow laden town of Snow Hill, and its mountainous surroundings. Bounty Hunters are preying off of the outlaws held up within the mountains - the most notorious of which is Loco, played by Klaus Kinski. The wife of one of the slain outlaws hires the mysterious mute gunslinger Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant) to exact revenge on Loco. I will spoil the story no more - as you MUST see this one for yourself.

Kinski, always adept in the part of a mad-man, steals the show in probably his most perfect spaghetti western role. There are also fine parts for spaghetti stalwarts Luigi Pistilli, Mario Brega and Frank Wolff. Morricone's score is, as ever, beautiful. Trintignant must have had one of the easiest parts of any actors anywhere - "just look cool, and don't say a thing". That said, he does it well.

The film makes use of its flashbacks with style, explaining the link between Silence and Pollicut (Pistilli) characters. It also deals with the brief and doomed relationship between Silence and the outlaw's widow with great compassion, amidst the bloodbath that we come to expect from Corbucci.

All in all, a classic film - and the best non-Leone Spaghetti Western.

Sergio Corbucci had me a little fooled at first; from seeing Navajo Joe, the first I'd seen of his films, I thought he was more of a spinster in the comical sense than Sergio Leone was. Although Corbucci doesn't nearly have the level of directorial talent as him (then again who does), there's a level of enthrallment in making a movie, in pushing an in-your-face style that works to his advantage. The Great Silence is pretty far from Navajo Joe, mostly because any laugh to be had is unintentional, or at the expense of star Klaus Kinski if one is already a fan (hearing him dubbed after seeing so many of his Herzog roles is a little staggering). The story boils down to vendettas and paybacks and paydays between scorned bounty hunters and duped sheriffs, plus the title character- named as such because of a mute demeanor and because actor Trintignant didn't want to learn any lines- leading Silence and Loco (albeit this isn't even one of Kinski's craziest performances by far) into a final showdown.

The circumstances leading up to this showdown should, in a more conventional western, be pretty clean-cut. But what's impressive, if almost a little circumstantial, is that Corbucci puts in little unconventional markers along the way: the high-drama scene where Silence gets his hand burnt by a goon as foreshadowing for the ominous bounty hunter massacre, and for those little moments when life seems so easily killed off, particularly at the start. Silence, like in a Leone film, does have something of a gimmick as a killer, as he shoots off the thumbs of his targets. But Corbucci's drama isn't keened on incredible suspense sequences in operatic form or gallows humor. Even a sex scene for Corbucci has a tenderness to it that feels the work of someone trying to break out of squarely B-movie extremities and trying for something more. If it isn't altogether successful it's attributable to flaws scattered around: random 'soft-lighting' in the last act that is very distracting, a couple of plot points not totally clear even by the end, and Kinski looking sometimes like a pretty boy as much as a sadistic bounty hunter, plus Corbucci's tendencies to favor close-ups for more formulaic means as opposed to drawing out deeper emotions through a more keen system.

But even with Corbucci not being a 'great' director, he has a keen eye for Utah (if it is Utah, which it probably isn't), and the vast vistas of snow and fields in a plain sight that contrasts the sort of void sucking the characters in with the hopeless center of bounty hunters without the strongest opponent. And Morricone, as if it was like breathing, fleshes out scenes so well with his beautiful score, only slightly below the magnificence of a Leone picture. You may feel by the end that it's not the prettiest western you've ever seen, but it has that possibility in its low-budget blood-stained manner to stay with you long after it's over.

From the outset one gets the feeling that Trintignant, a very fine actor, is miscast. According to production reports, he struggled with Italian and English, and it was decided that the best thing was to give him a silent role - which greatly limits his scope, but somehow helps increase the film's claustrophobic atmosphere, hemmed in by constant snow and cold.

Kinski gets the plum part, with the clever lines; the actor who plays the sheriff also does well; cinematography is excellent under such strenuous conditions; dialogue is good enough to keep you riveted; and the motivations of all those human living on the brink of animaldom -- especially the group of "outlaws" who prowl outside of town and keep attacking people for food -- almost turn THE GREAT SILENCE into a Western version of MAD MAX.

The film is full of Leone-like touches, including significant looks and close-ups. Unlike any Leone movie, it is able to show two human beings who feel real love for each other (Trintignant and the black woman whose husband was killed by Kinski). It also has its fair share of subjective angles and shots, all of which builds up to what should have been a terrific climax.

Instead, Director Sergio Corbucci suddenly and unexpectedly decides to turn THE GREAT SILENCE into a historic piece about some massacre. A happier ending would have made it a masterpiece comparable to ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and certainly better than A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS or FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE.

