“Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights.
Italy
gets the Catholic Church. America gets Hollywood”.
Erica Jong
The summit of the Calar Alto |
The Tabernas Desert also became the favoured setting
for some of Italian director Sergio Leone’s most widely recognised Spaghetti
Westerns. Arguably his most renowned was the epic Once Upon a Time in the West. Released in 1968, it ran for the
better part of three hours. Looking more like a meandering parody of the western
genre for half its length, and a mystifying quest for revenge for the other,
you could at first be forgiven for thinking that much of the film should have
been left on the cutting room floor. But if you’re willing to ignore the
ungainly lip synchs of its characters, you’ll soon discover that there’s more
to this epic tale than meets the eye.
Like Sam
Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, Leone’s
classic is a nostalgic portrayal of the dying west and the last days of the
gunfighter. Set in the burgeoning ‘town’ of Sweetwater, an unscrupulous
railroad tycoon, determined to procure prime real estate at any cost, hires a
band of killers to do his dirty work.
Depicting a romantic view of the western, Leone makes
it obvious from the very opening scene that the film is an unhurried spectacle.
Somewhere out west, three outlaws, wearing greatcoats and armed with rifles and
handguns, wait uneasily at a railway station for a train to arrive. Onboard is
the film’s protagonist, the inscrutable no-name character played by rising star
Charles Bronson.
The Tabernas Desert |
Meanwhile, the monotony of the surrounding landscape
becomes magnified. A windmill incessantly whines, and a telegraph reel
click-clacks until smashed in frustration. One of the gunmen is irritated by a
fly persistently buzzing around his face, while another waits patiently beneath
a slowly dripping water tank, each drop smacking the brim of his hat with the
steadiness of a metronome.
In due course, the train arrives. As the three hired
guns gather on the station platform, Bronson’s no-name character stands
opposite, playing a harmonica. A haunting tune, frequently heard throughout the
film, it’s as mysterious as the person who plays it.
More than just an opening scene, Leone’s preamble is,
in essence, a metaphor for what the film is truly about. Isolated in an environment
that is no longer his own, the outlaw will soon be replaced by the new-world
corruption of the robber barons, who, like the dreamers and idealists, follow
the tracks into the vast open spaces of the American West.
Tantamount to an opera, largely due to the poetic
score of Leone’s long-time friend Ennio Morricone, the lives of the four main
characters (which also include Claudia Cardinale as Jill McBain and Jason
Robards’ as the weary outlaw Cheyenne) nonchalantly intertwine, all the way to
the film’s climax. While the audience soon senses that a
final shootout between the two protagonists, Frank and Harmonica, awaits, it’s
the revelation of what happened in the past that makes the ending so compelling. Close-ups of the combatants’ faces,
coupled with unnerving flashbacks and Morricone’s menacing music, leave an
indelible impression long after the final credits have rolled.
Books by Mark Krieger:
‘High Spain Drifter’ is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble, Booktopia and other online bookstores.
‘Lycra, Lattes and the Long Way Round’ is available on Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books
Both books are also available at local bookshops on the Mornington Peninsula: @ Rosebud Bookbarn and @ La Brocante
Books by Mark Krieger:
‘High Spain Drifter’ is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble, Booktopia and other online bookstores.
‘Lycra, Lattes and the Long Way Round’ is available on Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books
Both books are also available at local bookshops on the Mornington Peninsula: @ Rosebud Bookbarn and @ La Brocante
“I still must abide by the rules of
the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization.”
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