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Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death
The first biography of the Italian director who reinvented the film Western with his series of "spaghetti" westerns.
The Italian film director Sergio Leone reinvented the American Western with his movie A Fistful of Dollars, a spare reworking of Akira Kurosawa's Japanese outlaw drama Yojimbo transferred to the Texas-Mexican border. In doing so, Leone also created a new kind of Western protagonist--silent, mysterious, morally ambiguous--and found a new star to embody this new archetype: Clint Eastwood.
Leone's entire life pointed toward his reinvention of the American Western: he grew up during the Nazi occupation of Italy, a period in which he saw terrible parallels to the traditional Western. When he was in a position to direct his own films, the low budget of his first "spaghetti" Western meant that he could only afford to hire a relatively unknown American actor, Clint Eastwood, to star in A Fistful of Dollars, which has been credited with reviving the Western as a credible film genre in the 1960s. This book is the first to document not only Leone's life but also to explore fully the development--and phenomenon--of the Italian film Western. In addition, Christopher Frayling examines Leone's late masterwork, Once Upon a Time in the West, which TimeOut says "ranks among the greatest examples of 'pure cinema' in the history of the medium."
592 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2000
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September 30, 2021
Al cuore Sergio, al cuore
Una biografia di Sergio Leone. Un racconto critico dei suoi film. Una storia minima del cinema italiano tra gli anni quaranta e gli anni ottanta, dai fasti di Cinecittà alle difficoltà produttive dovute alla contrazione degli spettatori.
Il libro di Frayling è tutto questo, una carrellata non agiografica sulla vita di Leone, regista geniale, uomo difficile, non sempre giusto con i suoi collaboratori che fagocitava come un Saturno dei pepla nei quali aveva esordito.
Per gli appassionati dei suoi film, rimane l'inventore di storie straordinarie, le sue favole per adulti iperrealiste e totalmente finte, l'Arizona ricostruita in Almeria che diventa più vera di quella americana.
Frayling racconta le storie di cattivi senza futuro e buoni senza nome e senza passato, messi in primissimo piano perchè gli occhi sono più importanti delle pistole.
E pazienza se tutto questo voleva dire uccidere il "padre cinematografico", il western tradizionale di cui Leone era un fan appassionato, colpendolo al cuore con i suoi duelli manieristi e coreografati come balletti.
Morto il west, Sergio Leone si dedica a una storia minore di gangsters ebrei newyorkesi, progetto per cui lotta 15 anni e che forse gli costa la salute.
Nasce così il suo capolavoro (almeno secondo me): C'era una volta in America.
La difficile storia della produzione del film, le scelte di sceneggiatura, scenografia e regia vengono raccontate con abbondanza di particolari.
Il libro si conclude con la storia del film mai realizzato, Leningrado, che avrebbe dovuto aprirsi con il più grandioso piano sequenza della storia del cinema.
Un libro bello e interessante, che quasi ti costringe a correre a mettere il dvd dei film che racconta. E' quello che ho fatto io.
Una biografia di Sergio Leone. Un racconto critico dei suoi film. Una storia minima del cinema italiano tra gli anni quaranta e gli anni ottanta, dai fasti di Cinecittà alle difficoltà produttive dovute alla contrazione degli spettatori.
Il libro di Frayling è tutto questo, una carrellata non agiografica sulla vita di Leone, regista geniale, uomo difficile, non sempre giusto con i suoi collaboratori che fagocitava come un Saturno dei pepla nei quali aveva esordito.
Per gli appassionati dei suoi film, rimane l'inventore di storie straordinarie, le sue favole per adulti iperrealiste e totalmente finte, l'Arizona ricostruita in Almeria che diventa più vera di quella americana.
Frayling racconta le storie di cattivi senza futuro e buoni senza nome e senza passato, messi in primissimo piano perchè gli occhi sono più importanti delle pistole.
E pazienza se tutto questo voleva dire uccidere il "padre cinematografico", il western tradizionale di cui Leone era un fan appassionato, colpendolo al cuore con i suoi duelli manieristi e coreografati come balletti.
