Sergio Leone

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Sergio Leone
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Was an influential Italian filmmaker
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Known for inventing
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The “Spaghetti Western” subgenre;
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His unique visual aesthetic
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That was characterized by
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Extreme close-ups
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Juxtaposed with
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Long, panoramic shots;
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His preference for
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Morally ambiguous characters;
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His frequent collaboration
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With men like
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Clint Eastwood 
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And 
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Ennio Morricone;
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And his films’
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Incredibly laborious
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Opening credit sequences.
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==Early Life==
GRUFF SPANISH-LOOKING MAN (words don’t match lips): Hello, amigo! What can I do for you today?
MORALLY AMBIGUOUS CAUCASIAN (words do match lips): Tell me about the early life of Italian director Sergio Leone.
GRUFF SPANISH-LOOKING MAN: I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that.
MORALLY AMBIGUOUS CAUCASIAN: [draws gun] Tell me about the early life of Sergio Leone!
GRUFF SPANISH-LOOKING MAN: I don’t know anything about—
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[The Spanish-looking man’s hat is shot off]
MORALLY AMBIGUOUS CAUCASIAN: What do you know?
GRUFF SPANISH-LOOKING MAN: He was…he was born in Rome…to parents that…that were…involved in cinema!
MORALLY AMBIGUOUS CAUCASIAN: What else?
GRUFF SPANISH-LOOKING MAN: He attempted to go into law before becoming a director! And his first feature film was The Colossus of Rhodes!
MORALLY AMBIGUOUS CAUCASIAN: Hmmm….
[Morally Ambiguous Caucasian rides into the distance to the tune of his own personal leitmotif made up of a guitar, a pan flute, and a small chorus of men yelling “Ah-yah ah-yah ah-yah!”]
==Cinematic Motifs==
===Extreme Close-Ups===
Sergio Leone would often film things extremely close up. He typically favored using this technique with peoples’ faces and hands, though he also did it in other situations as well.
===Extreme Long Shots===
Sergio Leone also favored shots from extremely far away. He typically filmed landscapes and Mexican standoffs in this manner.
===Juxtaposing Extreme Close-Ups and Extreme Long Shots===
Leone would sometimes juxtapose extreme close-ups with extreme longs shots.
He would do this either by using deep focus to achieve both a close-up and long shot simultaneously, or by alternating between panoramic and close-up shots.
===Clint Eastwood’s Poncho===
Sergio Leone also had an attachment to the poncho actor Clint Eastwood wore in A Fistful of Dollars. Leone liked the poncho so much that it’s also featured in For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
==Selected Filmography==
===A Fistful of Dollars===
A Fistful of Dollars is a film about a morally ambiguous though ultimately good-hearted lone gunman who comes to a town dominated by two rival gangs. It is actually an unauthorized remake of Akira Kurosawa’s film Yojimbo, which is about a morally ambiguous though ultimately good-hearted lone samurai who comes to a town dominated by two rival gangs. This film marks Leone’s first collaboration with both composer Ennio Morricone and actor Clint Eastwood.
===For a Few Dollars More===
A morally ambiguous though ultimately vengeful bounty hunter played by Lee Van Cleef teams up with a morally ambiguous though ultimately good-hearted gunman played by Clint Eastwood to hunt down and kill a morally ambiguous though ultimately malicious criminal played by a totally irrelevant actor.
===The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly===
A morally ambiguous though ultimately good gunman, a morally ambiguous though ultimately bad gunman, and a morally ambiguous though ultimately ugly gunman attempt to find a cache of hidden gold.
===Once Upon a Time in the West===
A morally ambiguous though ultimately evil gunman played by Henry Fonda is eventually undone by a morally ambiguous though ultimately good Charles Bronson.
===Duck, You Sucker===
A morally ambiguous though ultimately good-hearted bandit played by Rod Steiger meets a morally ambiguous though ultimately good hearted IRA explosives expert played by James Coburn, and together they get drawn into the Mexican Revolution.
===Once Upon a Time in America===
Morally ambiguous gangster immigrants do morally ambiguous gangster things.
==The Dramatic Final Standoff==
CLINT EASTWOOD: Alright.
[he tosses a film reel to the ground]
CLINT EASTWOOD: This is the unedited director’s cut of Once Upon a Time in America. You all know what has to happen.
==See Also==
* Italy
* Clint Eastwood
* Akira Kurosawa
* Cinema
* Spaghetti
Category:Directors
Category:Articles about a person written in the style of that person
Category:Italian people
Category:FA Directors
Category:FA Italy
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