:59:24
A rare shot of Eastwood
actually lighting up his Toscano.
:59:28
One thing about them is that
they're difficult to keep alight.
:59:32
They keep going out,
and that's certainly the case here.
:59:36
Another moment of ultraviolence,
like with the Baxters falling off the gate.
:59:42
And the sound of the cat, which in one
or two of Leone's Westerns you get
:59:46
as a soundtrack thing,
to punctuate the action,
:59:50
the cat shrieking
as the violence takes place.
1:00:04
A machete. It's interesting.
1:00:06
In Yojimbo, Sanjuro wears
his sword strapped to his waist.
1:00:11
It's a sword-fighting movie, and the
violence is about a rather languid hero,
1:00:16
who has moments of violence
with spectacular swordplay,
1:00:20
then sheaths his sword and walks off.
1:00:22
This is, I think, a reference to Yojimbo,
1:00:24
with Eastwood's use of the machete.
1:00:31
This had an X certificate
when it came out,
1:00:34
because the violence really came
as something of a shock.
1:00:37
Perhaps not the violence. The brutality.
1:00:39
The sense of the enjoyment of physical
punishment which comes through,
1:00:44
is true of all Leone's films,
and is still controversial to some extent.
1:00:48
You've got the style,
the production design,
1:00:51
the music, these distinctive features,
1:00:54
but you've also got this lingering
on moments of brutality,
1:00:58
which, even in this first Western, it would
become more extreme later, is present.