Sergio Leone
July 3–27
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, which launched Sergio Leone to international stardom (the film's young star, Clint Eastwood, made out okay, too), AFI Silver presents this selection of the filmmaker's finest films. Look for a new restoration of Leone's magnum opus, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, out later this year.
AFI Member passes accepted at all screenings.
Presented in association with the Italian Cultural Institute, Washington, DC.
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS [Per un pugno di dollari]
50th Anniversary!
Italian director Sergio Leone transposed Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai action-comedy YOJIMBO to the American Wild West (filmed in Spain), and cast American TV actor Clint Eastwood ("Rowdy Yates" from RAWHIDE) as the "Man with No Name," a mysterious, poncho-clad gunslinger who plays two rival gangs of outlaws against each other in a desolate Mexican border town. The film's laconic antihero, sardonic sense of humor, stylish visuals and spectacular gunplay added up to an international box office smash – aided immeasurably by the atmospheric, genre-defining score by Ennio Morricone. Eastwood was reportedly the tenth choice for the role, after Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and James Coburn, among others, passed on it.
DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Víctor Andrés Catena, Jaime Comas Gil; PROD Arrigo Colombo, Giorgio Papi. Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1964, color, 99 min, 35mm. In English and Italian with English subtitles. RATED R
Thu, Jul 3, 4:50; Sat, Jul 5, 5:30; Sun, Jul 6, 10:10; Tue, Jul 8, 7:00
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE [Per qualche dollaro in più]
This semi-sequel to Leone's Spaghetti Western international sensation sees two rival bounty hunters – the taciturn, serape-draped Monco (Clint Eastwood), and jaded ex-Confederate Colonel Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) – join forces to capture the vicious bandit El Indio (Gian Maria Volonté). With Klaus Kinski as hunchbacked stooge Juan Wild.
DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Luciano Vincenzoni; PROD Arturo González, Alberto Grimaldi. Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1965, color, 132 min, 35mm. In English and Italian with English subtitles. RATED R
Fri, Jul 11, 5:15; Sun, Jul 13, 4:00
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY [Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo]
The final installment of Sergio Leone's hugely influential trilogy finds Clint Eastwood returning as the mysterious loner who roams the Western frontier for fortune at the height of the Civil War. Forced to form an uneasy alliance with Lee Van Cleef (the Bad) and Eli Wallach (the Ugly) to steal a cache of gold, he and the outlaws cross and double-cross each other to walk away with the treasure and stay alive. Ennio Morricone's iconic soundtrack was on the charts for more than a year, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Pop charts.
DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni, Mickey Knox; PROD Alberto Grimaldi. Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1966, color, 179 min, DCP. In English and Italian with English subtitles. RATED R
Fri, Jul 18, 2:00; Sat, Jul 19, 4:00; Mon, Jul 21, 6:45
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST [C'era una volta il West]
Memorably playing against type as a villain, Henry Fonda's ice-blue eyes are those of a cold-blooded killer in Sergio Leone's epic Western. A hired gun for a ruthless railroad magnate, Frank (Fonda) is sent to scare off a local landowner possessing valuable land, but instead sadistically slaughters the man and his family. Doggedly trailing Frank is the mysterious Harmonica (Charles Bronson), a dazzling gunfighter with a very personal agenda. With Claudia Cardinale and Jason Robards.
DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Sergio Donati, Mickey Knox, from a story by Leone, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci; PROD Fulvio Morsella. US/Italy/Spain, 1968, color, 166 min, DCP. In English, Spanish and Italian with English subtitles. RATED PG-13
Fri, Jul 25, 2:00 Sat, Jul 26, 3:00 Sun, Jul 27, 4:00
DUCK, YOU SUCKER! aka A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE aka ONCE UPON A TIME...THE REVOLUTION [Giù la testa]
Restored, uncut version!
In Revolutionary Mexico, exiled Irish freedom-fighter John H. Mallory (James Coburn) arrives on motorcycle to lend his dynamiting skills to the Zapatistas. Bandito mercenary Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) believes the new arrival's skills would be better used to blast their way into the local bank and steal the loot – and gets his wish, when rebel leader Doctor Villega (Romolo Valli) orders the bank to be hit in their next attack on the federales. But the bank turns out to be holding prisoners, not cash, and Juan soon becomes a hero of the revolution despite himself in Leone's antic, politically charged Western. This restoration includes more than 20 minutes of footage not in the original U.S. release, including a new finale.
DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Donati; PROD Fulvio Morsella. Italy, 1971, color, 160 min, 35mm. In English, Spanish and Italian with English subtitles. RATED PG
Sun, Jul 20, 4:45; Mon, Jul 21, 2:00; Tue, Jul 22, 2:00;
Wed, Jul 23, 2:00; Thu, Jul 24, 2:00