1:32:01
So we've got a Colt on the ground, and
we've got a Winchester on the ground.
1:32:05
And we're in pure theatre. The puppet
show has become pure puppets.
1:32:12
In American Westerns, there'd
be dialogue now. It's just sounds.
1:32:18
And it is quicker to load a Colt. This is it.
1:32:22
So extend time even more. Close-ups
of eyes, drums on the soundtrack.
1:32:28
Not extended as much as it will be.
1:32:31
This goes on for a reel
in subsequent Leone films.
1:32:33
But the dilation of time,
the stretching of time at that moment.
1:32:37
They're not talking to each other,
unlike Hollywood Westerns.
1:32:41
It's just pure ritual, all the rituals
that precede the moment of death.
1:32:45
The moment of death itself is... It's not
Sam Peckinpah, there's not lots of blood.
1:32:50
But here's the camera
describing circular motions in the sky.
1:32:54
And this will turn into the circular duel in
subsequent Leone films, set in a bullring.
1:33:00
This isn't the linear duel,
this is the circular one.
1:33:04
And Ramón bites the dust.
1:33:11
There's always a surprise, though.
1:33:22
A chance for Silvanito,
the bartender, to take part in this.
1:33:27
He's been detached from the squabble,
he said, "Don't get involved."
1:33:31
But at this moment he does get involved.
And saves the stranger.
1:33:37
And so, just as at the beginning,
1:33:39
the stranger rides into town
and the curtain of dust parts
1:33:42
and we're in this theatre of San Miguel,
1:33:45
so at the end this is just like the last scene
of some 16th or 17th-century tragedy,
1:33:50
with the bodies lying on the stage,
the protagonist standing there.
1:33:54
And the show is about to end,
the theatre is about to close.