Not much to be said about this film that hasn't been said countless times already but opinions are still divided unlike opinions about universally admired true classic films.
Camp One - the detractors.
- Boring, tedious, repetitive, slow, bloated, long (at not too far short of three hours) and derivative with Henry Fonda badly miscast as the heartless, sadistic killer.
- Neither falling into the Classic Western genre despite the stalwart classic Western cast remembered from many classic Westerns including luminaries such as Jack Elam, Jason Robards, Woody Strode and Henry Fonda, of course, nor the Spaghetti Western genre despite the involvement of Messrs. Leone and Morricone.
- No characters to relate to and the cool anti-hero of the Leone Spaghetti trilogy is nowhere to be seen although it could be said that there's no place for him here.
- One of those many films that you feel you should like because everyone says you should . . . but which you honestly don't rush to spin in your Blu-ray player on a regular basis (although I would watch the fascinating and iconic opening sequence by itself on a regular basis).
Camp Two - the admirers
- Atmospheric and stylish in spades with one of the most admired opening sequences of any film ever made and packed with the typical Spaghetti style facial expressions close-ups and the liberal use of "silence".
- A visual treat with great cinematography and the music is of course exceptional from one of the masters of Western and Horror films music Ennio Morricone.
Anyway, we'll all watch it and have our own opinions so no need to comment on this post.
Interesting steelbook artwork with neat placing of the floating characters' heads but unfortunately too much print on the front
and because I've already bought the old Amaray in slipcover a while ago in no immediate rush to pick up this steelbook
