This pretty much sums up what I think of this film. Brilliant. Claudia Cardinale is one of the most beautiful actresses to ever grace the silver screen and the rest of the cast are brilliant.
I can certainly sympathize with Silver and can understand why she was offended. But at the same time giving OUATITW only one star is rather unreasonable, even if one doesn’t like the film.
2 stars I can understand, but just one star is insulting. That is putting it in the same category with Fidani’s work.
I don’t like the great silence all that much but I still gave it 4 stars! Simply because I acknowledge that it was indeed a masterful film, even though I myself am not really a fan.
Sure, but that was not the problem, CDM
The point is: does anybody have the right to give it one star without being attacked by other forum members repetitively?
I think that yes, Silver or anybody else has that right
It’s surprising, one star for this film, so it’s normal that there was some reaction, but Silver wrote “God how many times have i been thru this??”, which makes me clear that she was attacked repetitively
She, on the other hand, has not been persistent in writing posts with idiosyncratic meanings, like somebody else whose ghost is still haunting these pages
Yodlaf has already pleaded guilty and I think it was all a misunderstanding
But like you, I can understand why Silver was offended
If someone gives a film a low rating (whatever film), then that is O.K with me as I believe everyone is entitled to an opinion.
I like many films , but at the end of the day for me a film is just a film in the bigger picture of life and does not pay the bills.
It was only meant as a jest and i’m sorry it was taken the wrong way,i didn’t even remember i had already made a comment before.
Shall we no get this thread back on topic
As a newbie, I find it pretty distressing reading the last few posts on here about what’s being going on between members of the forum. I can understand why ‘Silver’ is hacked off at some of the comments received, but I can also understand where such ‘misunderstandings’ originate. That’s me - trying to see both sides!!
There are other S.W. sites on the internet, where similar harsh words have resulted in members leaving something that they truly care about… I’m wondering if all of us, when we do decide to post our thoughts and ideas, could put a little more thought into what we say, and how we say it??
I suggest that - rather than carry on this thread in the way that it has been - we all get back to shaking hands, making up, and using this site for what it was originally designed…to celebrate the genius of the S.W’s, and, thereby, bringing together a ‘band of brothers’ with similar loves and interests… Let’s forget the bickering…
Does anyone else agree?
As for Sergio’s ‘Once Upon A Time in the West’…brilliant! Stylish! I love it to bits!
I have plenty more to say about this masterpiece, but I’ll wait to hear if other people wish to carry on this thread for it’s original purpose…
By the way, it’s a privilage to be part of this site…
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_the_West
Just a quick question, which struck me when I watched this again recently, that you guys/gals out there might help me with.
When Jill is loading the buggy to leave the McBain farm, and she finds Harmonica emerging from the shadows, why does he rip the lace collar and cuffs from her dress? I know he wants her not to leave because he knows more than she but it seems excessively rough. I realise that Leone wanted us to think that maybe this was a prelude to a rape but of course this does not happen. After all we still do not know his exact motives in this story. They go out to the well, Harmonica drinks the water he requested and then the shooting of Franks’ men. I did wonder if he was going to soak the rags to dress his wound from the first shoot out but this is not the case.
Sorry if it’s a simple answer and I just missed something. I have watched that scene so many times and never let it worry me before because I know he is essentially a good man.
Any help or thoughts you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
[quote=“Mejimbo, post:147, topic:322”]C'era una volta il West - The Spaghetti Western Database
Just a quick question, which struck me when I watched this again recently, that you guys/gals out there might help me with.
When Jill is loading the buggy to leave the McBain farm, and she finds Harmonica emerging from the shadows, why does he rip the lace collar and cuffs from her dress? I know he wants her not to leave because he knows more than she but it seems excessively rough. I realise that Leone wanted us to think that maybe this was a prelude to a rape but of course this does not happen. After all we still do not know his exact motives in this story. They go out to the well, Harmonica drinks the water he requested and then the shooting of Franks’ men. I did wonder if he was going to soak the rags to dress his wound from the first shoot out but this is not the case.
