Westerns are a national mythology of the United States. It can be said that it was all the rage in the 1950s, but by the 1960s, American Westerns were at the end of their lives. While the western mythology was declining, countries far away in Europe quietly circled the country. Following the western frenzy, Europeans began to try to make their own westerns. Among them, the most successful and influential one was the several westerns shot by the Italian director Sergio Leone.
Sergio Leone’s Westerns, both in story content and image style, are very different from American Westerns. There is neither the rendering of the western cultural background nor the rigorous historical evidence, let alone going. Praising the American ancestors who expanded their territories, Sergio Leone’s Western films are more like the world of martial arts in the eyes of the Chinese, and emphasize the smoothness and entertainment of a kind of delightful enmity. This is a brand new The type of Westerns, because it was taken by Italians, it is also called Italian Macaroni Westerns. And the success of [Red Dead Redemption] saved the westerns that were already in the stagnant water at that time, and ushered in a new era of westerns.
Sergio Leone actually didn’t dare to create this type of macaroni westerns, because before him, there were already more than 20 macaroni westerns. He was thinking about why this type was not recognized. After reading Kurosawa Akira's [Intentional Stick], he discovered that it was the western story he wanted to shoot.
In 1964, he started filming [Red Dead Redemption], and used the unknown Clint Eastwood. In terms of the story, he copied [Intentional Stick] almost intact. The Japanese village was replaced by the western village. In the small town, the samurai sword was replaced by a revolver, the wandering swordsman was replaced by a western cowboy, the same simple scene layout, and a lot of misappropriation of Kurosawa’s signature slow motion, but Sergio Leon’s personal style gradually emerged. It’s like a lot of close-ups of people’s eyes and fast zooming shots, etc. The western world that Sergio Leone wants is a world without good and evil, and without legal control, blurring the boundaries of morality. A world where problems can only be solved by force and duel. There are unknown cowboys played by Clint Eastwood and brutal bandits like Gian Maria Volont. By creating incidents and emotional conflicts, and then accumulating them into a climax, creating a kind of solemn and tense atmosphere, using the atmosphere to set off the excitement of the action, and then the battle will determine the world. In this way, Kurosawa's film's one-cut fight, to Sergio Leone’s opportunity to carry forward the static violence aesthetics.
Sergio Leone broke the boundaries of Hollywood's view of good and evil. There is no longer a single narrative method and a single cowboy image. It also amplifies the limitations of violence, and also enables Morricone’s wildness. Much like the soundtrack of Mexican folk songs, he was very worried that the audience would not be able to accept Western movies of this style. It turns out that he was worried a lot. [Red Dead Redemption] was a great success, and its momentum surpassed the previous American Westerns. Although a copyright lawsuit with Akira Kurosawa later broke out, Sergio Leoni won the opportunity to shoot his next movie [The Red Guardian] through this film, and also won the support of a group of fans.
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