Mister 8

A Pistol For Ringo / Return of Ringo Soundtrack

Ennio Morricone’s theme for A Pistol For Ringo (1965) is one of my favorite pieces of spaghetti western music, and sets the standard for beautiful ballads that Morricone would score later on, like the operatic theme from Once Upon a Time in the West (the song I plan to have played at my funeral).

e|------------------------|
B|-------12-------12------|
G|-----11--11--------11---|
D|------------------------|
A|--10---------10---------|
E|------------------------|

[See full tablature]

From Kristopher Spencer’s Film and Television Scores, 1950-1979: A Critical Survey by Genre:

The theme for the first Ringo movie is lush, dreamy and sentimental. A reverberating electric guitar, and then a string section, carries the haunting melody, while Cantori Moderni provides and intermittent but uplifting countermelody. The overall effect is mesmerizing. This is probably the first Morricone theme to warrant the description of drop-dead-beautiful. “Angel Face” reprises the melody, adding an English lyric by Gino Paolo and a clear, strong vocal by Maurizio Graf.

There’s an excellent compilation of instrumental music called For a Few Guitars More: A Tribute to Morricone’s Spaghetti Western Themes, which features an equally haunting version of the song by the Bambi Molesters. Take a listen below, and buy the album for a number of other great Morricone covers.

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Companeros poster

One of the greatest film posters of all time for one of my top five favorite spaghetti westerns.

Alamo Drafthouse Leone Fest posters

Today, I want to offer my ranking of the Leone films and solicit reactions from you guys. Tomorrow, I’m going to give a top ten favorite non-Leone spaghettis, to which you’ll also hopefully react. Trailers and brief, list-style justifications follow:

1. Once Upon a Time in the West

The silent masterpiece that opens the film. The visual poetry throughout. The close-up of those cold Fonda baby blues. The haunting Morricone score, his best. The abstract view in Bronson’s flashback of the figure walking ever closer. Fonda’s walk through town while Bronson amusedly watches and drops hints. Robards out-duelling Mr. Choo-Choo’s hired hands, and his sad, slow death in the denouement. The final chapter of the old west, Leone-style. And, above all perhaps: Claudia Cardinale. A perfect film.

2. For a Few Dollars More -

The two bounty hunters who are all archetypes in one. The detached lunacy of El Indio, player perfectly by Volonte. Kinski being directed by Leone. The carillon twinkling at the end of the watchchain(s). The moment that trumpet explodes in the middle of “Sixty Seconds to What?” The gladiator arena that is the corral, the sweet revenge that is fulfilled there, and the void that it leaves in its place. Better than its more popular prequel, aka….

3. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly -

The surreal, picaresque western. Van Cleef switching sides from benevolent father figure to pure evil bastard. Eli Wallach in the performance of a lifetime. Cannonballs ripping through hotel walls. “If you’re going to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.” Gloves beating against dusty uniforms. An eyepatch that moves around quite a bit. A beautiful monologue as bandit berates his brother the priest. A dream fulfilled in the destruction of a bridge. The slow gathering of familiar accouterments. The ecstacy of gold. Also, Morricone’s “The Ecstacy of Gold.” The gut-tightening build-up to gunshots. And a perfect ending.

4. Duck, You Sucker -

AKA Fistful of Dynamite. AKA Once Upon a Time The Revolution. A bandit pissing on ants. Steiger doing Eli Wallach. A funny little Irishman on a funny little motorcycle. A mutual dislike that becomes mutual respect. Morals forged in the fire of experience. Explosions! Lots of them! Sean, Sean, Sean!

5. A Fistful of Dollars -

Fifth on this list is nothing to sneeze at, especially for a film that created a genre. Dashiell Hammett or Kurosawa in the desert.  The world-weary bartender. The enigmatic pallbearer. Get three coffins ready. Apologizing to mules. Bonds and betrayals and barrels and bonfires. A fallible hero. Aim for the heart or you’ll never stop me. And they never did.

I hope you all have enjoyed Halloween week here at Mister 8. I’ve been checking in periodically from the Mid-West Pop Culture Association Conference in Detroit this weekend, where I heard, among other things, an interesting paper on The Manchurian Candidate and the brainwashed 007 from the beginning of The Man With a Golden Gun (novel).

I’ll post more about that later, and will also revert the site back to its usual visual state tomorrow, but first, one last bit of spaghetti western candy in honor of Halloween, a desktop background that I drew for another blog a while back:

If you’re interested in learning more about spaghettis, check out the following websites!:

Shobary’s Spaghetti Westerns

Dollari Rosso

Spaghetti Western Database

Fistful of Leone

A Fistful of Westerns