Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone (January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989) was an Italian film director. Born in Rome, he was the son of the cinema pioneer Vincenzo Leone and the actress Francesca Bertini, and started working in the film industry himself at the age of eighteen.

Biography

He began writing screenplays in the 1950s, primarily for the so-called "sword and sandal" or "peplum" historical epics which were popular at the time. He also worked as an assistant director on several large-scale, high-profile Hollywood productions, a.k.a. runaway productions, filmed at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, notably Quo Vadis (1951), and Ben-Hur (1959). As a result, when the time came to make his solo directoral debut with The Colossus of Rhodes (Il Colosso di Rodi) 1961, he was well equipped to produce low-budget films which looked and felt like Hollywood spectaculars.

Related Topics:
Sword and sandal - Runaway productions - Cinecittà Studios - Quo Vadis - 1951 - Ben-Hur - 1959 - 1961

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In the early 1960s, demand for historical epics collapsed, and Leone was fortunate enough to be at the forefront of the genre which replaced it in the public's affections – the Western. His A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari) (1964) was an early trend-setter in a genre which came to be known as the "spaghetti western". Based closely enough on Akira Kurosawa's Meiji-era samurai adventure Yojimbo (1961) to elicit a legal challenge (and subsequent defeat) from the Japanese director, the film is notable for its establishment of Clint Eastwood as a star. Until that time, he had been an American television actor with few roles to his name.

Related Topics:
Western - A Fistful of Dollars - 1964 - Spaghetti western - Akira Kurosawa - Meiji - Yojimbo - Clint Eastwood

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The look of the film was established partly by its budget, partly by its Spanish locations, and it presented a gritty, violent, morally complex vision of the American West which paid tribute to traditional American Westerns, but significantly departed from them in storyline, plot, characterization, and mood. Leone deservedly gets credit for one great breakthrough in the Western genre that is still followed today: in traditional Western films, heroes and villains alike looked like they had just stepped out of the fashion magazine and the moral opposites were clearly drawn, even down to the hero wearing a white hat and the villain wearing a black hat. Leone's characters were, in contrast, more "realistic" and complex: usually "lone wolves" in their behavior, they rarely shaved, looked dirty, and there was a strong suggestion of body odour and a history of criminal behavior; they were morally ambiguous and often either generously compassionate or nakedly and brutally self-serving as the situation demanded. This sense of realism continues to affect Western movies today, and has also been influential outside this genre. Many have said it ironic that an Italian director who couldn't speak English and had never even seen the American west could have almost single handed redifined the typical vision of the American cowboy.

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His next two films – For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – completed what has come to be known as the Dollars trilogy, with each film being more financially successful and more technically proficient than its predecessor. All three films featured remarkable scores by the prolific composer Ennio Morricone. Critics have often said that The Good The Bad And The Ugly was the finest of the trilogy. The opening soundtrack has often been called the most recognized music in a Western film.

Related Topics:
For a Few Dollars More - 1965 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - 1966 - Dollars - Ennio Morricone

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Based on these successes, in 1967 he was invited to America to direct what he hoped would be his masterwork, Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West) for Paramount. Filmed in Monument Valley, Utah as well as in Spain and Italy, and starring Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Claudia Cardinale it emerged as a long, violent, dreamlike meditation upon the mythology of the American West. It was scripted by Leone's longtime friend and collaborator Sergio Donati. The story was written by Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, both of whom went on to have significant careers as directors. Before its release, however, the film was ruthlessly edited by Paramount, which perhaps contributed to its poor box-office results in America. Nevertheless, it was a huge hit in Europe and highly praised amongst North American film students, it has come to be regarded by many as Leone's best film.

Related Topics:
1967 - Once Upon a Time in the West - Paramount - Monument Valley - Spain - Italy - Henry Fonda - Charles Bronson - Claudia Cardinale - Sergio Donati - Bernardo Bertolucci - Dario Argento

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After the relative failure of Once Upon a Time in the West, Leone directed A Fistful of Dynamite ("Giu La Testa") (1971), a film which he was producing, due to artistic differences with it's stars, Leone was asked to step in and replace Gian Carlo Santi, his longtime assistant director turned director. "A Fistful Of Dynamite" is a Mexican Revolution action drama which starred James Coburn as an Irish revolutionary and Rod Steiger as a Mexican bandit whose conned into becoming a revolutionist . Leone continued to produce, and on occasion step in to re-shoot scenes. One of these films was My Name is Nobody1973, a comedy western film which poked fun at the spaghetti western genre. It starred Henry Fonda as an old gunslinger who watched 'his' old west fade away before his very eyes and Terence Hill as the young stranger who helps Fonda leave the dying west with style. His other productions included, "A Genius, Two Friends and A Dupe", (Un Genio, Due Compari, Uno Pollo)1975, another western comedy starring Terence Hill. "The Cat" (Il Gatto) 1977 starring Albert Sordi, "The Toy", (Il Giocattolo)1979 starring Nino Manfredi. and three comedies by actor/director Carlo Verdone "Fun Is Beautiful"(Un Sacco Bello)1980, "Bianco, Rosso e Verdone" (White, Red and Verdone)1981 and "Troppo Forte" ( Great!)1986. During this period he also directed various award winning TV commerials for European television. Leone had turned down the opportunity to direct The Godfather,but spent the ten years developing a new epic project, this time focusing on a quartet of New York City Jewish gangsters of the 1920s and '30s who had been friends since childhood. This work, Once Upon a Time in America (1984), was a project he had conceived before Once Upon a Time in the West ,and it was for this very reason he turned down the offer to direct "The Godfather." Based on the novel The Hoods by Harry Grey, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods, Once Upon a Time in America was a meditation on another aspect of popular American mythology, the role of greed and violence and their uneasy coexistence with the meaning of ethnicity and friendship, and like the earlier film, it was too long and stately for the studio to stomach. The studio cut its four-hour running time drastically, losing much of the sense of the complex narrative. The recut version too flopped. At the time of his 1989 death, Leone was part way through planning yet another epic, this time on the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War. In his later years, Leone had a falling out of sorts with Clint Eastwood, his most famous actor. When he directed Once Upon A Time In America, he commented that Robert De Niro was a real actor unlike Eastwood. However, the two made amends before Leone's death. In 1992, Clint Eastwood directed Unforgiven a Western in which he won the Oscar for best director. Leone was one of the people he dedicated it to.

Related Topics:
A Fistful of Dynamite - 1971 - Mexican Revolution - James Coburn - Rod Steiger - My Name is Nobody - The Godfather - New York City - Gangster - Once Upon a Time in America - 1984 - Robert De Niro - James Woods - Siege of Leningrad - Second World War

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See also: Other notable figures in Western films

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