The greater the pity - as much as I would like to give it a higher mark, because there is much to be enjoyed about THE GREAT SILENCE, ultimately its weak and wayward ending lets it down. 6/10

Klaus Kinski, an actor famed for his eccentricities and Werner Herzog collaborations, which occurred throughout the '70s and '80s. He is the lingering, temperamental and key constituent for the obscure 1968 gem, The Great Silence. Arguably, the work is partially responsible (or is rather the "finishing note") to the end of the '60s, Italian sub-genre named the "spaghetti western." This is a loose term, regularly associated with the works of Sergio Leone and few erstwhile, Italian directors who approached the spin-off genre of the stereotypical, American western. The Italian westerns emerged within the mainstream, during the midway of the '60s, becoming recognised for the close resemblance they all had with each other. The ostensible sped-up zooms, jarring scores and unforgiving violence marked the genre as the most rebellious and hard-boiled of its time. The Great Silence further proves this perceived notion.

Director Sergio Corbucci (known for his hyper-violent, but somewhat communitarian motifs) incorporates both American and European cinema values, as well as the themes generally condoned along with the western genre. Telling the tale of a ruthless bounty-hunter ironically named Loco, (played by Klaus Kinski, always fitting the mould of a maniac) who wanders the snow-ridden state of Utah in search of "wanted: dead or alive" criminals. Essentially, he is a villain, a despicable individual who makes a living out of money for murder. Gaining $1000 for each heinous slaughter he commits, Loco one day kills the husband of Pauline (a woman who refuses to accept the murder) and racially abuses her after doing so. It is from this crime that the film promptly escapades into a jaunting exercise of revenge on behalf of two individuals (firstly Pauline and then the "opposed-to-bounty-hunting" gunslinger she so vehemently hires).

Filmed in strikingly intrepid weather conditions and motivated by cold-hearted brutality, The Great Silence captures a landscape which is a parallel to the themes portrayed within the piece. First-rate direction is garnered from the messy, cut-throat editing and the resounding cynical tone of a dead-beat anti-western will leave fans groping for more of its kind. For such a tough film, it will be evident that the innocent characters do not beg of sympathy, but are able to warrant a valuable empathy through the -although often questionable- acting. Pauline, a key character in the story utters "once, my husband told me of this man. He avenges our wrongs. And the bounty killers sure do tremble when he appears. They call him "Silence." Because wherever he goes, the silence of death follows." She makes this heroic statement after she swears to seek vengeance for her murdered husband, and it is unquestionably the film's finest moment. Nevertheless, the film's most triumphant highlight is Klaus Kinski, who defies the bounty-hunter archetype by using a patronising and hollow method of acting. It could have been the recipe for disaster, but Klaus Kinski pitches the ambiance of his role admirably.

Requiring a certain amount of respect for the genre, The Great Silence works as a fine ode to a time when cinema was full of defiant gusto. Although not for everyone, the film is a pleasant surprise for viewers who are interested in genre cinema or in search of films from a forgotten era. Just remember that by no means is it a Leone rip-off.

Superior to DJANGO (1966), Corbucci's most popular work, this would probably be his best film; of the director's more renowned Spaghetti Western efforts, I've also watched COMPANEROS (1970) and would most like to catch up with A PROFESSIONAL GUN (1968).

The script is denser than your average Western, if not nearly as ambitious as the contemporaneous Sergio Leone films; it's also interesting to note the dual meaning of the title: Jean-Louis Trintignant's character has been nicknamed Silence (since he's a mute) but it also refers to his unfailing skill as a gunslinger - bringing silence, i.e. death, wherever he passes. The main actors all deliver terrific performances - Trintignant is one of the most interesting heroes in the entire "Spaghetti Western" subgenre (apparently, Marcello Mastroianni was the original choice!), Klaus Kinski (ditto where villains are concerned; his foppish bounty hunter here is surely the most significant of the actor's many forays in the field), Vonetta McGee (unusual for any type of Western to feature a black woman in the lead, and the same goes for her interracial love scene with Trintignant!), Frank Wolff and Luigi Pistilli (whose character is tied with Trintignant's backstory, Leone-style, though this element isn't revealed gradually here - which perhaps weakens its impact in the long run!).

Ennio Morricone's score didn't seem all that impressive while I was watching the film, being subtler than usual for the maestro, but emerges as undeniably haunting in retrospect. The forbidding snowy landscape (also the setting of two largely unsung, and equally unusual "Hollywood" Westerns, William A. Wellman's TRACK OF THE CAT [1954] and Andre' De Toth's DAY OF THE OUTLAW [1959]) is surely one of the film's trump cards. While not excessively graphic, there is here some pretty nasty means of violence (throat slashing, thumbs shot off) and the remarkably nihilistic conclusion has to be one of the most unexpected - and powerful - in all Westerns; whereas the hero would normally suffer mightily at the hands of the bad guys only to re-emerge like an angel of death unleashing bloody retribution, this doesn't occur here...and that's all I'm going to say about the finale! As a means of countering foreign markets' eventual protests at the film's downbeat curtain, an alternate "happy ending" was devised: thankfully, it's been preserved (not the dialogue, though) and is included on the DVD; silly in itself, if anything it makes for an interesting comparison with the original. I opted for Eureka's R2 edition over Fantoma's slightly more bountiful disc due to the availability here of the Italian-language version.

