Tag: Sergio Leone

Sir Sean Connery … Cowboy / Part 2

“The West was a place where the improbable happened every day.”
– Louis L’Amour

I’ve always contended that most Movie Stars want to be in a Western at some point in their career.
But for many – especially European Actors – such a dream seemed far fetched. Impossible.
THEN… in the mid 60’s an incredible and unforeseen thing happened:
The Spaghetti Western.
Started by Sergio Leone – and spearheaded by Clint Eastwood‘s Star Power.
the door was flung wide open.And the rage was on. 
Wikipedia: “Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978.”

Shalako was shot in Almería, Spain.
This explains a lot about the it’s spectacular Cast.

Sean Connery (Scottish) as Moses Zebulon ‘Shalako’ Carlin
Brigitte Bardot (French) as Countess Irina Lazaar
Jack Hawkins (English) as Sir Charles Daggett
Stephen Boyd (Irish) as Bosky Fulton
Peter van Eyck (German) as Baron Frederick von Hallstadt
Honor Blackman (English) as Lady Julia Daggett
Woody Strode (American) as Chato
Eric Sykes (English) as Mako
Alexander Knox (Canadian) as Sen. Henry Clarke
Valerie French (English) as Elena Clarke
Julián Mateos (Spanish) as Rojas
Don “Red” Barry (American)as Buffalo
Rodd Redwing (American) as Chato’s Father

An amazing cross section of Cultural Thespian wannabe Cowboys!

Dig this:
Leone wanted to cast James Coburn for A Fistful of Dollars.
But Coburn was asking $25,000.
Leone couldn’t afford him!!
Clint only wanted $15,000.

The West is history.

Coburn did later Star in a couple of Spaghetti Westerns:
– Duck you sucker/Fistfull of Dynamite – (1971)
and – A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die – (1972)
Not to mention that he Starred in 2 of the greatest Westerns ever made:
– The Magnificent Seven (1960)
and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)

Not bad at all.

Coming up … more on this remarkable Cast.

The Professionals / Claudia …

The Professionals claudia 2

Claudia Cardinale Westerns

Claudia Cardinale only made about 3 Westerns – which is rather startling since she is an Italian actress and was a major Star in Europe during the height of Spaghetti Westerns.

However, when she did her aim was extremely good – starring in 2 of the greatest Westerns ever made: The Professionals and Sergio Leone‘s Once Upon a Time in the West – which many rank as the Top Western of all time.
Not bad at all.

The Professionals claudia 5

 

For a Few Dollars More … or less …

Soundtrack A fistful of Dollars / Ennio Morricone

A Fistful of Pesos ?? …

From Wikipedia – The Online Encyclopedia:

– 1964 – Clint Eastwood signed a contract for A Fistful of Dollars for $15,000 US ( $112,403 in 2012 dollars) in wages for eleven weeks work, with a bonus of a Mercedes automobile upon completion.

– Sergio Leone intended Henry Fonda to play the “Man with No Name“. However, the production company could not afford to engage a major Hollywood star.

– Next, Leone offered Charles Bronson the part. He too, declined the role, arguing that the script was bad.

– Both Fonda and Bronson would later star in Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

– Other actors who turned the role down were Henry Silva, Rory Calhoun, Tony Russel, Steve Reeves, Ty Hardin, James Coburn and Richard Harrison.

Soundtrack For a Few Dollars More / Ennio Morricone

For a few pesos more …

From Wikipedia – The Online Encyclopedia

– 1965 – Clint Eastwood received $50,000 for returning in the sequel For a Few Dollars More, while Lee Van Cleef received $17,000.

– Charles Bronson was again approached for a starring role, but he passed it up, citing that the sequel’s script was like the first film. Lee Van Cleef then accepted the role.

 – As all of the film’s footage was shot silent, Eastwood and Van Cleef returned to Italy where they dubbed over their dialogue and the sound effects were added.

MFW:

One of my favorite things is to investigate who turned down – or lost out – on certain movie roles.

 For instance. Gary Cooper turned down The Big Trail, Stagecoach, and Red River. John Wayne took all three. Cooper carried on very nicely, but Wayne went on to become the Number One Star in Movies and possibly the greatest Western Star of all time.

“112,000 dollars” in 1964 for Clint – for 11 weeks work. And a Mercedes. Not bad at all actually – and he wasn’t even a star … yet. Though by todays Movie Star standards that might sound a bit weak. But as they say in Hollywood: “The only bad actor is an unemployed actor.”

Of course ‘nobody’ (if you’ll excuse the expression) had no idea of the success these movies would be – the start of the whole Spaghetti Western phenomenon. And very obviously – by the number of actors that turned these movies down – plenty of people didn’t think much of the opportunity.

But if Bronson hadn’t been so picky, Lee Van Cleef might very well have just faded away into the Western sunset.

Bronson and Henry Fonda later appeared in Leone’s Western Classic: Once Upon a Time in the West / 1968. This also included Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Jason Robards and Claudia Cardinale. This Western is cited by many as their Favorite of time.

The Great Western Directors …

Sergio-Leone
Sergio Leone

It takes great Directors to make great Westerns.

I’ve decided I need to  create another section called The Great Western Directors.

I hadn’t intended this, but it’s become unavoidable. The reason being that in working on my celebration of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, I’ve discovered so much material and information on Sam Pekinpah that it could almost take up half the blog spot by itself.

Pekinpah was a very interesting man – and a great Director. He made about 5 Westerns – most notably The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid – and his impact on filmdom itself has been so powerful (not just Westerns) that he cannot be ignored. Quite a few other people feel the same: there is so many documentarys, songs, numerous articles, and interesting commentary from people that worked with him, for him and against him that I think it will prove interesting to many Western fans – and add to their appreciation of his work.

Other Directors of note (off the top of my head) include: John Ford, Howard Hawkes, Sergio Leone, John Sturges, Anthony Mann,  … and there will easily be another three or four that I wish to honour.

Typically, the more I work on this blog the bigger the project becomes. I do wonder if I shouldn’t be more restrained in what I am putting out because I’m not sure how willing people will be to look through such a lot of material. Yet, as I said, some of it is so interesting that I feel folks will find it of interest also … ??

If not … we can always shoot it out.

Westward HO !!