Here it is
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/The_Great_Silence_BluRay_review_(UK)
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*No one, who is genuinely good, ever loses.
Yes, sometimes the bullies winā¦but it is to their loss.
Silenzio died trying to do what was rightā¦Cowards do what cowards doā¦it doesnāt make it right.
Sometimes, (too often) good men have to die to save the World from MFās.
Sergio Corbucci had the guts, and the balls, to tell life as it can be. No happy ending in sight, which is, sadly, often the case.
I donāt know about other people, but such endings just make me want to do what is right, in life; and to stand up to injustice, bullies, and wrong-doing.
Bad people donāt winā¦it just postpones their date with Hell of their own making.
Enough of the preachingā¦Happy Christmas.
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Iād like to express my thoughts on this film. I think Iāve said some of this earlier, but last night I laid awake with all this blowing around my head, so I thought I had to get it out of my head before It ruined my sleep habits.
So, this is held by many on this site as not only the greatest non-Leone SW, but one of the greatest movies ever made. And there are several fascinating things about it indeed.
The snow setting is wonderful. Just watching those majestic āUtahā (Dolomites) landscapes with Morriconeās score playing over would make the whole film worth paying for - and they made it without having to leave Italy. It is, overall, a very good-looking film; The costumes, the town of Snow Hill, even the Stagecoach, are all gorgeous. Apart from some occasional overacting minor roles - the actors in Silenceās flashback come to mind - the actors are adept, particularly the four leads of course. The score is superb as always when Il Maestro is on the go, but I donāt think itās one of his very, very best. Corbucciās direction of action sequences is also great as always - the Saloon shootout in the middle of the film is the best.
So, whatās the thing that brings it down for me? Well, to summarize it crudely, itās the screenplay. The political allegory is not very subtle, and takes over the story too often. Silence represents Che Guevara/Malcolm X while the outlaws represent victims of American imperialism - good. Pollicut, Tigrero and his gang represent the capital and its guardians - evil. As a result, the loose morality which is a great part of why I like Spaghetti Westerns is taken away. It also creates some plot points that donāt feel entirely logical; If everyone had gotten the news of the governors plan to pardon the outlaws, then why does the bounty killers still pursue them? Why does Tigrero think he will be able collect the bounties after killing a lawman? (Ok, it can be argued that there was no witness to that, but I donāt think the authorities would be so stupid that they couldnāt put two and two together). Moreover, the characters are unable to become entirely rounded because they have to serve the message. Tigrero, despite being the villain, stands out as the most fleshed out character to me.
And thereās of course the ending. I know 99% of everyone on the forum think itās great, many even say itās what makes the film great in the first place, but I have to disagree. And thatās not chiefly because itās depressing. To me, it can be boiled down to an inverted standard western ending, not very interesting in my opinion, and having every single non-villainous character killed felt almost Hamlet-esque. You might think that thatās because āCorbucci wanted to show what it really would have been likeāā¦ Ok. Then how do you explain the mentioned logical issues I donāt get, and the whole character of Sheriff Burnett being almost like heād stepped out of a comic book? If the whole movie was like how it really would have played out, the final showdown would never occur in the first place. At least as far as I understand. I could be wrong.
I also understand that the ending was a big part of the idea of the film to begin with, but as I said, I donāt think the political allegory is very well made in the first place. And itās not a very constructive message either; āInjustice is dominating the world. And you know what? Thereās nothing to do about it!ā Furthermore, if the message is that evil, when powerful, cannot be touched, then why is Pollicut, the actual evil capitalist behind the injustices, killed off?
Many people have praised Corbucci for his ābravenessā to tell the audience how unjust and shitty real life is (and like many similar cases, the conflicts on the issue with the producers further paints the picture of him as some kind of hero). Thing is, Iām afraid the very vast majority of the worldās population already know that. Too well. As a column I read once expressed; āI donāt require films to pretend life is great. Feel free to take a cold snowball of reality and all itās bleakness and push it down my spine. But as the credits roll, I want to feel some hope for humanity. Or I might as well watch the newsā. (This doesnāt apply to all films of course, but doing a tragic ending just for the sake of being tragic is pointless in my opinion).
And I donāt find very brave response-wise either, because every single person on the planet except me seems to love such endings. Left is a āshock valueā that does not impress me very much. But on the other hand, is the ending really as bleak as everybody says? The title card at the end strongly implies that Tigrero and his gang painted themselves into a corner through the massacre, and most likely ended up convicted in some way or another, but most people seem to overlook that, almost like they want the ending to be as hopeless as possible. Maybe most people like that grittiness, and thereās nothing wrong with that, but Iām generally not a very happy and optimistic person, so I try to see things more constructively (I apologize if that felt like please-feel-bad-for-me talk because it isnāt).
Sorry this turned out so long, but I felt I had to express all this. Iām also sorry if it sounded like a rant, because I do like this film. The snow setting, the action sequences, the score and lead actors are all great, and I still think thereās a good chance it will make it into my top 20 some time in the future (Iām still working on my first list). But while I might be wrong, I donāt think Iāll ever rank it quite as high as many other SW fans do.
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Lol I so agree with this quote. Everyone definitely already knows the world can suck, and it seems to be a trend now more than ever that creators are pushed into ābeing realā with their storiesā¦ like life is just completely mellowā¦ like success and contentment and happiness aināt real things in lifeā¦
Personally, I never thought that Corbucci was being brave when he kilt Silence off, I just thought it was different - at least for this genre - so I was honestly just surprised (I guess thatās under the same token tho). While I like this movie, I think Iāve said before that it can get preachy and melodramatic. And it can be very in-your-face with its messages, which can leave a bad taste. Donāt nobody wanna be preached to, lol.