I had recently watched two minor Corbucci Westerns - MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON (1965) and THE HELLBENDERS (1969) - and should be following this with RINGO AND HIS GOLDEN PISTOL (1966), as well as a whole slew of other examples from the genre.

Exciting, gory Italian produced western with Kinski as the sadistic bounty hunter who kills with no discretion. Lots of body mutilation (typical in Corbucci films), interracial sex, and other taboo subjects. With a high quality of actors and nice photography. Corbucci also scored with "Django", but this film is better.

Much credit is due here for the inverted 'evil triumphs over good' ending. After all, in 1968 it hadn't been done before. The sequence leading up to and including the final showdown is beautifully shot and scored. That part is so gorgeously crafted that it stands out a little from the rest of the movie which is not nearly as poetic or moving. The winter setting is highly suggestive - I actually felt cold as I watched this film - and it lends a sense of bitter reality. But while there are several wonderful photographic moments there are also scenes edited in a jerkier, less artful fashion. That is, I suppose, true of all examples in this genre (with the exception of Leone's nearly perfect 'Once Upon A Time In The West') so it's not surprising that there is an uneven quality throughout. There is also a huge hole in the plausibility of the story that involves a rifle that has been buried under snow in the middle of nowhere that seems too easily located, not to mention in perfect operating condition despite being left there for who knows how long.

Still, as westerns go, this one has enough creative difference to set it apart from the rest and the closing scenes are truly unforgettable

The late, great Italian film maker Sergio Corbucci (Django, Companeros) directed and co-wrote this incredible western, Il Grande Silenzio (aka The Great Silence) in 1968. It is as visually impressive and powerful in its silence as the greatest work of another Sergio, Leone, but what makes Corbucci's piece stand out is its total pessimism, honesty and possibly the darkest and saddest ending ever filmed. These powerful images are fantastic themselves, but when it all is given the magic touch of Ennio Morricone's music, it becomes clear this is perhaps the greatest of all the spaghetti westerns made in Italy.

Extremely great and also handsome actor Jean-Louis Trintignant is a killer named Silence. He has a dark childhood as his family was slaughtered in front of him and his own throat was slashed as a little boy so that he could never speak again, and he doesn't. He is a killer who kills for those who have been mistreated and abused by sadistic and barbaric bounty hunters and thieves that inhabit the area, Snowhill town, sometimes in the late 1800's. Another killer arrives to Snowhill, Loco (Klaus Kinski in a truly memorable role) and he is the other side of Silence: a totally ruthless killer who betrays his friends for money and the like, but still these two men share at least one thing in common. They won't shoot until their opposite has touched his gun first so that the killing could be told as "self defense". The late US actor Frank Wolff plays the funny Sheriff Burnett who tries to uphold the law in the city. Vonetta McGee in her first feature film performance (and a character in Alex Cox' Repo Man, Cox being a huge admirer of Corbucci's film) plays Pauline, a sad big eyed, dark beauty who has lost her husband to Loco's bullet. Everyone wants revenge and everyone also gets it, but never without realistic consequences. The film won't be any more merciful than the real life it's depicting itself.

This belongs to the most powerful experiences I've had for a long time. The magic of silence, proved in its most beautiful and sensitive form in the art of Japanese Takeshi Kitano for example, is totally unique in this tale of the mute killer. He naturally doesn't speak a word during the whole film but still he says much more than many speaking characters here and in much less noteworthy films of any genre. The eyes, the movements, the face expressions in cinema can be much more than any words ever could and this film is a very good example to show it. Especially the love scene between Silence and Pauline is among the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen as the suffered, but still full of (fateful) hate and anger, wife of the dead man falls in love with Silence and sadly doesn't realize to give up the thoughts of revenge before it's too late. The emotions and love in that brief and silent scene are real, they are perhaps even more than some real human beings can ever achieve in their lives.