Sorry if it’s a simple answer and I just missed something. I have watched that scene so many times and never let it worry me before because I know he is essentially a good man.
Any help or thoughts you can offer would be greatly appreciated.[/quote][quote=“Mejimbo, post:147, topic:322”]C'era una volta il West - The Spaghetti Western Database
Just a quick question, which struck me when I watched this again recently, that you guys/gals out there might help me with.
When Jill is loading the buggy to leave the McBain farm, and she finds Harmonica emerging from the shadows, why does he rip the lace collar and cuffs from her dress? I know he wants her not to leave because he knows more than she but it seems excessively rough. I realise that Leone wanted us to think that maybe this was a prelude to a rape but of course this does not happen. After all we still do not know his exact motives in this story. They go out to the well, Harmonica drinks the water he requested and then the shooting of Franks’ men. I did wonder if he was going to soak the rags to dress his wound from the first shoot out but this is not the case.
Sorry if it’s a simple answer and I just missed something. I have watched that scene so many times and never let it worry me before because I know he is essentially a good man.
Any help or thoughts you can offer would be greatly appreciated.[/quote]
I’ve always thought the following 2 things regarding this scene. Firstly, by ripping the lace from Jill’s dress, Harmonica is symbolising the fact that - in essence - she is about to start a new life, this time as a ‘woman out West’. In other words, by removing the frilly lace, he is saying that she can put her former life (working as a saloon whore) behind her. She can now be a woman striving to please herself, and not a woman put on earth to entertain paying customers. She no longer needs to dress up, or sell her-self cheaply. This first instance is - to me - a significant one in the developement of both Jill, and Harmonica’s characters and motivations.
Secondly, because the frilly lace is white, and the rest of her dress is black, I believe harmonica also removes it so that she will not be such an easy target for the 2 gunmen working for Frank.
If you watch the film closely, you will see that while Harmonica is ripping off the lace, he is also looking outside, apparantly at the 2 gunmen. Hence, when he and Jill go outside the barn to get water from the well, Harmonica then lays a ‘trap’ for Frank’s men, by fooling them into believing he is unarmed.
Of course, I also totally agree with you that it was very clever of Leone to suggest in the ‘lace’ scene, that Jill is about to be raped by Harmonica. By not physically abusing her, he is also showing her that he can be trusted - one of the few people in Jill’s life that she can.
Maybe Harmonica felt that the 2 gunmen would be suspicious if he and Jill went to get water from the well with her all dressed up to the nines? Without the lace, she looks like she’s dressed for working rather than travelling. Or maybe that’s too simplistic an explanation?
Thank you Toscano and Cian for starting this off and giving your thoughts. You have both hit on similar ideas, the symbolic and the sensible and I am sure you are right. As I said, in the past I have just let it ride without thinking about it too much.
Anybody else care to add ?
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:134, topic:322”]You’re right about this, Silver, we do say a bit too often that we have a wonderful site and that everybody’s is entitled to his own opinion
I mean, the site is great, and everybody is entitled to his own opinion, but from time to time we forget about all this and become rude and narrow-minded
People usually are less tolerant than they pretend to be (and want to be), we’re no exception to that rule
We’re almost human …
Stay with us, dear friend[/quote]
Didn’t really want to bring all this up again but since others already have… Very eloquent post but at the end of the day things will just stay the same i think. Say what you like except about… As for tolerance…ok i meant ti give it more than one star but…slip of the hand etc and in any case it wouldn’t have been much higher…there are a lot of films i’m not keen on…and i may say this but it’s never in a rude way and it’s never with the intent of belittling another’s opinion. This whole thing is about a poll…for Christ’s sake. I’ve never said it’s a shitty film or it’s made badly, or the acting/music is crap…quite the opposite in fact.
[quote=“Reverend Danite, post:136, topic:322”]Well I’ve learnt a lesson here. I’ve been as flippant with my language as my friend Yod has, and said things, and used language, that on reflection maybe I shouldn’t have. As has been said by others here, including Yod - this was not a personal comment aimed at you Silver. It is tho’ - a less than subtle and obviously misplaced, ‘jokey’ comment on what is - after all, for most of the time, sometimes to its detriment - quite a ‘blokey’ site. A lesson needs to be learnt - by me as much as anybody else.
