Oklahoma!

1955 - Dir: Fred Zinnermann

Shown at the FeckenOdeon on December 27th, 2010

Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1943 stage musical was considered revolutionary for a multitude of reasons, not least of which were the play's intricate integration of song and storyline, and the simplicity and austerity of its production design. This 1955 film version of Oklahoma! retains the songs and the story, but the simplicity gives way to the spectacle of Technicolor, Todd-AO, and Stereophonic Sound. Nine years is a long time in showbiz so the original Broadway stars were overlooked in favour of newer talent - though Aunt Eller is played by Charlotte Greenwood who the part was written for (illness had prevented her from playing it on the stage).
THE PLOT & CAST
The story can be boiled down to a single sentence: a girl must decide between the two suitors who want to take her to a social.
In her movie debut, 19-year-old Shirley Jones plays Laurie, an Oklahoma farm gal who is courted by boisterous cowboy Curley (Gordon MacRae) and by menacing, obsessive farm hand Jud Frye (Rod Steiger). Counterpointing the serious elements of the story is a comic subplot involving innocently promiscuous Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame), her erstwhile sweetheart Will Parker (Gene Nelson) and lascivious oriental travelling salesman Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert) - who looks and sounds as if the closest he’s been to the orient is the Bronx.
It’s all very jolly stuff and, as you might expect, the story ends on a high with the pioneering Oklahomers singing of the great future they and their newly minted state can look forward to... It’s ironic to note that the real settlers overworked the land and created the dust bowl chronicled in Steinbeck’s harrowing "Grapes of Wrath"....

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

Oklahoma! was made twice at the same time... There were two versions. One was the general release CinemaScope version we’re seeing tonight. The other was the first film ever to be made in ToddAO - a process which used film 70mm wide (twice the width of the standard 35mm film) and which produced pin sharp pictures on the very biggest of screens - the ToddAO version was only shown in large city centre theatres. Director Fred Zinnermann and his long suffering cast shot each scene separately for the two versions - a long and tedious process which, we’re told, resulted in two subtly different movies. We’ll have to take their word for it because the ToddAO version no longer exists - 20th Century Fox ditched most of the prints and those that do survive are but faded shadows of their former glory. The print you’re watching tonight is a digital restoration of the 35mm version.

SHALL WE DANCE?

Just before the interval we’re treated to a classic 1950s Hollywood ballet - it’s all just a bad dream and it’s just as well because it’s all a bit strange. For some reason the leading characters are danced by people who don’t look a bit like them... except for Rod Steiger. It’s well executed but it seems to belong in a different film - it’s quite a relief to wake up in good old folksy Oklahoma again!

ELEPHANTINE CORN

Finding "corn as high as an elephant's eye" proved to be quite a challenge. Since filming was to take place out of season, no tall cornfields were to be found anywhere. The job was given to the people of the University of Arizona Agricultural Department, who planted each stalk in individual containers and held their breath. With rain and good luck, the corn grew to a height of 16 feet, causing Oscar Hammerstein to quip: "The corn is now as high as the eye of an elephant on top of another elephant."

Citizen Kane

1941 - Dir: Orson Welles
Shown at the FeckenOdeon on 27th November, 2010

What can one write that hasn’t already been written a thousand times about Citizen Kane? "The greatest film ever made"... a debatable assertion but who can deny that this is a remarkable piece of work. Roger Ebert, distinguished critic of the Chicago Sun Times has analysed the film more than 30 times over the years and still can’t help being drawn back. Perhaps it’s best to let him introduce it:
"The origins of "Citizen Kane'' are well known. Orson Welles, the boy wonder of radio and stage, was given freedom by RKO Radio Pictures to make any picture he wished. Herman Mankiewicz, an experienced screenwriter, collaborated with him on a screenplay originally called ``The American.'' Its inspiration was the life of William Randolph Hearst, who had put together an empire of newspapers, radio stations, magazines and news services, and then built to himself the flamboyant monument of San Simeon, a castle furnished by rummaging the remains of nations. Hearst was Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates rolled up into an enigma. "Citizen Kane'' covers the rise of the penny press (here Joseph Pulitzer is the model), the Hearst-supported Spanish-American War, the birth of radio, the power of political machines, the rise of fascism, the growth of celebrity journalism...."

