The Great Silence is a 1968 Western directed by Sergio Corbucci. Considered to be his finest work, the movie appears to have influenced Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained.
The uniqueness of a Western in a snowstorm is striking – the movie’s opening is an expansive shot of a snowy trek, which illustrates the struggle of all involved. The horse can’t find its footing and both animal and rider are defeated by the conditions. It’s a gorgeous opening not in a majestic way but rather because it signals a gritty, unpolished tone to follow. There is both a bleakness and beauty in the landscape – something that Tarantino emulates in The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained.
For a movie that’s ultimately defined by its viciousness, the opening is campy. A newly hired sheriff encounters a group of hungry bandits that have been pushed into the wilderness. The sheriff appears hopeless from the start – first in an odd one-off scene with the Governor of Utah and then as the bandit crew spares the sheriff’s life in exchange for his horse – which they solely want to eat. The bumbling, freezing sheriff is then picked up by a carriage, which carries the movie’s protagonists in Silence and Loco.
The plot’s origins are a bit convoluted as Loco and the town’s Justice of the Peace are engaged in a shady murder for bounty scheme. Silence arrives in town due to a letter sent to him by a young widow who wants to exact vengeance for her husband’s death at the hands of Loco. It’s a bit comical to see the protagonists in such close proximity and makes the movie’s first 30 minutes far-fetched. However, we know we’re headed for a showdown between the two leads.
The Great Silence is defined by its genre. It’s an Italian Western, so you have to suspend belief when the characters’ words don’t match their mouths. There are also some jerky camera angles, weird lighting at different points and the gunshots don’t match with the actors’ responses. Yet, this movie makes some wildly intriguing choices regarding the setting, diverse casting, mood and presence of Kinski.
Beyond those characteristics, The Great Silence boasts two dynamic lead characters. Silence and Loco are fun opposites. Silence is just that – he doesn’t talk. Corbucci is clearly borrowing the popular and successful formula of Clint Eastwood’s “The Man with No Name” by taking away the name and voice. Silence is silent due to getting his throat slit as a child – as insurance that he wouldn’t talk about his parents’ murder at the hands of bounty hunters. He emerges as an adult whose life’s work is avenging his parents’ death by tracking and killing bounty hunters. Naturally, Loco is a bounty hunter – one that is driven by greed. However, he clearly has no regard for human life and has become the coldest of for-profit killing.
Jean-Louis Trintignant plays Silence in an oddly expressive way. Despite having no dialogue, he carries a good portion of the story with a unique blend of stoicism, sadness and vulnerability. The character’s arc is broken into halves: the first sees Silence as a destructive force for justice – a gunman with no equal destined to gain a figurative revenge on a bounty hunter. Yet there’s also some moral ambiguity – Silence likes to provoke his opponents into battle and has a reputation for shooting their thumbs in order to lessen their chances of retribution. After Silence is wounded and then spends a night with the young widow, the character emerges weakened, lumbering to the story’s finish.
Klaus Kinski’s Loco makes the movie. Kinski’s eyes and oddly measured face are menacing throughout the story, yet there’s always a tinge of comedic lunacy in Loco’s scenes. It’s hard to determine if Kinski is trying to lampoon the role of a Western bad guy or if there is a genuine process occurring. It’s possible that the jumble of languages involved helped to create a disjointed performance. In various scenes, Kinski’s Loco is anything from coldly ruthless to maniacal to restrained and almost forlorn in the movie’s climax. Either way, Kinski is a fascinating choice for an atypical bad guy.
The BEST – Who Saw that Ending Coming?
Jesus, that was intense. Tarantino – among others – say that Westerns simply reflect the society and mood of the time period they were made in. If that’s the case, people were pretty bummed out in the late 60’s.
The BEST Part 2 – Silence and Loco in the Saloon
Besides the ending, this is the best scene of the movie. Silence encounters Loco and his men in a saloon and tries to provoke him by tossing matches and lit cigars into his drink. Kinski, who is known for his wild tirades, is wonderfully subdued in the scene. There’s a chess match going on here and the tension is captivating.
WORST – The Dopey Sheriff Meets the Governor
This scene appears at the beginning of the movie and is a clunky fit. The Governor doesn’t appear during the rest of the movie and his actions don’t contribute much to the overall story. The sheriff is sweaty, nervous and nearly crying but later on becomes a soothing voice of reason, while occasionally carrying a John Wayne swagger.
THE FOX FORCE FIVE RATING – 4/5
If you can make it past some Italian Western goofiness, you’re in for a good story that features strong acting, a dynamic performance from Klaus Kinski, a couple surprisingly tender moments, some beautiful scenery and a badass ending that hits you in the face.