I value your knowledge, your views and input - and your idiosyncratic take on the genre that we all love. I would badly miss you if you left, as I’ve missed you already (you ain’t been here as much recently).
Yod’s a great bloke (don’t tell him I told ya) - but I’ll personally go darrn t’smoke an’ batter the cu… sorry tw… sorry BOUNDER (see, we’re learnin’!) - if you were to leave.
Anyway God has told me that you can’t leave - SO DON’T - alright? Please.
[Edit - please :-[.][/quote]
Appreciate the words…i really do. But maybe you’ve hit on something there…i guess there isn’t much of a place for females here.
[quote=“Col. Douglas Mortimer, post:142, topic:322”]I can certainly sympathize with Silver and can understand why she was offended. But at the same time giving OUATITW only one star is rather unreasonable, even if one doesn’t like the film.
2 stars I can understand, but just one star is insulting. That is putting it in the same category with Fidani’s work.
I don’t like the great silence all that much but I still gave it 4 stars! Simply because I acknowledge that it was indeed a masterful film, even though I myself am not really a fan.[/quote]
Ok…i can see your point…but then maybe Fidani is my idea of high art. (Ok he’s not…but…). And it’s fine giving Freat Silence 4 stars even tho you don’t like it much because it’s “masterful”. If i’d been going on music/acting.cinematography maybe i’d have done something similar…but as i stated it was based on personal “entertainment” value only.
[quote=“ENNIOO, post:144, topic:322”]If someone gives a film a low rating (whatever film), then that is O.K with me as I believe everyone is entitled to an opinion.
I like many films , but at the end of the day for me a film is just a film in the bigger picture of life and does not pay the bills.[/quote]
;D
Anyway it now seems a bit impossible to (for me) post an honest opinion, or God Forbid a Top 10/20 of anything without feeling seriously inhibited…which kind of makes things pointless.
I wouldn’t worry about it…the only “opinion Nazi” around here, in my opinion, was SARTANA DJANGO and he’s gone (good riddance).
Many think Cemetary Without Crosses is an excellent film as well, and I only found it to be average. I said so and it doesn’t bother me what anyone else thinks.
Variety is the spice of life, Silver! “illegitimus non carborundum” 
(and that is NOT a shot to anyone on this forum) 
This forum is a great place to be, a meeting of many minds and opinons, with a love of spaghetti westerns in common. I am very glad to have found it.
Hummm. I hesitate to weigh in but I just want to say that I would feel this site would be diminished if you left Silver. To say that this site has a gender imbalance is an understatement. I have read your posts and found them interesting and that was before I even understood that you are a woman.
You are entitled to your opinions without having to defend yourself personally. We are all fans here of a cult phenomenon. Of course, that means (by definition really) that we are passionate about that which we love. On occasion that passion is not channeled in the most respectful manner.
I rate OUATITW a five star film but it does not bother me one iota that you differ dramatically in opinion.
Pacificador has it right. I’m one of those who loves Cemetery Without Crosses. But I am not enamored so much of my own opinion (and it is ONLY an opinion) to believe that everyone should see it my way.
Let me add my voice to the chorus that intones you to stay. We would be lesser without you.
[quote=“Romaine Fielding, post:153, topic:322”]Hummm. I hesitate to weigh in but I just want to say that I would feel this site would be diminished if you left Silver. To say that this site has a gender imbalance is an understatement. I have read your posts and found them interesting and that was before I even understood that you are a woman.
You are entitled to your opinions without having to defend yourself personally. We are all fans here of a cult phenomenon. Of course, that means (by definition really) that we are passionate about that which we love. On occasion that passion is not channeled in the most respectful manner.
I rate OUATITW a five star film but it does not bother me one iota that you differ dramatically in opinion.
Pacificador has it right. I’m one of those who loves Cemetery Without Crosses. But I am not enamored so much of my own opinion (and it is ONLY an opinion) to believe that everyone should see it my way.
