Big Gundown, The aka La resa dei conti (1966)

The Big Gundown is often considered the best non-Leone western by spaghetti western experts, and I'm inclined to agree. The film is slick and stylish, with an excellent performance by Tomas Milian and a solid one from Lee Van Cleef. Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) is a bounty hunter reluctantly wooed towards politics by a fat cat. After clearing the county of criminals, he takes it upon himself to hunt down Cuchillo (Milian), who is accused of raping and murdering a young girl, but Cuchillo proves to be a bigger challenge than Corbett anticipated. The Big Gundown paces itself slowly until everything comes to an epic showdown (the big gundown!) during the final moments of the film. Just like Once Upon a Time in the West, the ending makes everything worth it. The climax is multiple "hell yeah" moments that compound on top of each other. It was that cool. The buildup was never boring, but it also wasn't particularly noteworthy either. I did enjoy how the religious characters were portrayed not as idealistic fools, but rather trying to get by like the rest. Another interesting inclusion was the Austrian sharpshooter and Von Stroheim look-a-like. The film teases this guy's ability from beginning to end, and it pays off. Finally, Ennio Morricone's score is excellent as usual. I think this particular score is a bit overrated and doesn't stand well on its own like The Great Silence (the other best non-Leone spaghetti western) or The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, but nevertheless it supports the film quite well. The Big Gundown was a treat, and it makes me wish more spaghetti westerns were actually good films, and not just good as far as spaghetti westerns go.

8/10

Great Silence, The aka Il grande silenzio (1968)

The Great Silence is a bleak, cold spaghetti western with one of the most shocking, memorable endings ever in a western. The film isn't quite as put together or technically competent as its contemporary, Once Upon a Time in the West, but the subject material, setting, and ensuing climactic battle. The Great Silence revolves around corruption in a Utah town regarding the victimization of a group of Morman outcasts (who have bounties put on their heads). Frank Wolff plays a clumsy sheriff with good-intentions assigned to clean up Snowhill, UT, which is plagued by an infrastructure supporting scum like the bounty hunter Loco. Kinski's performance as Loco is quite excellent. Silence (Trintignant), an infamous mute gunslinger, arrives in town and begins a sort of investigation. The film's setting is unusual for a western: it's set in feet of snow with the weather playing heavily into the challenges of the film, from frozen guns and iced-over rivers to horses struggling to walk with the snow up to their bodies. And again, Ennio Morricone delivers a stellar score. The only major issues I had with the film were a slew of awkward moments that seemed script or director-related. These were not made any better by the absolutely terrible dub typical of 1960s Italian productions. Unfortunately, because both the English and Italian tracks were post-dubbed, I'm not confident the Italian dub would be much better.

8/10

Once Upon a Time in the West aka C'era una volta il West (1968)

Once Upon a Time in the West is a masterpiece spaghetti western from Sergio Leone, artfully deconstructing the Western genre and giving us something both clever and entertaining. A man and his family are murdered by a gang on the day of his new wife's arrival. Several men step in to help her discover why and prevent the inevitable confrontation with Frank (Fonda) and his men. Henry Fonda shockingly changes it up and plays the villain. Charles Bronson portrays a nameless cowboy who plays a harmonica and is haunted by his past. My favorite character was Cheyenne,  played by Jason Robards, as he brought a certain eloquent charisma to the role that the tougher characters lacked. Claudia Cardinale portrays the wife, complicated and sometimes difficult to sympathize with--I also don't think women were that hot back then. The film was often thought-provoking or just plain controversial, which makes it even better to mull over. Technically, the film is stunning, employing a surprisingly slow but perfectly executed pace and flowing cinematography. The sound design is striking, with all of the sounds of the Old West augmented in the mix (creating a kind of fantastic reality) which is aided by Ennio Morricone's brilliant score. Once Upon a Time in the West, along with The Wild Bunch, should be considered the crowning examples of an epic western.

10/10

Django Unchained (2012)

Quentin Tarantino delivers another snappily stylish film, this time taking us to pre-Civil War America giving him the opportunity to parade around some classic Western homages (along with the typical exploitation fare). The film is gruesome, violent, offensive, and sometimes disturbing, but do you expect anything less from the man? The film is also fantastic. Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx give magnetic performances driving us comfortably through the film, and Di Caprio does an incredible job as the vile Calvin Candie. Tarantino nailed the production aesthetic of a 1960s Western right on the head, and the soundtrack is perfect for the film. Django Unchained is not afraid to breach taboo subjects regarding slavery, race, or whatever, but with Tarantino at the helm I always wonder if he's trying to make the audience think or just exploiting the taboo. Whether intelligent, exploitative, or both, Django Unchained is deliciously entertaining. The film is not without its faults: As usual, Tarantino tends to go a bit overboard on the language and violence. There was one particular shootout that went on so long that I lost interest two-thirds of the way through. I also thought the play with morality (and the karmic results thereof), a staple of classic Westerns, should have caught up to the protagonists a little harder in the end--despite their ambition and goal, I wouldn't say their actions were necessarily good the entire time. Regardless, go see it. It's great!

8/10

PS: I forgot to mention Samuel L Jackson. He's acting in this one--and well!