The Great Silence
1968 ‘Il Grande Silenzio’ Directed by Sergio Corbucci
Synopsis
The Great Silence (Il grande silenzio, 1968), or The Big Silence, is an Italian spaghetti western. The movie features a score by Ennio Morricone and stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as Silence, a mute gunfighter with a grudge against bounty hunters, assisting a group of outlawed Mormons and a woman trying to avenge her husband (one of the outlaws). They are set against a group of ruthless bounty hunters, led by Loco (Klaus Kinski). It is one of Corbucci's better known movies. Unlike most conventional and spaghetti westerns, The Great Silence takes place in the snow-filled landscapes of Utah during the Great Blizzard of 1899.
Cast
Popular reviews
More-
Film #47 of No Rewatch November
After an absolutely superb first hour, in which we get to see one of the greatest movie guns in the history of film, The Great Silence takes a bit of a dive in quality. The story gets a bit wayward and the main character Silence doesn't even have that much screen time. But, then the movie wraps everything up with an ultimate screw you ending, and thus I can forgive the movie getting a little lost midway through. Also, it should be noted that Klaus Kinski plays a character named Loco, and he completely and utterly brings the thunder.
Update
Apparently director Sergio Corbucci dedicated this film to Jesus, Martin Luther King, and Che Guevara. That kind of makes me want to give this film the whole five star hog. -
Someone build a bronze statue of Klaus Kinski so I have something tangible to pray and worship to.
-
Wow. Silence has got to be one of the greatest characters ever. Trintignant plays him perfectly. And he's matched by one of the all time greatest crazies in Klaus Kinski.
There are many things to admire about this movie. The setting, the weather conditions and said weather conditions impact upon the characters is wonderful. It is a world fully realized. MVP could be Morricone of course, but when is he not? The genius of that man is that whatever movie of his I've seen last, is his greatest score. It's amazing how many perfect scores that man has composed.
And that ending. It's something I don't believe I've ever seen before. The build-up with Trintignant walking through the snow, ever so slightly perfectly lit, Kinski being the meanest mother on the planet and the final shot. One of my new favorite westerns.
-
Corbucci crafts a more rounded western in The Great Silence then he does previously in his more famous effort Django. Still it suffers from the spaghetti western archetypes and typical flaws they tend to reproduce. Anything from horrendous dubbing, discolored artificial bloody violence and sometimes inferior acting to say the least.
Regardless of whether these spaghetti western cliches and technical issues were done deliberately (to perhaps strengthen and form the genre into a specific formula) or not, the film was alot of fun. Who would not want to see Klaus Kinski, the infamous madman himself, play a character called "Loco" whom they describe as a out of control bloodthirsty bounty hunter. Even despite bad dubbing, Kinski still forays into a…
-
Kicking off 2013 in insanely brilliant style, Sergio Corbucci's snow covered Spaghetti Western is a beautifully bleak masterpiece with a trio of excellent lead performances, wonderful themes by Ennio Morricone and an ending which blew me away. Required viewing.
-
Sergio Corbucci's magnum opus The Great Silence is a 1968... frozen spaghetti western (thank you -- I'll be here all week), that's generally regarded as the best 'non-Sergio Leone' Spaghetti Western ever made. In fact, many armchair critics believe that this film is on par with Once Upon a Time in the West and the Dollars Trilogy. Today, it is such a revered and celebrated film that it is difficult to imagine that it did rather modestly at the Italian box office upon its initial release. Notwithstanding, it did do better in France and Germany, the respective home countries of the film's two leading stars, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski. For my money, there are several reasons why this film…
Recent reviews
More-
A mute vigilante goes around the west killing bounty hunters who prey upon outlaws for the reward money. This is from the director of "Django" and I didn't like this as much as that film and it's not because of the VERY bleak ending that makes George R.R. Martin seem tame by comparison (so bleak they had to make an alternative and ridiculous happy ending for certain markets) The ending really inverts the Western genre a bit (I wonder if this would qualify as an anti-Western). Jean Louis Trintignant is terrific as the Western hero who's both badass and quite tragic and of course Klaus Kinski is a terrific villain. Oh, also features a TERRIFIC Ennio Morricone score. It's more than worth seeing it just for that.
-
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
-
Sergio Corbucci's magnum opus The Great Silence is a 1968... frozen spaghetti western (thank you -- I'll be here all week), that's generally regarded as the best 'non-Sergio Leone' Spaghetti Western ever made. In fact, many armchair critics believe that this film is on par with Once Upon a Time in the West and the Dollars Trilogy. Today, it is such a revered and celebrated film that it is difficult to imagine that it did rather modestly at the Italian box office upon its initial release. Notwithstanding, it did do better in France and Germany, the respective home countries of the film's two leading stars, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski. For my money, there are several reasons why this film…
-
Corbucci crafts a more rounded western in The Great Silence then he does previously in his more famous effort Django. Still it suffers from the spaghetti western archetypes and typical flaws they tend to reproduce. Anything from horrendous dubbing, discolored artificial bloody violence and sometimes inferior acting to say the least.
Regardless of whether these spaghetti western cliches and technical issues were done deliberately (to perhaps strengthen and form the genre into a specific formula) or not, the film was alot of fun. Who would not want to see Klaus Kinski, the infamous madman himself, play a character called "Loco" whom they describe as a out of control bloodthirsty bounty hunter. Even despite bad dubbing, Kinski still forays into a…
-
Beautiful imagery throughout this film. The shots of the snow capped mountains are breathtaking and Corbucci's camera work is infinitely interesting, especially his trademark zoom. The film's snowy setting gives off a creepy, isolated vibe and is a look not often seen in Westerns.
Unfortunately, the dubbing is atrocious. I know that comes with the territory with these Italian Westerns but it is so distracting. If it wasn't for Ennio Morricone's beautiful score I would have watched this thing on mute. Thank goodness the film's protagonist, Silence (Trintignant), can't speak.
Really caught off guard by the ending. Very bleak yet powerful. Wasn't expecting it to go that way. Some serious anti-mo wish fulfillment going on.
-
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
-
Excellent western and my favorite so far. Great performances all around, a non-cliched story, and a fantastic ending.
-
If you like the westerns that were being produced in Italy about forty years ago then you will undeniably enjoy The Great Silence. If you didn't enjoy those films and find Sergio Leone boring or without merit then you will not enjoy this film. It is filmed in typical spaghetti western fashion, fans of the genre will instantly recognize the camera work and use of music (which is Morricone so it is of course excellent.)
The film has a good story, great cinematography, and Klaus Kinski is perfect as the villain. It doesn't exactly break new ground or transcend the spaghetti western genre but within that genre it certainly is one of the best that I have seen.
Like Italian…
-
Spaghetti Cinema film 7