Actors donāt look at these films the way we as fans do ā¦ in many cases they never see the finished movie or remember the titles of those they worked on. Itās a job ā¦ in and out, get paid and thatās that.
If we as movie fans are reminded of these similarities then itās just coincidence or plagiarism from the director or 2nd unit stunt guys ā¦ not a professional nod or homage to il maestro
āOnce upon a time in the westā, is one long list of true homages to Leoneās favourite western films and directors ā¦ from the āHigh Noonā opening, waiting for the train, to the long duster coats and Monument Valley locations of āMy Darling Clementineā ā¦ plus a ton of others.
Leone was an artist who was fascinated by the subject matter and genre he brought us ā¦ but you canāt imagine that the dozens of other film directors and producers that jumped the band wagon, are acknowledging greatness by stealing a trick here and there ā¦ they just wanted to make a successful entertaining film, and Leoneās work was the blueprint for an entire genre.
Itās fun for us to spot these little moments ā¦ but if youāre working in the scalding sun for 12 hours a day, you seriously couldnāt give two flying Fs about homage.
Big surprise Iām one of the two who gave it five. Not to say I think itās absolutely perfect because I donātā¦I really give it about 4.7 stars but Iāve rounded it up to five.
Watching this movie set in Dallas after having lived there for 20 years, imagine my surprise to see there is a mountain range on the outskirts of Dallas that I somehow never noticed!
According to Giuliano Gemma, Van Johnson was acquainted with the Kennedy family and worried how they would receive the film (Kevin Grant, p. 429) ā understandably, given such promotional images as the one on the left (the children do not appear in the film) ā¦
So funny how especially us youngsters watch these flicks today totally ignorant of the context during then they came out. It all becomes part of āold movie blurā
