NEW YORK MOVIE JOURNAL (Mar. 1-Apr. 2, 2018)

[Chris Knipp]

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THE GREAT SILENCE/IL GRANDE SILENZIO (Sergio Corbucci 1968). A 50th-anniversary restoration completed last year will be shown at Film Forum Mar. 30-Apr. 5. The music is by Ennio Morricone. A masterpiece of the heyday of the spaghetti western, or so the Italians think; so extreme and nihilistic as to lose the moral point and sense of resolution of a classic Western. A devastatingly violent and bleak tale. It stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as the titular character, known as "Silence" because he is mute, and Klaus Kinski as his evil nemesis, called Tigrero in the dialogue but always Loco in the subtitles, a bounty hunter with fluffy blond hair and a fey voyce. This movie was clearly a major influence on Tarantino's Hateful Eight. It takes place in a snowy, desolate landscape. The dialogue isn't as prolix, or as interesting, as Tarantino's nor is the plot. The English subtitles are willfully inaccurate and sometimes the lack of synch of dubbing and mouth shows, but the grandeur of conception of the scenes is impressive and the fanciful men's winter outfits, the long coats and many furs, are fun. It makes you think, seeing it now, of America's obsession with guns. Watched 26 Mar. 2018 at Magno Screening Room,729 Seventh AVe.