The Great Silence (1968)
Cracking spaghetti western from Sergio Corbucci that's shot in snow bound locations in the Italian Dolomites that create a beautiful almost Gothic atmosphere.
Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Vonetta McGee, Frank Wolff and Luigi Pistilli, The Great Silence is effortlessly performed and thankfully avoids the silly incessantly laughing idiots that for me spoil many an Italian western. The story itself is fairly straightforward and not especially unique with Trintignant playing a mute gunfighter returning to a remote, cold Utah landscape to exact his revenge on bounty hunter Kinski. However if the story is good but unremarkable the finale is anything but and it hits you like a gut punch with it's nihilistic unforgettable ruthlessness.
The new Eureka Blu-ray is a mixed bag. Had the picture quality continued in the same vein as the pre-credits opening i'm not sure i'd have stuck it out. The blacks are horrible as if seen through a blurred mesh fence, but thankfully this isn't an issue for more than the five opening minutes. The majority of the film is decent to look at with the outdoor scenes (That's most of the film) quite lovely on the eye.
The package itself is really good, the poster is gorgeous on lovely thick paper as are the lobby cards with the extras plentiful. I watched and really enjoyed an informative chat with Alex Cox on the film's background.
From what i've seen The Great Silence is one of the very best spaghetti westerns ever made. Better than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or For a Few Dollars More? No. Certainly not, but it's shorter running time, quicker pace and shock ending made it a more satisfying experience than Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West which i saw on Blu-ray for the first time last week.
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