"Once Upon a Time in the West": The swan song in the sound of the train whistle

Amanda 2021-10-20 17:24:00

Original address: http://www.qh505.com/blog/post/2173.html

The so-called swan song is one sound covering another sound, the so-called swan song is one era replacing another. The sound of the melodious and melancholic harmonica sounded, not pleasure, but murderous, not in the suffocating desert, but in the station where the train came, the sound of the harmonica covered by the whistle was the last swan song and the last revenge of the unknown ranger. .

The end of an era always appeared in such a deep way, and before that, it was another sound, suppressed and suffocated, that was the sound of water dripping, it was the sound of the buzzing of flies, without even breathing. The dark faces, the indifferent expressions, and the murderous guns can smell death in the sun. Three gunmen and an old man were silent in the waiting room of the train station. The toothless old man stretched out his trembling hand, "Three tickets, seven dollars." He said, even with a slight smile. But they are not passengers, they are just killers, they are waiting for the coming train, waiting for the coming person. The water on the eaves of the roof dripped carefully, and it landed on the brim of the cowboy hat. A man took off his hat and drank the water; a fly climbed onto another man’s beard, and he blew and twisted. His face was driving away the flies. When the flies landed on the wood, he covered the flies with his muzzle and listened strangely to the flies struggling at the muzzle; there was another man pressing his knuckles and making a squeak sound. He, he, and him, and the two horses in the distance, made the air freeze.

But sound to sound is another turning point in fate. At first it was the whistle and the train came in, breaking the silence, suffocation and depression here, but only a package of goods was unloaded, and the train went away. When the train station returned to silence, there was a whimper like a harmonica. The broken wind and sand echoed around the empty and withered station. In addition to him, him, and him, and the two horses in the distance, there was one more person. The ragged, harmonica man asked after this 14-minute silence: Frank is not here? Then he shook his head, and then said: You brought two horses too much.

Too much means him. He and he have no chance to get on their horses and leave this station. The west wind is raging across the sky with wild sand. When the harmonica ends, gunshots rang out. There is no faster speed, only the fastest, he, he and He fell to the ground, and the harmonica sounded like a whimper again, and the revenge that never ended was opened again. In the small town far away from the station, in the town of Tianshui where there is no train, there were also gunshots. At first, it was the sound of Mark Bain shooting down birds with a shotgun. It was the harvest of hunting and the joy of family dining. A daughter and two Son, Mark Bain said to his daughter, we will be rich soon. Said to the older son, you go to pick up your mother. The son said: Mom died six years ago. One slapped him in the face, and the woman who came by train was another mother, a beautiful, young mother in black clothes and a fashionable hat. But the reunion is not joy, it is another terrifying sound. The frightened bird flew up, and a gunshot sounded. The daughter fell by the prepared dining table. Mark Bain ran over. There was another gunshot. The eldest son sat and was about to go. Gunshots were also heard in the carriage picking up the mysterious mother. Behind the gunfire, there are five riders, Frank, what are you doing next? The man named Frank looked at the youngest boy. The boy did not panic or roar, but tears fell from the corner of his eyes. Frank smiled, "Now you call my name." Then there was another shot.

Every gunshot is followed by a death, a turning point in the destiny of an individual, and this is no longer a desert that was once empty, not just a place with gunmen, of course, there are not only gunshots here, but the crowds are getting more and more small. In the town, as the train stretches farther and farther, there is a low and gloomy harmonica sound like a whimper, which seems more terrifying and weird than the sound of gunshots. After the messy horseshoes and unbridled gunfire outside the door, when Sean broke into the closed market, the harmonica sound came out from the corner again. No one knows what happened, and no one knows what will happen. Shaun the bearded man stood in front of the counter in shackles and asked for a bottle of wine, but the mysterious mother who passed by from the train couldn't understand this place. The people did not understand the gunshots here, and when the gunshots stopped, everyone heard the strange but infinitely murderous harmonica. The harmonica stopped, and Shane said, you can play the harmonica and shoot. The harmonica ranger smiled and said, just now all three of them have the same coats as you. Then what? Sean asked. "Then everybody has a bullet on him," said the harmonica ranger.

