Sergio Leone: Recreating the American Cowboy

Henry Fonda in "Once Upon a Time in the West"

He's an Italian filmmaker who left his mark on the world by telling uniquely American stories. Known throughout the world for his iconic Spaghetti Westerns, Sergio Leone comes from a family of filmmakers. His mother, Edvige Valcarenghi whose stage name was Bice Walerian, was a silent movie actress who gave up her career to become a wife and mother when she married Vincenzo Leone in 1916. Vincenzo whose stage name was Roberto Roberti, was a noted filmmaker who directed and acted in movies during the silent film era. He actually tried to discourage his son from pursuing a career in cinema, so Sergio Leone briefly studied law. But then fate stepped in and he landed a position as an assistant on Vittorio De Sica’s "The Bicycle Thieves" in 1948. Leone also briefly appears in the film, as part of a group of German priests taking shelter from the rain.

Although he emerged during the rise of Neorealism, Leone migrated early in his career towards the big budget epics being produced at the time at Cinecittà. After spending most of the decade during the '50s as an assistant on dozens of films, he stepped into the limelight in the '60s, single-handedly creating a whole new genre.

It's been said that Leone understood the American cowboy better than his stateside contemporaries. Before him, the denizens of the American West were portrayed as freshly scrubbed heroes who looked as if they'd just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Leone's incarnations on the other hand were unshaven, a little dark in nature and not well-behaved. His first Spaghetti Western, "A Fistful of Dollars," took the world by storm while launching the career of fellow film legend, Clint Eastwood. Leone's direction coupled with the soundtrack of Italian maestro, Ennio Morricone gave an almost psychedelic tone to these Spaghetti Westerns, and he succeeded in creating something that had truly never been done before. With these films, Leone started the European Western craze that saved Cinecittà financially during that time. The most famous works to come out of that genre are the films of the dollars-trilogy: "A Fistful of Dollars" in 1964, "For a Few Dollars More" in 1965, and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" in 1966. All of these films starred a young Clint Eastwood as the enigmatic "Man With No Name."

Leone enjoyed working with American actors, and nowhere was that more apparent than in his fourth Western, "Once Upon a Time in the West." Generous financial backing from Paramount studios gave Leone the opportunity to fulfill his dream of working with Henry Fonda. Leone transformed the clean-shaven hero into a demon-eyed killer, forever changing the way America viewed him as an actor. The famed Australian film and arts critic, Adrian Martin described Leone’s films as “odes to the human face”, describing the director's signature use of extreme close-ups of his actors’ faces, eyes and expressions. A great example of this can be seen in the opening of the 1968 film as a desolate, frightful face comes into frame. Another example can be seen in the final scene of Leone’s last film, "Once Upon a time in America" as the face of Robert De Niro fills the screen. And speaking of this last film, Leone actually turned down the opportunity to direct "The Godfather" because he had already committed himself to this project. Over a decade in the making, the four-hour epic film is a story of greed, violence, ethnicity and friendship. It explores the ability and challenges in coexisting with other cultures, races and beliefs. Although the final version was cut for the first release of the film, the original version was later released on DVD.

Back in Italy, Leone is credited with launching the career of one the country's most celebrated filmmakers, Carlo Verdone. When I interviewed Verdone a few years back, I asked him about his relationship with Leone. "Sergio Leone was my first producer. He saw me on a television show where I played a lot of different characters. He called me and said, I want to produce your film. Before we made the first film, I lived in his house for a year. He was a wonderful teacher for me. He was like a padrino, a godfather. So, thanks to Sergio, I am here." This YouTube video features a very young Carlo Verdone with his padrino.

Leone passed away from a heart attack in 1989 at the age of 60, tragically cutting his filmmaking short.

Stream these Spaghetti Westerns on Amazon..

Comments

Anna Foglietta: Actress and Activist with Old School Elegance

One look at actress Anna Foglietta in her any of her roles, and the Golden Age of Italian cinema comes to mind. Among Italy’s most sought-after actresses today, Foglietta brings to the table a classic eloquence of yesterday while representing Italy’s modern woman. Born in Rome in 1979, Foglietta began her career in 2005 with a role in the RAI television series La squadra . Her character Agent Anna De Luca had a two-year run on the series as she was transitioning to cinema with Paolo Virzì’s 2006 ensemble project 4-4-2- Il gioco più bello del mondo . Since then, she has become one of Italy’s most diverse actresses, transforming herself into interesting, layered characters for comedies and dramas alike. Aside from a small part in Anton Corbijn’s 2010 film The American starring George Clooney, Foglietta’s work began reaching mainstream American audiences in 2015. As Elisa in Edoardo Leo’s 2015 comedy Noi e la Giulia , Foglietta showed her funny side playing a goofball pregn...

Eric LoPresti: Fusing art and tech

Known for contemporary landscapes that fuse art and technology, Eric LoPresti is a Brooklyn-based artist with a strong sense of Italian identity. “My father’s family emigrated from Sicily via Ellis Island in 1905, which might explain a deep connection I still feel with that incredible Italian landscape,” LoPresti explains. Before attending graduate school at the Maryland Institute College of Art, he studied sculpture at several schools in Europe, including one in Greppocorgno near Perugia in the region of Umbria, under the guidance of the Boston-based sculptor Vincent Ricci. “For me, this was a transcendent experience — my first time in Italy — and a chance to connect with the Italian modernist tradition,” he says. Since then, he has focused on painting landscapes and other natural subjects, many of them inspired by the vast deserts of the Columbia Plateau in Washington State. The COVID lockdown was a particular productive period for LoPre...

Golden Age Masterpiece: Luchino Visconti’s 1957 “White Nights”

Photo Credit: Archivio Luce Cinecittà Luchino Visconti’s 1957 film, “White Nights” (“Le notti bianche”), offers a thoughtful and poignant exploration of themes such as loneliness, desire and emotional vulnerability. Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella of the same name, it transports the tale from 19th-century St. Petersburg to a dreamy mid-20th-century Italian setting. While Visconti remains largely faithful to Dostoevsky’s narrative, his characteristic style infuses the film with emotional depth, striking visuals, and a focus on class and societal constraints. The story follows a young man named Matteo, played by Marcello Mastroianni, who lives a solitary life in a small Italian town. One evening, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Natalia, portrayed by Austrian-Swiss actress Maria Schell, who is also feeling isolated. Although she is initially reluctant, Natalia eventually confides in Matteo about her love for a man who has promised to return and marry her, but he ha...

"Ennio" — Portrait of a Genius

Though he wasn't a filmmaker, his name is inextricably bound with Italian cinema and some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters. Known for his longtime collaborations with directors Giuseppe Tornatore, Sergio Leone, and Quentin Tarantino, Ennio Morricone created the soundtracks for Italian classics like "Cinema Paradiso" and "Malena" and American films like "The Hateful Eight," for which he won an Oscar, and "The Untouchables." Now, we have a deeply moving documentary that immerses us in the life and music of this modest genius. Written and directed by Tornatore, "Ennio" traces Morricone's path to becoming a renowned composer, focusing on his work on numerous films. It features archival and original footage, poignant interviews with Morricone conducted between 2015 and 2016, and heartfelt conversations with his peers and collaborators. The film spans Morricone's 80+ years in music, from trumpet lessons at six years old to ...

The Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog