:22:11
In 1950, Hollywood Westerns
had been 34 per cent of all releases
:22:17
that were made in Hollywood.
That's 150 movies.
:22:20
In 1963, when Fistful of Dollars
was first planned,
:22:24
Westerns represented nine per cent
of Hollywood output. That's 15 films.
:22:29
So it had gone from 150
in 1950 to 15 films in 1963.
:22:33
Leone said,
"The Western's dying in Hollywood."
:22:36
There was a huge market for Westerns in
Europe, particularly in Italy and Germany.
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People who'd grown up in the 1930s,
:22:44
for whom the Western
was a model of freedom.
:22:46
They'd grown up under Mussolini.
:22:49
And the Western had been
something to see - this land of plenty,
:22:53
the wide open spaces,
the hero who has freedom of movement.
:22:57
And looking towards the Western
:23:00
was a way of clearing their minds
of what went on at home.
:23:03
They were disappointed with the '50s,
hated television Westerns.
:23:07
Too overlit, too anodyne, too clean.
Everyone's teeth sparkled too much.
:23:12
So let's rough up
the Western, make it grungy.
:23:14
You have a revisionist
grunge in the foreground,
:23:17
with the stubble, and the cheroot,
and everyone looking a bit dirty,
:23:21
with a kind of epic pretension in the
background. That's what Leone was after.
:23:34
Now, this location was south of Madrid,
:23:38
but not as far south as AlmerÃa.
:23:41
Aldea del Fresno, "the valley
of the ash trees", by the river Alberche.
:23:46
It's a favourite Leone moment. They ride
together, the camera goes up on a crane,
:23:51
and you can see beyond
it a whole crowd of people.
:23:54
One of those visual surprises that you get,
:23:56
trompe I'oeil effects
that you get in his films.
:23:59
One of Leone's favourite painters was
Magritte, who specialised in juxtaposition.