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RE: Olmi and Leone? Gimme a friggin....'

Posted by jamesgarvin on January 2, 2008 at 09:43:10:
"The problem with Leone was his ironic vision."
What does that mean?
"Leone, being a product of his time, couldn't just tell the story "straight."
Boetticher, Ford, and others realized it and crafted films that believed in themselves. No one man shot down six at a time.
Again, there is a difference between fine entertainment and art."
Huh? Every western, including Ford's, deviates from the truth. Look at old photographs taken in towns from the West, and you almost never see anyone carrying around a gun, much less one strapped to their hips in a holster, tied to their legs. In Ford's films, you'd think that every male child popped from the womb with a six shooter, so prolific are they. Or all the that had nice rich mahogany paneling, and Ethan-Allen furniture. Or women who wore beautiful dresses, hair that looked like they came from the best New York salons, with makeup perfectly applied. Life in the west was hard, and photographs almost always show women with no makeup, long, stringy hair under some type of bonnet, but almost never long and flowing, with just the right amount of curls. It is all make believe. Ford made stuff up, so why criticize Leone for making stuff up? It is called fiction.
On the other hand, Ford's characters were almost always well groomed, with nice haircuts, nice clothes, little facial hair, and generally presentable for the screen. How many days did John Wayne spend in the desert looking for little Natalie Wood, looking as fresh the day he found her as when he departed. Leone's unique vision gave characters a more realistic gritty look. Facial hair. Sweat. Hair not well groomed. You may recall that Eastwood dedicated Unforgiven to Leone. You may also recall that Eastwood cut his own hair for the role, because he wanted to avoid that Hollywood look. Leone brought that to the table, not Ford.