Morto il west, Sergio Leone si dedica a una storia minore di gangsters ebrei newyorkesi, progetto per cui lotta 15 anni e che forse gli costa la salute.
Nasce così il suo capolavoro (almeno secondo me): C'era una volta in America.
La difficile storia della produzione del film, le scelte di sceneggiatura, scenografia e regia vengono raccontate con abbondanza di particolari.
Il libro si conclude con la storia del film mai realizzato, Leningrado, che avrebbe dovuto aprirsi con il più grandioso piano sequenza della storia del cinema.
Un libro bello e interessante, che quasi ti costringe a correre a mettere il dvd dei film che racconta. E' quello che ho fatto io.
October 21, 2009
History is a lie. But that doesn't mean it can't be engaging, revealing, and rewarding.
Frayling's biography of Sergio Leone is absolutely fascinating for the way it draws out the impossibility of there existing something called True History. Oh, certainly in the abstract sense, there could exist some ultimate record of event free from the colouring of memory, vanity, or nostalgia, but that would require an impartial, omniscient observer. And biographers, even if they had access to such an impossible (barring the metanatural) source, probably wouldn't wish to make use of it for fear of losing some of the more outrageous possibilities in the unveiling of their respective subjects.
As Frayling pulls the curtain back on the Italian director's life and work, we find that coming to any solid understanding of what really happened and what he was really about is a task for fables rather than for mortals. In relating any given event, Frayling gives us the Leone version (which we are given to take rarely as the whole truth—or sometimes even as half-truth) and then the usually conflicting versions of his actors, friends, relatives, scriptwriters, cinematographers, and producers. And even the actors, friends, relatives, scriptwriters, cinematographers, and producers cannot come up with stories that corroborate each other.
The life and work of Sergio Leone were myth well before he was even dead. And if interview with first hand participants in his life in a book published a mere decade after his death cannot come to anything resembling a stable view of who Sergio Leone was and what he was about, imagine then the impossibility of relying on any century-old historical record of accurately capturing the lives and events of that record's subjects.
Frayling's book is a fantastic look at humans in both nature and perspective. And along the way, it happens to given a wonderful account of one of the most influential directors of the twentieth century.
The biography is sensibly organized around Leone's major works, with room enough at beginning and end to see how the man arrived and departed. Frayling offers an enormous collection of insights into the director's sense of self, others' sense of the director's sense of self, and the director's indisputable passion for cinema. The author includes the words of numerous participants in Leone's movies and life, from Eastwood and Fonda to Bertolucci and Donati to De Niro and Wallach. Friends and the bitter disenchanted alike give testimony to the life of Sergio Leone.
We are given to see his gradual rise through the ranks of the Italian film industry, the blatant theft of a Kurosawa film that would rocket him to fame, and the continual second-guessing and overreaching that would both plague him and endear him to thousands. Frayling details the production of his five major films (as well as some of his lesser lights), taking time to discuss Leone's demand for detail, for authenticity in the midst of hallucinatory mythicism, his sometimes volatile relationships with his actors, his always volatile relationship with his scriptwriters, his method for shooting and framing, his collaboration with Ennio Morricone (probably the most widely recognized aspect of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), and his critical reception for each film.
Something to Do with Death is everything I could want in a biography and for all but the most entrenched and knowledgeable Leone fan, it should hold more than enough details and revelations to keep the reader interested. Fascinating man, fascinating life, fascinating book.
Frayling's biography of Sergio Leone is absolutely fascinating for the way it draws out the impossibility of there existing something called True History. Oh, certainly in the abstract sense, there could exist some ultimate record of event free from the colouring of memory, vanity, or nostalgia, but that would require an impartial, omniscient observer. And biographers, even if they had access to such an impossible (barring the metanatural) source, probably wouldn't wish to make use of it for fear of losing some of the more outrageous possibilities in the unveiling of their respective subjects.