• William Randolph Hearst was infuriated by this movie, obviously based on his life. "Rosebud" was Hearst's pet name for a certain part of the anatomy of his long-time mistress Marion Davies.
• The film flopped when it first opened - this may have had something to do with the panning Hearst’s papers and radio stations gave it. Hearst also ordered his advertising departments not to accept ads for theatres showing the film.
• Ted Turner had plans to "colorize the film. Welles hear about it and roared ""Tell Ted Turner to keep his crayons away from my movie!". The film has never been tampered with.

The Ghost

2009 - Dir: Roman Polanski

Shown in FeckenOdeon 2 on November 19th, 2010

“It’s harder than usual not to think about Roman Polanski and his self-induced messy life when watching The Ghost. That the film was edited and completed while Polanski was under house arrest in a chalet in Gstaad only adds to the sense that the fear and paranoia hovering over its every scene emerges from distinctly personal disquiet.”... well, that’s the opinion of the Daily Telegraph’s film critic Sukhdev Sandhu. Robert Harris who wrote the novel and the screenplay and worked closely with Polanski throughout doesn’t agree. He says that Mr P was on top form - full of energy, acting out every scene and attacking the job with creative energy crackling from every pore. Even when arrested he cut himself off from the distractions of legal action and imprisonment - the film was completed using a laptop and the Internet. The truth, as so often is the case, probably lies somewhere in between. Polanski is a director of vast experience. His craftsmanship is stamped on every scene and, even though Mr Harris’ script on occasions drives a coach and horses through logic and credibility, Polanski sews it all together with such skill that we believe every frame. The man is a professional - if you gave him the script of Carry on Camping and asked him to make a thriller out of it a thriller is exactly what you would get - polished, compelling and literate.... Only after the film was over would you start to wonder about the holes in the plot....

Is this based on Tony and Cherie? Mr Harris says “sort of”. Well of course it is! Which other contemporary British Prime Minister took the country to war in the Middle East? Ok - John Major did it as well - but there’s no sign of Edwina Currie hiding in the wardrobe and you never catch even a glimpse of the top of Pierce Brosnan’s underpants. It has to be Blair... but it’s unfortunate that the media, ever seduced by a whiff of scandal, had little to say about the film itself but everything to say about the Blairs and Mr Polanski’s lurid past (it’s 33 years past). As a result this really very good thriller enjoyed a quick week in the multiplexes before being pensioned off to await a video release. It deserves better!

• Ewan McGregor’s character never had a name. McGregor invented “Gordon McFarquor” so that he’d have an identity to work with. The credits simply list him as The Ghost.


• Because Polanski couldn’t travel to the United States, much of the filming took place in Germany. The island of Sylt stood in for Martha’s Vinyard.


• Pierce Brosnan said during a promotional interview, "It's sad for all concerned, but it's also heightened the movie. The movie's in the can, Polanski's in the can."


• In the film The Ghost is given a manuscript by Lang's attorney. In the taxi he checks the number of pages: 624. Tony Blair's memoirs A Journey, published in September 2010 (after the film had been released) also has 624 pages.... spooky!

Flawless

2008 - Dir: Michael Radford

Shown at The FeckenOdeon on October 30th, 2010

This is a modern, slick piece of filmaking with a difference. While "Flawless" follows the rules of the crime thriller genre, it does so in a kinder, gentler manner than many of its contemporaries. This movie has no chases or killings and lacks many of the violent trappings audiences have come to expect from heist movies. In fact, one could make a convincing argument that, although the production is primarily about the planning, execution, and aftermath of the crime, it's actually an unconventional love story. This is a strange and tense film - more of howdunnit than a whodunnit. We meet a high flying business woman (Demi Moore) who slightly improbably teams up with the company janitor (Michael Caine) to steal some Flawless diamonds. The robbery, its planning and execution, are exciting enough - but it’s only then that we get to the meat in the sandwich.... to say much more would be to say too much...
It’s 40 years since Michael Caine blew the bloody doors off the conventions of crime movies in "The Italian Job". Now he’s at it again - proving once and for all that pensioners are just young hoodlums in old skins. Mr Caine, now 77 years old, never seems to stop working. It can’t be for the money so the only conclusion can be that he simply loves the job. Since this film he’s completed another six and is now working on a further two projects - including the next in the Batman series. Mr Caine is supported by a fine cast of British character actors including Joss Ackland who is 83 and Derren Nesbitt aged 75... not a lot of people know that...

The Pope's Toilet

El Baño del Papa
2007 - Dir: César Charlone & Enrique Fernández

Shown in FeckenOdeon 2 on September 17th, 2010

The Pope is coming to the UK - in fact he’s here today and will be doing a bit of canonisation and sprinkling of Holy Water in Brum on Sunday. Needless to say that the streets around the venue will be taken over by the purveyors of dubious souvenirs, fast food wagons and programme sellers. It happens everywhere for every type of event where thousands of people are expected. Been there - got the T shirt is the glib phrase but.. Beto’s story couldn’t happen here... or could it? When a country is in the grip of economic disaster people tend to take desperate measures to earn a crust. Admittedly we’re not starting from as low a point as Ecuador - we can at least afford flush toilets.... for now....
This bittersweet film comes right from the heart. The action tales place in Melo in North Eastern Uruguay. It’s about the same size as Redditch and it’s desperately poor. It’s also the home of the director César Charlone and many of the people acting in it are local amateurs. The story is imaginary. The poverty isn’t.
In 1988, when the Pope visited, Uruguay was just emerging from years of brutal dictatorship and, despite the first flutterings of fledgling democracy, the old guard found it hard to let go. The struggle to exist was still being made even harder by corrupt officials like the border guards who terrorised Beto. None of this is fictitious and all of this is still happening. It would be easy to let all this overshadow the essential message of The Pope’s Toilet - that the spirit and good humour of people is difficult to quash ... a bit of the blitz mentality surfacing in South America?

Invictus

2009 - Dir: Clint Eastwood
Shown at FeckenOdeon 2 on 16th July, 2010
It was only a matter of time before somebody made a film about Nelson Mandela - one of the few truly inspirational figures of the late 20th Century. It was also only a matter of time before somebody cast Morgan Freeman to play the great man - even Mandela himself had accepted that the only actor capable of such a task was the veteran American. It wasn’t so obvious that the film, when it eventually appeared, would not concern itself with the great struggle to achieve majority rule in South Africa but focused instead on the period of consolidation that followed Mandela’s election as President - the battle for hearts and minds and the healing of old sores. It’s a period that could be said to be Mandela’s finest - a situation that could so easily have run out of control and, in other nations had resulted in civil war and genocide, begat the era of Truth and Reconciliation. That such an era should have begun with and depended upon the game of rugby is either a stroke of luck... or a touch of genius...
The choice of director to tell this extraordinary story was initially equally surprising. Clint Eastwood, of Dirty Harry and spaghetti western fame, isn’t a name that springs to mind when considering a docu-drama with political overtones. But Mr Eastwood, now 80 years old and still working, has no less than 35 feature films under his directorial belt and is regarded as one of the most dependable craftsmen working in the industry. He’s known for telling a story simply and directly, letting the actors do their work and for understanding every nut and bolt of the film-making process. It’s said that he insists that his actors wear as little makeup as possible and he likes to print first takes - as a result, his films consistently finish on schedule and on budget. That’s not to say that his films lack style or vitality - he just knows how to achieve results in a totally calm and professional way. Perhaps other directors should watch and learn?

• Jonah Lomu, the imposing New Zealand player, is portrayed by Zak Feaunati, who was once a player of the Bath Rugby team and is currently head of Rugby at Bishop Vesey's Grammar school in Sutton Coldfield.


• All the rugby games were filmed at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, where they had actually been played. When filming the games, there were only 2,000-plus extras in the stands. Using motion-capture techniques, the visual effects team was able to "sell out" the stadium with 62,000 fans.


• Matt Damon met François Pienaar and told the director "You know, this guy is huge!" Eastwood replied, "Hell, you worry about everything else. Let me worry about that." By structuring set-ups and camera angles, Eastwood made the average-height Damon look about Pienaar's height.


• The word "invictus" is Latin for "unbeaten". It is also the name of a short poem written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley. It was written while Henley was in hospital having his foot amputated.


• Clint Eastwood became a convert to rugby. He watched so many matches in preparation for the film that he found himself not only understanding it but also enjoying it.

A Knight's Tale

2001 - Dir: Brian Helgeland

Shown in FeckenOdeon 2 on May 21st, 2010

The medieval romance has been constantly with us ever since Herbert Beerbohm Tree filmed scenes from his stage production of Shakespeare's King John in 1899. There have been some serious, even solemn, examples of the genre - but most knightly films have been somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Douglas Fairbanks thought Charlie Chaplin was taking things a little too far when he asked if he could borrow the Nottingham Castle built for Fairbanks's 1922 Robin Hood (in its day the biggest set in Hollywood) so that the gigantic drawbridge could be lowered and Charlie's tramp emerge to put out the cat and take in the milk. Few have, with the notable exception of Monty Python, taken the Michael quite so much as “A Knight’s Tale”.Oh to have been a fly on the wall at the pitch meeting for this movie. Faced with a bunch of execs in suits, director Brian Helgeland says: "OK - so the whole thing is kind of Gladiator meets Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and it's set in the olden days with genuine medieval Tudorbethan beams and the hero is really just a squire so he gets Geoffrey Chaucer to forge his patents of nobility, and then he gets this babe who is also a blacksmith to make his armour.... and at his first joust, everyone is singing We Will Rock You by Queen." Was there ever a time when writer-producer-director Helgeland, an Oscar-winner for his LA Confidential screenplay, actually wanted a to make a screen version of Chaucer's Knight's Tale? Is this film based on a dream he had after eating far too much cheese? As a cinematic experience, it's about as nourishing as eating a pound and a half of candy floss. But it's undeniably fun in a summer silly season sort of way - and this is the start of our Summer Season after all. You have to be in the mood for a film partly based on Chaucer which has knights and ladies doing courtly dancing to the tune of David Bowie's Golden Years. It's not often a film comes along to meet that mood.... perhaps another trip to the bar before it starts might help you meet it half way??

• The film was shot entirely in Prague. Many of the extras were homeless people and very few of them spoke English... which accounts for the quizzical expressions.


• Heath Ledger knocked out one of director Brian Helgeland's front teeth with a broomstick when the two were demonstrating a jousting move. It was the only jousting injury on the shoot.


• Plenty of effort was expended creating lances that would splinter convincingly without injuring the stunt riders. The hollow tips were made of balsa wood and were filled with balsa chips and linguini to make convincing splinters.


• The film’s charismatic star, Heath Ledger, was an Australian actor who, after this film, seemed destined for great things. He won countless awards for his role in “Brokeback Mountain”, was exploring a new career in direction and had hit new heights in his portrayal of The Joker in “The Dark Knight”. He died in January 2008 through an accidental overdose of prescription drugs - sleeping pills, anti-depressants and antibiotics. He was 28 years old.

Amelie

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
2001 - Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Shown at FeckenOdeon 2 on 16th April, 2010
This utterly beguiling fable from one half of the team behind "Delicatessen" and "The City of Lost Children" whipped up a storm of controversy across the Channel, with some commentators arguing that its nostalgic whimsy brushed the realities of modern multicultural Paris under the carpet. Audiences didn't seem to mind though, over seven million French people saw it in the first weeks of its release, and the film earned accolades from both Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and President Jacques Chirac. Since the historic setting of Amélie is at the time of Lady Di's tragic car accident, one can safely assume that the film was a while in the making. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet admits that he got called on to make “Alien Resurrection” in between and had to let it go for a while. Jeunet loves cartoons and did art work for sophisticated French comics called 'Fluide Glaciale', 'Charlie Mensuel', and 'Fantasmagorie'. Bringing cartoons to life is what Jeunet seems to do best. You can imagine him sitting on this film many years, refining it, polishing it and hand crafting it.
Fun and charm aside, this film is a triumph of technical wizardry. The camera work shows a Paris that is vivid and full of extraordinary colours, almost a fairyland where Amélie is the lonely princess without love. M.Jeunet talked about the film with Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam and the style owes something to the latter’s facility for creating a world within a world. Barely a frame is un-retouched or digitally un-adjusted and the result is a fantasy Paris that we fervently wish was real. It could be the Paris of 50 years ago: no McDonald's, no Pompidou Centre, certainly no glass Bibliothèque Nationale towers or Grande Arche de la Défense. It is a sumptuous confection of a city, a virtual-reality CGI-Paris.
It's a rare pleasure to see a film where the parts gel so well that the finished result is so perfect. The comedy is subversive enough to satisfy the most cynical of tastes and performances all round are first rate. The film is not only a mix of genres - romance, comedy, drama - but is also a mix of the sweet gooeyness of marzipan, rich strawberry cream cake, pure sugar... Energised with its own sugar-rush quality, the film's pace is athletic. Overall, “Amelie” is a tribute to randomness and imagination and you can dig your sweet tooth into it, without fretting about the calories. Bon Appétit!

Hobson's Choice

1953 - Dir: David Lean (1hr 40mins)
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on April 24th, 2010
It was Alexander Korda who suggested Harold Brighouse's 1915 stage comedy "Hobson's Choice" to David Lean as a possible film project. Korda had been approached by the screenwriting team, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, who were developing a screen adaptation. Korda bought the screen rights from under them and offered the project to David Lean.
Charles Laughton had already made several successful films for Korda before he was offered Hobson, a role he had actually played on stage as a teenager in his native Scarborough. He was the first real international star that David Lean had worked with up to that time. Korda knew that Laughton could be difficult and obsessive, but realised he would be perfect for the outsized character and told the actor that the part had been written for him. Laughton got on famously with Lean, often socialising with the director after hours, and he spoke of the role of Hobson as one of his favourite screen performances.... but the filming was far from untroubled. Robert Donat was originally cast in the role of boot-maker Willie Mossop but was in ill health and was forced to drop out (replaced by John Mills). Laughton threw a fit, claiming he had only agreed to the film to work with his old friend and that the production was thus in breach of contract. Korda countered by threatening Laughton with a scandal, which would reveal the actor's well-concealed private life (he was homosexual, which was then illegal). Laughton returned to work but remained furious. He didn’t like his accommodation, was unhappy with playing so many drunk scenes and he loathed his co-star, Brenda De Banzie, a stage actress with only a few films to her credit - the feeling was mutual! The off screen fireworks never detract from this most professional of productions. There’s fine playing from a distinguished cast (including a few faces more familiar from the small screen), a brilliant score by William Walton and meticulous craftsmanship throughout.

• This is David Lean’s last film shot in black and white. Jack Hilyard’s rich monochrome photography is often regarded as the very best ever achieved.
• The exterior scenes were shot in Salford. The Corporation had cleaned up the canalside location when they heard that filming was to take place. The crew took great delight in dirtying it all down again with copious quantities of rubbish and detergent powder.

Easy Virtue

2008 - Dir: Stephan Elliot

Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 27th March, 2010
The twenties have roared... the thirties have yet to swing. John Whittaker, a young Englishman, falls madly in love with Larita, a sexy and glamorous American woman, and they marry impetuously... and then he takes her home to Mother....
Unusually for a play by Noel Coward, Love struggles while conquering All in this subversive view of British country-house society between the wars. That era has been described as the most blessed in modern history (assuming you were Upstairs and not Down), but not here, where the Whittakers occupy a mouldering pile in the countryside. It is said that nothing in a country house should look new. Nothing in this one looks as if it were ever new.
Written in 1924, this was Coward’s 16th play, and was originally filmed in 1928 by Alfred Hitchcock. The thing about Coward's work, whether in its unexpurgated version or in this new, re-tooled approach, is it's all about the dialogue. (Ironically, the Hitchcock adaptation was silent, resulting in much of the dialogue being excised.) There is a plot - but it's a secondary element to the lines the actors deliver. Only Oscar Wilde has the same bite. Fortunately, Elliott understands this, which makes Easy Virtue go down smoothly.This is a 1920s-era comedy of bad manners done by experts. The director’s previous project was the way over the top "Priscilla. Queen of the Desert" - which is perhaps why a script that could have been stodgy actually yields some startling surprises. It’s perhaps fitting that this was made at Ealing Studios!

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Dir: Lasse Halströmm
Shown in FeckenOdeon 2 on 12th February, 2010

“Movies like "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" are not easily summarised; they don't have that slick "high concept" one-sentence peg that makes them easy to sell. But some of the best movies are like this: They show everyday life, carefully observed, and as we grow to know the people in the film, maybe we find out something about ourselves. The fact that Lasse Hallström is able to combine these qualities with comedy, romance and even melodrama make the movie very rare.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

Gilbert Grape is the mainstay of a family that is a little unusual. Most communities have such people. They’re the ones that, if you’re kind, you try not to notice. The ones who get on with their lives in their own way but make you slightly uneasy. This is a story of people who most definitely aren't misfits (despite what society may think) mainly because they don't see themselves that way. Thankfully this film doesn’t treat them with tragic seriousness; it is a problem, yes, to have a retarded younger brother. And it is also a problem to have a mother so fat she never leaves the house. But when kids from the neighbourhood sneak around to peek at the fat lady in the living room, Gilbert sometimes gives them a boost up to the window. What the hell.
This film is a starting point for the careers of two of Hollywood’s big earners and it contains fantastic performances from both of them. Johnny Depp has the easier task in portraying the patient and caring young father substitute but he does it with such gentle conviction that the character remains totally believable even when the plot strays a little way from the credible.
The young Leonardo DiCaprio - only 16 at the time of the filming - has a more difficult task. How do you tackle the portrayal of a mentally handicapped youngster without either underplaying the character or turning it into a gross caricature? Mr DiCaprio recalls, "I had to really research and get into the mind of somebody with a disability like that. So I spent a few days at a home for mentally retarded teens. We just talked and I watched their mannerisms. People have these expectations that mentally retarded children are really crazy, but it's not so. It's refreshing to see them because everything's so new to them."
The other big character in the Grape residence is Momma. Momma was played by Darlene Cates and yes, she really is that big. She weighs 38 stones. This is her film acting debut. She’d been through all kinds of treatments and (like Momma) endured a 5 year period where she didn’t leave her home. She had finally emerged go on a TV show to highlight the plight of people like herself. The film’s writer saw the show and suggested that she play the part of Momma. She had her doubts but said: “I had to make a choice, I could stay where I was and be miserable, or I could take a risk and do something exciting. I talked with the author, Peter Hedges. There were some things in the book that I didn't like but as we went along I was so proud of the way that the character was portrayed and so proud of the way that the children came around to see that this woman had good qualities, and how much she really did care about her family”. Ms Cates continues to act and to campaign for the rights of larger people.

