THE GREAT SILENCE (1968)
Director: Sergio Corbucci
Fantoma Films/Image Entertainment

In the mid 60s, Italian westerns had gained worldwide prominence due to the success of Sergio Leone's highly celebrated trilogy featuring Clint Eastwood. Around the same time, Sergio Corbucci made an ultra violent western called DJANGO which made a star out of Franco Nero. Like DJANGO, Corbucci's THE GREAT SILENCE is a grim excursion about a maimed anti-hero (in this case his throat), and unfortunately it went unreleased in the U.S. Making its video debut here on this welcomed DVD from Fantoma, THE GREAT SILENCE is probably the greatest spaghetti western that you never saw.

Taking place at the turn of the century, the film concerns a number of outlaws roaming around the snowy Utah mountains. These men are wanted for petty crimes, or crimes that they didn't even commit, and are being tracked down by bounty hunters, namely one called Loco. Looking something like a maniacal blond Mick Jagger, Klaus Kinski plays Loco, and it's arguably his best performance in a western. The calm and collected Loco shoots anybody with a price on his head, delivering the bodies to a corrupt town official (Luigi Pistilli from TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE).

In a magnificent non-speaking part, French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant plays Silence, a bounty hunter with a vendetta against bounty hunters. During a traumatic childhood experience (intensely witnessed as a flashback), his vocal chords are slashed, rendering him mute for the rest of his life. Silence get tangled up in the problems of a young black woman (Vonetta McGee from BLACULA), after her husband is senselessly gunned down by Loco. She hires Silence to kill Loco, who has full cooperation of the local law and is still piling up the bounties. With endless reports of reckless carnage, a semi-comical sheriff (Frank Wolff)--resembling an unshaven Larry Fine--comes to town to control all the outlandish behavior.

With its magnificent snowbound locales, colorful performances, and moody Ennio Morricone score, Corbucci's film is a masterpiece of stylized violence and revenge motifs that puts it a few notches above the average western. And any film that has the lead actor shooting off people's thumbs to prevent them from pulling the trigger--well you know you're in for something good! The only thing hindering it a bit is some goofy English dubbing in the tradition of Mel Blanc's "Loony Toons" characters, but some of the voices come off just right (Pistilli's voice is well done by Mel Welles, who did the same for countless foreign films). It's interesting and sad to note that Wolff (an American actor who started out in Corman-produced Monte Hellman cheapies and later emigrated to Italy) and Pistilli (star of numerous Italio westerns and horror films) both committed suicide years later.

Fantoma's DVD of THE GREAT SILENCE is slightly letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The Eastman colors are nicely replicated (if not overly striking), and the transfer was culled from the original negative, making for a very clean and blemish-free transfer. The mono sound is fine.

There are some really nice extras on this disc, best of which is an alternative "happy ending" shot for other foreign markets that deemed the downbeat original too grim. This climax is totally different than that of the feature, and is fascinating to say the least. There is no audio (it is doubtful than any exists), so director/fan Alex Cox (REPO MAN, SID AND NANCY) supplies a brief but informative commentary to go along with it. Also included is an on-camera essay about the film by Cox, liner notes by him (he's obviously heavily influenced by the film), and a theatrical trailer. Another fantastic job by the folks who recently brought us three "Coffin Joe" thrillers on disc. (George R. Reis)

 

BACK TO REVIEWS

HOME