I wonder if thereās any movie besides The Big Gundown that can do what this movie tried to do a lil better 
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This SW gives me by far the most pronounced feeling of seriousness and perceived reality, and probably the ending only underlines that, as well as the Morricone soundtrack and the impressive snowy mountain settingā¦
The alternate happy ending on my DVD nowadays after several watchings seems more inappropriate logically reasoned, but I would have liked the film also with only the happy ending instead, maybe even more 
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Coming to the Criterion Channel
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Same. Well made movie but with a lame screenplay. It feels so slow.
The bounty hunters are all murderers but Silence needs to shoot them in a self-defense for his good sleep or whateverā¦
** Spoilers ahead for anyone who is reading almost 600 posts in the thread. ** I enjoyed reading down the thread and so many great points and opinions are made in it.
I watched The Great Silence last weekend having seen it numerous times before, first on BBC TV some years back. For me, itās a great movie and one of the all time best westerns, very near the top of my list. Apologies in advance if this post rambles a bit.
So much is superb here - the concept, the settings, the snow, costumes, interiors, some great action and acting. Kinski absolutely steals the show - in the first half of the movie Loco is cunning, at ease and displays charm at times. His exchanges with the sheriff are top class. One of the best SW villains - he would be worthy of study in a work of study of villains.
Loco is charming to the stagecoach men when loading and collecting his ācargoā. He is sharp witted in his exchanges with the sheriff in the stagecoach. Loco is astute when the sheriff says one day he will meet up with someone faster than him saying that will be an amusing day and grinning at Silence. Unwilling too to take Policuttās proposal/advice to kill silence. Kinski is superb, a wonderful character performance.
Fabulous scenes shot from the tops of the mountains down into the passes with the sun shining over the clouds. I also liked the first exchange between Silence and bounty hunters - the guy eating the chicken in the hillside tavern. āCharlie is fast but the stranger is faster than the devilā - āfor all I know he is the devilā - great line!
Silence - I wonder where he had planned on staying before he turned up at Paulineās. He wanted $1000 to kill Loco which Pauline clearly didnāt have at the time. Pauline tries to sell her house to racist creep Pollicutt to pay Silence but he wonāt buy as he wants her. Pauline is āwilling to payā Silence - itās deal or no deal for Silence and he picks deal. Silence is not a hero but just a tragic figure for me. He floats a bit without purpose and displays a lack of guile at the end.
The saloon scene is super where Silence provokes Loco but he is too smart to draw. But loco canāt be insulted like that and must save face. Just three blows are traded but they are three great blows. Loco is rattled and goes to take his gun but is saved when arrested by the sheriff. Loco is driven from here and is ruthless and cunning - he uses his deviousness throughout.
The sherifff is a great character- again not a hero but I can connect with him somehow or maybe just sympathise with him - he is tragic and amusing. Policutt is well portrayed by Pistilli. Lovely Pauline is a great character too. The love scene is a an all time great scene, tender and subtle. It is Morricone at his very best. And enough has been said about the ending. An all time climax. So much tragedy!
You could pick some flaws in the Great Silence but it is 5 stars every time - possibly one of the greatest of the genre for me.
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Very well put. Itās such a great film. While the dubbing is not great (in both English and Italian) which can make it hard to follow on a first watch and the cinematography is not always good, the film does so many things well which you articulated perfectlyā¦ it has slowly become my favorite SW thatās not made by Sergio Leone. It got better with every rewatch. The story is basically flawless.
It almost feels like a revisionist spaghetti western, with how the āgood guyā loses near the end in a brutal and spontaneous way. The way the snow setting is used is also really unique, it uses the snow to represent the harsh hostile lawless environment they are in, itās a white hell, just like most westerns use the desert to represent harshness and lawlessness.
I agree with basically everything you said, except the part where you say itās worthy of study as I donāt think there are benefits to studying/deeply analyzing film, evidenced by how most of the best film directors and writers did not go to film school, but anyway thatās off-topic.
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Absolutely beautifully shot, well acted and written film. I had been putting it off for a bit but finally got to it and it blew me away with how good it was. Would go as far as to call it a masterpiece. How many SWs let alone normal westerns take place entirely in the snow, let alone have a protagonist with a disability (not being able to speak.) If you havenāt seen this movie yet, I reccomend the Italian dub with English subtitles (which you can find easily on internet archive or something) since the English dub is kinda mediocre. Iād like to discuss this amazing film.
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Glad you enjoyed the film, amigo.
Wishing you a hearty welcome to the āSWDBāā¦ 
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I do agree that itās well acted and well written, but beautifully shot? It has itās moments for sure but I think its quite weak in terms of cinematography. Still a masterpiece as itās corbucciās best in every other respect but if the film has 1 weakness itās definitely the inconsistent cinematography.
I also donāt agree that the italian dub is any better than the english one, not the first time I saw that sentiment though, I reckon itās because people who donāt understand italian donāt notice the flaws as much in the italian dub, but both dubs are of the same quality imo. To me, english is preferrable simply due to the fact it fits the filmās setting.
The fact the English dub contains Frank Wolff and Vonetta McGeeās real voices prevents it from being total crap at least.
Agreed. I like the English dub on this one a lot.
I never watched it in English, and probably will never do. Hmm, the dialogues in the Italian and the English version differ?
The photography, I donāt see any problems in TGS. What does inconsistent photography mean in TGS? Any examples?
This is one of the few Spags I prefer to watch in Italian. I think mainly because I consider this a more āseriousā spaghetti.
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Kinskiās character has a different name: Loco vs Tigrero.
Itās just nice to hear some of the actorsā real voices. And the English dubbing is pretty solid for once.