Are the three gunmen at the train station from Shane? The note on the door after the shooting of the Mark Bain family also had a person's name written on it: Shane. For the harmonica ranger, this name is unfamiliar, and the life and death story behind the name does not make sense to him. He is just an avenger. He is looking for the man named Frank, the man who killed his brother. But for the woman in black, the name Sean is another secretly revealed clue. The death of the Mark Bain family made all her hopes come to nothing. She became a widow after one month of marriage, this woman named Jill. There is too much love, hatred, and hatred, but she is not an avenger. She came to this town just to find her own future. This woman from New Orleans always bears the mark of some kind of civilized society, especially for this small town that is building a railway for development, she is an intruder, and in the depths of this desert, civilization and barbarism seem to be There is only a basin of water. When she walked into the market, the people she saw were all filthy. They never had enough water to take a bath to wash away the dirt on their bodies. In Jill’s eyes, water represents Civilization represents cleanliness. When Sean broke into the Mark Bain house where Jill lived for one night, Jill thought that Sean would do something to her. She angrily said, "You can come in and insult me, but it doesn’t matter. Just give me a basin of water after I’m done so that I can wash my body. For me, it’s just a dirty memory." The need for a basin of water is to clean my body and also to clean my body. Wash away those possible insults. But Shane was obviously not the person Jill was looking for, nor the man who insulted Jill. He said: "I never kill a child. Killing a child is like killing a priest." Then he grinned. , He added: "I mean Catholic...".

Of course it wasn't Sean who killed Mark Bain's family, it was Frank. As the hired killer of the lame Morton, Frank was just a professional killer. His purpose was simple, as long as he paid money to kill, but for Morton, Frank's act of killing the door was of course ruining the entire battle. It turned out that Mark Bain bought the land in the depths of the desert because he fancyed that the land would be developed by trains, and the only place closest to the town was water, because the train steam engine needed a lot of water, so water It was the beginning of the desert to modern civilization, just like Jill's needs. So Mark Bain and Morton, who is also a businessman, forged a grudge against the land. When the railroad tracks were laid closer and closer to the town, when the sirens of the train sounded in this once-great desert, an era is no longer possible. Coming in containment, and as the great wheels of this era roll in, all gunshots, harmonica sounds, and all lone knights have to withdraw from here, and before this swan song is finally staged, they must participate in the battle for some benefit. The life and death bet.

"Once you kill the fourth person, you can easily kill the fifth person." For the gunman, this is an endless killing, an endless loop of revenge. The battle for land between Jill and Morton is not to meet each other. It is the prelude to this new era. Behind this battle for land is the massacre of Killing the Door. It is the physical deal between Jill and Frank. Frank takes Morton as the killer. Jill was asked to auction the land here. The 300 acres of land were only sold at the auction house for the asking price of 500 dollars. Everything was under Frank’s control, but when the 500 dollars were about to be sold as Morton’s property, the harmonica ranger Sean appeared, and their price was $5,000, and $5,000 was exactly equivalent to the wanted Sean's bounty price, that is, Sean made himself the last bet. Morton's wishful thinking was shattered, and Frank of course also lost it. The final benefit. When the harmonica ranger satirically added Frank to the 5,000 dollar symbolic dollar to pay for the wine, he said to Frank that you cannot become a businessman. Frank also shook his head and said: Yes. I'm just a man. "An ancient race." The harmonica ranger defined Frank's statement of "just a man."

The "old race" is actually the gunman who did not fit into the train era, the gunman who killed people in the wild sandy desert, that was Frank's era, that was the era of a lone hero galloping, and this era also belongs to the harmonica. The ranger belongs to the personal era of revenge for his brother. The illusory figure always appeared in front of his eyes. It appeared over and over again, and could not be smeared. The figure that remained the deepest in memory was Frank the Killer. On that day a few years ago, he took out a harmonica and stuffed it in In the mouth of the young harmonica ranger, his hands were tied by a rope, and on his shoulders stood his brother with a sling around his neck. Death, an inevitable death, happened at that moment. The brother's feet softened and the harmonica The ranger fell to the ground, raising the dust, and the harmonica fell into the yellow sand.