Steamboat Bill Jr.

1928 - Dir: Buster Keaton & Charles Reisner

Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 27th February, 2010

This is the last film Buster Keaton made as an independent producer. It’s perhaps not surprising that the "great stone face" never cracks into even the hint of a smile. During the filming he was told that the money men had pulled the plug and that his studio was to be closed down once "Steamboat Bill" was complete. It’s said that he was so desolated by the news that he took more risks than usual because he didn’t really care if he lived or died. He later took a job with MGM who promised him creative freedom. A short lived promise - "The Cameraman" (shown here in April 2008) was the only picture he was allowed to direct and his career nose dived from then on.

It’s difficult to know if Keaton would have survived the transition to sound. His voice wasn’t great and his technique so physical that he was probably destined to become a museum piece. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the films of Jaques Tati made those techniques fashionable again.

• The original script featured a flood. However, due to the effects of a real flood, this became a "cyclone."
• Marion Byron couldn’t swim, so the scenes when she’s in the river used Buster's real-life sister Louise. The water was very cold and during a day of filming Buster and Louise each required 5 large glasses of French Brandy to keep them warm... well, that was their excuse...
• The film was the model for "Steamboat Willie" - Disney’s first sound cartoon.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

1967 - Dir: Sergio Leone
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 30th January, 2010

This is a bit of a hybrid. Its roots are firmly set in the old wild west but the style and narrative are far more European. Its Italian director, Sergio Leone, embarked on his series of “Spaghetti westerns” with the express intention of shaking up an old genre. The somewhat less than subtle use of violence shook up a little more than the genre. Sg. Leone explains that "the killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns. The west was made by violent, uncomplicated men, and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures." The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been described as European cinema's best representation of the Western genre film, and Quentin Tarantino has called it "the best-directed film of all time." - perhaps a bit of an exaggeration but the film has terrific style and forced a change of direction for action movies.
Shooting took place in Spain - the Spanish government approved production and provided the army for technical assistance; the film's cast includes 1,500 local militia members as extras.
As an international cast was employed, actors performed in their native languages. Eastwood, Van Cleef and Wallach spoke English, and were dubbed into Italian for the debut release in Rome. For the American version, the lead acting voices were used, but supporting cast members were dubbed into English. The result is noticeable in the bad synchronisation of voices to lip movements on screen; none of the dialogue is completely in sync because Leone rarely shot his scenes with synchronised sound.
The director established a rule that he follows throughout "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." The rule is that the ability to see is limited by the sides of the frame. At important moments in the film, what the camera cannot see, the characters cannot see, and that gives Leone the freedom to surprise us with entrances that cannot be explained by the practical geography of his shots.

• The film was shot using a process called Techniscope. This means that you can shoot without an anamorphic lens, and only use half as much film as you would normally use. The Techniscope process places two widescreen frames on a single 35 mm frame. Like all cheapskate compromises this doesn’t quite work - if you use half of the film area it means that you have to enlarge the picture twice as much when you project it and consequently the picture tends to be fuzzier and grainier...
  
• The bridge that Tuco and Blondie demolish was an actual bridge built by Spanish army engineers. The Spanish agreed to dynamite the bridge only if the their captain could be the one to do it. The captain was so excited by the prospect that he forgot all about the film and just blew the bridge up without any cameras rolling. The army was so embarrassed that they rebuilt the bridge so that it could be blown up again.
  
• Clint Eastwood fell out with the director during the shoot. This came to a head at the dubbing session where Eastwood insisted on recording a different version of the script than that used in the final cut.