You lucky buggers!
I would love to have seen it on the big screen.
By the way, congrats Seb, for having the courage to do the introduction. Itās not easy.
Did you have any pre-intro nerves?
What was the audience reaction to the film like?
How did the experience compare to watching on a TV? Any thoughts?
2 Likes
Thanks. It is the second time I have done it at that festival (the other was last year for Death Rides a Horse), and I am still trying to find my groove. I wasnāt nervous but I went in between attempting to do it free style and reading off my notes. In the end I did a hybrid of both, but I would much rather just do free style storytelling.
The audience was very friendly, dug my jokes and then clearly also liked the movie. I have to say, even though it was the 2016 restoration that is the basis for all the BluRays as well, seeing it huge like that was a whole different story. The stuff you see and notice, itās no comparison. Size does matter 
9 Likes
Brilliant.
Very well done, Seb. You are a credit to the āSWDBā.
Albeit unpaid, that is my job 
1 Like
The new German UHD edition is out now
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Grande_silenzio,_Il/BluRay#Germany
1 Like
I watched The Great Silence for the first time last nightā¦There may be spoilers ahead in this post and I must say that I enjoyed reading the 600+ posts this thread had to offer. Some great insight dating back so many years.
Preface - I have put off watching The Great Silence for so long due to the fact that when I originally got into westerns at a young age, one of, if not the first that I watched was The Searchers, which remains my favourite of all time and since then, no other classic western has hit that top 10/10 marker, which has always disappointed me a little. For sure, there are plenty of 8 and 9/10 films out there, but no 10/10 like The Searchers. I feared (due to The Great Silence having such a great reputation) that the same would happen here.
Also, it may be slightly frowned upon here but a day or two ago I managed to stumble across an unbelievable version of the flick on YouTube which looked beautiful on my 55 inch TV, so I couldnāt pass up the chance to watch it before potentially it got taken down. Anyway, Iām ramblingā¦
-
Iām still letting the film sink in as I watched it 12 hours ago, but I think The Great Silence was a 10/10 SW and has catapulted to the top of my favourite SW list, jumping above Django (although itās been a few years since I watched Django so I may give that a rewatch). The main thing I was in awe of was the fact that the film was just a level above everything else Iāve watched in this genre when it comes to filmmaking. The camera shots, the acting, the story and its depth (I enjoyed the story greatly, I dislike convoluted stories and this didnāt seem that), the cinematography, everything really. The soundtrack was also great but it would be unfair to include that in the ālevel aboveā as many SWās have epic soundtracks.
Other little snippets of uniqueness that helped it were, of course, the winter setting, as well as the casting of McGee.
Just winding back to the story, I read one poster above complain about the weak story - I disagree there. I think the story is solid without causing too much confusion. I also thought the ābleakā ending fit perfectly. However, if there was a hole to pick, Iād say maybe the bandits deserved more time and backstory - another poster mentioned ābut I would like to actually care for those bandits in the mountains but I did notā and I think this almost sums up my thoughts. The Sheriff could also have been slightly less comedic, but I donāt think it hurt the film too much.
Also Iām not the biggest Klaus Kinski fan on the planet and the majority of SWās Iāve seen with him, he doesnāt really get too much screentime, but I think this performance of his was ahead of its time and he wowād me from start to finish, although Iām not sure how much credit the guy dubbing him deserves too, as I donāt think that was Klausā voice.
I also really enjoyed the saloon scene where Silence and Loco locked horns and Silence was trying to provoke Loco into drawing his gun.
It was just a fantastic movie and I think I could write another page on it but I will stop here.
7 Likes
Agreed itās an amazing film. The only things that hold it back for me are (like you say) I never found the sheriff that funny even though he was supposed to be a bit of comic relief. Iām also not a lover of Corbucciās shaky cam in this oneā¦I think it works in his other films but here Iāve always felt it heād have been better filming everything in a more typical fashion. In one of the flashback scenes it gets a bit too much Iāve always felt.
2 Likes
I understand your point, Bill.
However, it could be that way simply because it was freezing while they were filming parts of the filmā¦ 
4 Likes
Please feel free to express your views, Bubz.ā¦everything is welcome on āSWDBā, amigoā¦
After all, you make pick up on something that the rest of us companeros never have. 
2 Likes
Itās a Corbucci film so it was probably both 
1 Like
I just wanted to share the beautiful theme with you.
2 Likes
This film is simply breathtaking. I wasnāt sure whether to revisit Django or this and Iām glad I picked this one. I donāt watch it as often as enough as some, so itās easy to forget just how good it is. 5/5 every time!
4 Likes
I liked the part with the snow
7 Likes