Let me add my voice to the chorus that intones you to stay. We would be lesser without you.[/quote]
I second that, and agree with every word…
Thanks for your understanding, and I understand your point as well…ANd to tell you the honest truth, I thought once upon a time, even if its “masterful” was a bit boring and slow and I rated below the dollars trilogy. Maybe you dislike it for the same reasons (boring and slow), or maybe you don’t find Bronson attractive enough I don’t know haha.
[quote=“Pacificador, post:152, topic:322”]I wouldn’t worry about it…the only “opinion Nazi” around here, in my opinion, was SARTANA DJANGO and he’s gone (good riddance).
Many think Cemetary Without Crosses is an excellent film as well, and I only found it to be average. I said so and it doesn’t bother me what anyone else thinks.
Variety is the spice of life, Silver! “illegitimus non carborundum” (and that is NOT a shot to anyone on this forum)
This forum is a great place to be, a meeting of many minds and opinons, with a love of spaghetti westerns in common. I am very glad to have found it.[/quote]
Thanks…and (this’ll prob come as no surprise) i wasn’t that into CWC either…
[quote=“Romaine Fielding, post:153, topic:322”]Hummm. I hesitate to weigh in but I just want to say that I would feel this site would be diminished if you left Silver. To say that this site has a gender imbalance is an understatement. I have read your posts and found them interesting and that was before I even understood that you are a woman.
You are entitled to your opinions without having to defend yourself personally. We are all fans here of a cult phenomenon. Of course, that means (by definition really) that we are passionate about that which we love. On occasion that passion is not channeled in the most respectful manner.
I rate OUATITW a five star film but it does not bother me one iota that you differ dramatically in opinion.
Pacificador has it right. I’m one of those who loves Cemetery Without Crosses. But I am not enamored so much of my own opinion (and it is ONLY an opinion) to believe that everyone should see it my way.
Let me add my voice to the chorus that intones you to stay. We would be lesser without you.[/quote]
And thanks again…hopefully this can finally be the end of the whole thing. I don’t know…i guess i get the bit between my teeth because it just seems to keep coming back to haunt me… :-\
Both of the above 
Yer’ ALL fuckin’ crazy. Fidani was the master! He made Leone look like Ed Wood! Nobody could take all of the tension and drama in a film and completely throw it in the crapper like he could. It’s an art, I tells ya! AN ART! 8)
Just kidding. I’m coming in a little late on this conversation but a few thoughts…
“Cunt” … that word directed towards a dude may be crude, but it has a completely different context directed at a lady. Did Yod know Silver was an F and not an M? If so, then that’s pretty harsh and a bit outa line. But he did apologize.
That said, even though OUATIW is my favorite spag of all time, remember, everyone’s got a right to think whatever they want. I vehemently disagree with giving it a 1, but I’l defend Silver’s right to the end to rate it that way. SARTANA DJANGO is gone. I don’t think we need to be ratings nazis here. And ultimately, I hope you will stick around, Silver. It’s all about respect.
As usual, RF has hit the nail on the head. There is a major gender imbalance here which can lead to us becoming a bit too ‘blokey’ sometimes. The only way to fix that is for female members to stick around and put us in our place occasionally. ;D
Glad you are still with us Silver.
I didn’t even know who had given it 1 star to be honest (the polls are anonymous) and it wasn’t a serious comment it was only meant as banter.
I saw my favourite western (and favourite film of all time!) was given 1 star and made the comment, no way was it meant to offend, i thought it would bring a bit of fun.
So Silver please don’t go. with my hand on my heart i get down on one knee, i’m sorry if you took offence.
And let’s just leave it at that, this thread is now making me look like a bad guy
I agree with all the posters above. You should stay with us Silver. Those Yodlaf’s crude comment was just a kind of “slip of the tongue” and it wasn’t even serious i think. He’s not a bad guy, but sometimes every male has got its moments of rudeness and that’s when women should put a stop to that and tell us we should behave yourself. OUTITW is my fave movie of all time, but i understand you may have different opion about that and i respect it. World would be such a boring place if everyone would like the same things. 