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
SPOILERS
I watched the Price of Power yesterday for the first time. To me it is a solid and unspectacular movie, an interesting plot with some good performances but low on action. The movie follows a plot to assassinate the president and the various individuals involved.
Gemma plays Bill who is seeking revenge after the murder of his father who knew about the plot. His friend Jack gets set up as the patsy and some rough treatment throughout the movie. He was pointing a rifle out the window just after the president was shot. Doctor Strips and Nick are other characters who aid Bill at times.
The villains include the sheriff with his interesting facial hair, a nasty tough called Wallace and various respectable businessmen/dignitaries from the city of Dallas which looks like a tiny village. McDonald is the presidentās advisor who first pleads with the president not to go to Dallas, then seemed to be part of the plot and lastly works to expose the conspirators. He was handy in the fight in the printing press and gives Gemma a great wallop with a metal pan. The presidentās wife Lucretia also features and Jackās wife gets a new dress for saying Jack did plan to shoot the president.
Price of Power reminded me of Wanted featuring Gemma in that it rambles a little and is low on action. Also itās a few years into the Spaghetti Westen era so the bar is high. Interesting idea about the whole presidential assassination but parts of it done on too low a scale. Iād go 2.5 stars here
āThe Price of Powerā/āA Bullet for the Presidentā is a film that seems to say more about Italy at the time of its release than it does about US history: A Bullet for the President - Trailers From Hell
After two light hearted movies, And for a Sky a Roof Full Oā Stars and Alive But Preferably Dead, this was a return to a more serious western by Gemma for the first time in 2 years. It was also his last western for three years, a sign that the genre was starting to run its course. The Price of Power was timed for the Christmas release, in the absence of a Leone movie and was the second most successful western at the Italian box-office in 1969, beaten only by Boot Hill.
It has strengths (good imaginative gunfights and the Kennedy plot) and weaknesses (others have mentioned the paltry crowd scenes and lack of a Presidential entourage) but I thought it was pretty good overall. The film is very cagey about names of real-life characters and there is no indication as to when it is supposed to be set - the various articles and press releases on this site mention 1873, 1880 and 1881 respectively although no date is mentioned in the film but from some of the dialogue we seem to be much closer to 1865 than 1881. The President is referred to as Garfield in some publicity material but not in the film itself where he is just āThe Presidentā and the Vice President isnāt named either.
They is an uncut English language version on You Tube which I watched last year as the WE version was too expensive now OOP. You Tube also has copies of the abridged 96m version.
Its a shame that the German Blu Ray doesnāt have an English soundtrack or at least English subtitles.
The UK theatrical version, X rated of course, was the 96m version. A UK VHS was released in 1985 of the full length version - I used to have this and that was my first viewing of the film.
It has its faults but this is definitely top 20 for me at the moment (although it might drop out once I see another 50 new westerns over the next year) and a relief from Gemmaās two previous comedy films.