As Frayling pulls the curtain back on the Italian director's life and work, we find that coming to any solid understanding of what really happened and what he was really about is a task for fables rather than for mortals. In relating any given event, Frayling gives us the Leone version (which we are given to take rarely as the whole truth—or sometimes even as half-truth) and then the usually conflicting versions of his actors, friends, relatives, scriptwriters, cinematographers, and producers. And even the actors, friends, relatives, scriptwriters, cinematographers, and producers cannot come up with stories that corroborate each other.
The life and work of Sergio Leone were myth well before he was even dead. And if interview with first hand participants in his life in a book published a mere decade after his death cannot come to anything resembling a stable view of who Sergio Leone was and what he was about, imagine then the impossibility of relying on any century-old historical record of accurately capturing the lives and events of that record's subjects.
Frayling's book is a fantastic look at humans in both nature and perspective. And along the way, it happens to given a wonderful account of one of the most influential directors of the twentieth century.
The biography is sensibly organized around Leone's major works, with room enough at beginning and end to see how the man arrived and departed. Frayling offers an enormous collection of insights into the director's sense of self, others' sense of the director's sense of self, and the director's indisputable passion for cinema. The author includes the words of numerous participants in Leone's movies and life, from Eastwood and Fonda to Bertolucci and Donati to De Niro and Wallach. Friends and the bitter disenchanted alike give testimony to the life of Sergio Leone.
We are given to see his gradual rise through the ranks of the Italian film industry, the blatant theft of a Kurosawa film that would rocket him to fame, and the continual second-guessing and overreaching that would both plague him and endear him to thousands. Frayling details the production of his five major films (as well as some of his lesser lights), taking time to discuss Leone's demand for detail, for authenticity in the midst of hallucinatory mythicism, his sometimes volatile relationships with his actors, his always volatile relationship with his scriptwriters, his method for shooting and framing, his collaboration with Ennio Morricone (probably the most widely recognized aspect of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), and his critical reception for each film.
Something to Do with Death is everything I could want in a biography and for all but the most entrenched and knowledgeable Leone fan, it should hold more than enough details and revelations to keep the reader interested. Fascinating man, fascinating life, fascinating book.
July 8, 2020
When yours truly was an adolescent film buff, I received this book as a birthday present. It served as my crash course in filmmaking, with Frayling covering Sergio Leone with mixture of critical analysis, behind-the-scenes portraits and colorful anecdotes. Frayling shows Leone literally growing up in cinema (his father Vincenzo a director, his mother Bice Valerian an actress) in Rome under Benito Mussolini, embracing American Westerns an escape from fascist conformity and the destruction and destitution of postwar Italy. As a teenager he drifted into film, working as an assistant to his father, then Vittorio de Sica and Dino De Laurentiis; then working on various Hollywood productions filming in Cinecitta, from Ben-Hur to The Nun's Story; eventually, he worked his way up to The Colossus of Rhodes, a typical "sword-and-sandal" film which flopped and threatened to derail Leone's career. Then he received an opportunity to direct a low-budget Western based on Kurosawa's Yojimbo, and his life (and cinema) changed forever.
Frayling's book brilliantly dovetails the personal and professional throughout. Leone's career is placed firmly in context of postwar Italian cinema, with its "economic miracle" fueled by Hollywood investment, the formulaic genre cycles shifting along with fickle popular tastes, and the increased influence of political instability. His Spaghetti Westerns, postmodern homages to Classic Hollywood salted with cynicism, hyper-violence, amoral antiheroes and iconic Ennio Morricone scores, revolutionized not only Italian movies but cinema as a whole. He made stars of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Charles Bronson, while giving Hollywood pros Henry Fonda, James Coburn and Eli Wallach some of their most memorable roles. From the pulpy violence of the Dollars Trilogy to the operatic sprawl of Once Upon a Time in the West, from Duck, You Sucker! (a sharp critique of radical chic disguised as a shoot-'em-up) and the elegiac artistry of Once Upon a Time in America, Leone's is one of the most unique oeuvres in cinema history. He combines the grindhouse sensibilities of Tarantino (Leone's devoted disciple) with the classical artistry of Ford or Visconti; in other words, pop culture rendered as high art.