This is a ritual of death. The harmonica ranger is not only a witness, but also an implementer in another sense. So when the train tracks are getting closer and closer to Sweetwater Town, when Morton’s land plot finally falls, Frank He also reached his end. The confrontation with the harmonica ranger was not faster, only the fastest. It was still the gunshot he was most familiar with, but it was not from his own gun. A bullet shot into his strong and body. In his body after a long battle, the harmonica ranger stuffed the harmonica into Frank's mouth. The scene a few years ago was like before his eyes. Death was replaced on his body, falling to the ground, still dust, and the harmonica still falling. Falling in the yellow sand.

As the harmonica ranger said, Frank is not a businessman, he is just a member of the "ancient race", a member of the Gunners era, and the avengers related to the harmonica. And Shane also belonged to the "ancient race". He was awakened by Jill from a certain family memory. His mother was also a prostitute. He never knew who his father was. He said to Jill, "I don't know him. Who is it, but I also hope that he is happy." Without parents, there is no sense of belonging, because Morton's fire and Sean also fell to the ground and died. The three men, Frank, Sean and the Harmonica Ranger, are all "ancient races". They only belong to the western era that is about to disappear, and the rumbling train has entered Sweetwater Town. The western cowboy era ends, which means the western pioneer era. s inception. The three men used to have the fastest marksmanship, a superb figure, and a galloping ranger life, but they were just lone heroes, and they had to withdraw from their grievances.

Quit, they never belonged to their own lives, just like the harmonica ranger, he didn't have his own name from appearing to leaving. When Frank asked who he was, the harmonica ranger said, I am Dave · Jenkins, Frank laughs With a smile, he is dead. The harmonica ranger said, my name is Card · Benson, and Frank still smiled and said that he too is dead. When Frank was finally shot by the harmonica ranger, he was still asking, who are you. The harmonica ranger did not answer. Perhaps, the nameless is his only identity and identity, just like that era, the era of trains and railroad tracks, the sound of train whistle will replace the gloomy harmonica, and every "old race" is gone. The city is inevitable, and there are only unknown people in the last swan song of the west. When Jill asked him: "When will you come back again?" His answer is destined to be unanswered: "Someday." Leaving is like a ritual to withdraw from the stage of history, drifting, and perhaps in another legend in history.

The three men either died or disappeared, and it seemed that the only woman who witnessed the roar of the train belonged to Jill. This woman who came from New Orleans with the mark of civilization, found the water of this era, and finally walked out of her hut. To send water to the men who lay railroad tracks outside, needs and satisfaction. In this story of water that symbolizes the progress of civilization, a woman becomes the last protagonist. She is noticed by men with a smile, just like being noticed by history. This new era with trains. The endless expanse of desert sand, the knight-like popularity, the cold and suffocating gunfire, and the whimpering harmonica, all these are gone, replaced by railways, steam horns, water, and women. A diverse era will The west becomes the memory of "Once upon a time in the west".

"In the west" is not a mark indicating a geographic location, it only refers to time. In this time-related mark, there is the last disguise of the era. It is a repressed and suffocating voice. It is a harmonica that replaces names and speech. It is a fight for 5,000 dollars. It is the physical desire of a glamorous widow. The past ways of the world are disappearing in this disguise, the wells are disappearing, the carriages that carry luggage are disappearing, and the deserts are disappearing. Yes, joy and sadness, forgetting and nostalgia are not only a change in history, but also Sergio Leone’s summary of the past in the West. Fifteen years later, he filmed a similar title, attempt and style. "Once Upon a Time in the United States", this became the last work, and it was like a scene often seen in movies. The gunman appeared in the corner of the screen, behind which was the fiery scene of building a railway in a desert filled with yellow sand.

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Extended Reading
  • Katheryn 2021-10-20 19:02:10

    I really can't stand it~

  • Oran 2022-03-25 09:01:05

    rough. . Atmosphere. . The movies of that era always had a feeling called atmosphere. . Very good westerns. . Music creates a great feeling. .

Once Upon a Time in the West quotes

  • Cheyenne: [to Jill] You know what? If I was you, I'd go down there and give those boys a drink. Can't imagine how happy it makes a man to see a woman like you, just to look at her. And if one of them should, uh, pat your behind, just make believe it's nothing. They earned it.

  • Cheyenne: You deserve better.

    Jill: The last man who told me that... is buried out there.