The darkest and most brutal sides of human nature are here present all the time and the things get almost surreal at times. In Il Grande Silenzio, everyone wants to avenge the wrongs they've suffered, no matter if they're themselves old, weak, strong, young or anything, they just want to answer to violence with violence and of course it never works until there's one man who'd dare to say no to his instincts and feelings of primitive hate and rage. The ending of the film is so harrowingly real (and prolonged) it becomes almost unbearable in its sadness and both mental (especially) and physical violence. Again Kinski's eyes tell everything that is necessary. At this point I'll point out that I'm definitely not talking about the alternative (and very bad) "happy ending" Corbucci was forced to shoot for some foreign audiences like the Far East and North Africa, as the producers thought they would have probably disliked the film too much in its original form and finale, THE original finale I'm talking about. Il Grande Silenzio shows our nature in its ugliest form, in a place in which one has to struggle to survive but still should remember how can we treat each other in any kind of situation. The theme of violence, greediness and overall decadence of man has never been this strong in the Italian western genre and naturally the ending broke all the conventions and rules of the genre, because this film just wants to be and is so much more.

The imagery is stunning in the wintery mountains and white heaven in hell. It is snowing all the time and the coldness of the place comes through the screen. One extremely memorable element in the exteriors is the bunch of outlaws that moves with scythes and other weapons silently around the place trying to find something to eat, like horses of some casual travellers. The silence of the group when it arrives and surrounds the camera is very haunting and as we don't really get to know where they live and stay for night, it becomes almost a surreal element and a very creepy one. Another similar elements can be found for example in British Philip Ridley's disturbing Reflecting Skin (1990) as it has the mysterious black car driving around and other unknown characters haunting the small protagonist (Jeremy Cooper) in his journey towards the (again) sad ending. Surrealism in cinema is among the things that make the art so fascinating and fantastic.

The cinematography is Corbucci's film is nothing short of mind blowing with some great compositions and different angles plus some extreme close ups to make each scene look as powerful as their potential. The white is the dominating color here (in addition to the red that is poured by the characters onto the peaceful white) and it all is captured on screen with huge talent that leaves no space for questions about Corbucci's abilities as a film maker. Also the occasional shaky shots and zooms work greatly as nothing is used too often or without reason. Everything that is there can be explained and have their reason.

Again the music by the masterful Ennio Morricone is something that can make and makes tears come to the viewer eyes when heard over the already wonderful and powerful images. Cinema just could not be any more powerful when imagery, the eyes, the faces like these and music like this give power to each other and show sides of each other that otherwise would be hidden. The music is on the same brilliant level with the music in Leone's films, but it is so sad and without any "heroic" touches in Corbucci's vision of the West.

Il Grande Silenzio is a masterpiece of Italian cinema and easily the greatest achievement of its director. It has important and serious things to tell and depict, things that are (t)here unfortunately today as they were back then, and so the film is as topical and true as it was back then and will remain so until, if ever, its target will change. The cinematic magic could not be any more fantastic than it now is, and there are no any negative sides I would consider forth mentioning in the piece at all. A masterpiece, honest, raw, beautiful, mighty cinema and thoroughly real. 10/10

The Great Silence isn't a bad movie, it's just plodding and kind of dumb, like it was rushed into production as fast as humanly possible. It's riddled with glaring mistakes (like the rope attached to the whip, the treacherous mountain path obviously cleared by several snow plows, or the rider plowing through a remote snow pack in an ambush not noting the dozens of tracks already clearly visible in the snow). Also, I don't know how slitting someone's throat renders them mute, since your voice box are two tiny flaps of skin inside your throat, or why the mute character just didn't write down the names and descriptions of his parent's murderers.

Despite the violence it's rather lifeless. Instead of an interesting ending, they just give us...well, a different kind of boring ending. Then as now, critics are suckers for movies that "subvert our expectations." I dunno, The Ox-Bow Incident did this twenty five years earlier, so a pacifist, jaded western wasn't ground-breaking, I hate to have to say.

Though I'm sure fans will scream at me that it was a translation issue, the dialogue in this thing is atrocious. It's so on the nose it feels like a first draft that the writer never had time to come back to. The way the characters talk about how awesome the protagonist is behind his back is the worst kind of character building, and reminds me of the John Wayne movie where everyone compliments him when he's not on screen. A mute, blank piece of wood for a lead character is undeniably a terrible idea. I've seen porn actors emote more than Jean-Louis Trintignant. Supposedly it was a creative solution to remedy the fact Trintignant could not speak english, but that makes no sense as even the American actor Vonetta McGee is dubbed, and not very well I might add.

Oh, yeah, and it's got snow. That's kind of interesting, I guess.

I do not completely understand the high praise of this movie. I have seen much better executed movies with silent avengers. In my opinion he was quite bland and most interesting about him was his gun. Many people mention this as a masterpiece. Besides the ending nothing is really new or interesting. And if you have seen Japanese movies this ending have already been done many times at this time and even better.

Only character in the movie really interesting in my opinion is the sherif that have a too little role. Even the love story in the movie was like did that just happen? Talking five minutes to a mute man she never met before and then she had to declare her love to him.

In my opinion you can find many better westerns out there both Italian and American. Unfortunately when we got to the end I hoped for the alternative ending to happen just to justify my time time with this movie.