Frayling's portrait of Leone, it must be said, isn't particularly flattering. Like many filmmakers, he had an outsized ego that made him loathe to share credit with his stars or writers. His screenwriters, Luciano Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati, are on-hand for some less-than-flattering reminiscences; actors from Eastwood (who grew wary of Leone's demanding style) to Rod Steiger (whose relationship with Leone on Duck You Sucker! devolved to shouting matches conveyed through assistant directors) recount clashes with him, on-set and off. He posed as an intellectual who collected surrealist paintings, read classic literature and attended film festivals (more prosaically, he could recite John Ford and Anthony Mann Westerns, word-for-word, shot-for-shot, from memory). His political views, at a *very* political moment in Italian history, evinced a detached nihilism that often seems (in Frayling's words) like a "plea for ignorance" rather than a reasoned critique of turmoil. This and his over-the-top violence, weakness for toilet humor, obsession with male friendship and crude treatment of women struck many critics and fellow filmmakers as childish rather than profound; popular though Leone's films were, they were generally dismissed by critics in his lifetime.
Still, as Frayling shows, Leone's genius can't be denied. His influence on several generations of directors, from the movie brats of the Seventies to the more recent work of Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and John Woo, is inescapable (even if none of those directors match the maestro's work). And Leone's work, whatever their weak spots and rough edges, remain masterworks, a consummate mixture of art and entertainment. Leone's work ultimately speaks for itself; but it certainly doesn't hurt that he has such a passionate, persuasive spokesman as Christopher Frayling, who meshes Leone's life, times and movies into the quintessential film biography.
Frayling's book brilliantly dovetails the personal and professional throughout. Leone's career is placed firmly in context of postwar Italian cinema, with its "economic miracle" fueled by Hollywood investment, the formulaic genre cycles shifting along with fickle popular tastes, and the increased influence of political instability. His Spaghetti Westerns, postmodern homages to Classic Hollywood salted with cynicism, hyper-violence, amoral antiheroes and iconic Ennio Morricone scores, revolutionized not only Italian movies but cinema as a whole. He made stars of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Charles Bronson, while giving Hollywood pros Henry Fonda, James Coburn and Eli Wallach some of their most memorable roles. From the pulpy violence of the Dollars Trilogy to the operatic sprawl of Once Upon a Time in the West, from Duck, You Sucker! (a sharp critique of radical chic disguised as a shoot-'em-up) and the elegiac artistry of Once Upon a Time in America, Leone's is one of the most unique oeuvres in cinema history. He combines the grindhouse sensibilities of Tarantino (Leone's devoted disciple) with the classical artistry of Ford or Visconti; in other words, pop culture rendered as high art.
Frayling's portrait of Leone, it must be said, isn't particularly flattering. Like many filmmakers, he had an outsized ego that made him loathe to share credit with his stars or writers. His screenwriters, Luciano Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati, are on-hand for some less-than-flattering reminiscences; actors from Eastwood (who grew wary of Leone's demanding style) to Rod Steiger (whose relationship with Leone on Duck You Sucker! devolved to shouting matches conveyed through assistant directors) recount clashes with him, on-set and off. He posed as an intellectual who collected surrealist paintings, read classic literature and attended film festivals (more prosaically, he could recite John Ford and Anthony Mann Westerns, word-for-word, shot-for-shot, from memory). His political views, at a *very* political moment in Italian history, evinced a detached nihilism that often seems (in Frayling's words) like a "plea for ignorance" rather than a reasoned critique of turmoil. This and his over-the-top violence, weakness for toilet humor, obsession with male friendship and crude treatment of women struck many critics and fellow filmmakers as childish rather than profound; popular though Leone's films were, they were generally dismissed by critics in his lifetime.
Still, as Frayling shows, Leone's genius can't be denied. His influence on several generations of directors, from the movie brats of the Seventies to the more recent work of Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and John Woo, is inescapable (even if none of those directors match the maestro's work). And Leone's work, whatever their weak spots and rough edges, remain masterworks, a consummate mixture of art and entertainment. Leone's work ultimately speaks for itself; but it certainly doesn't hurt that he has such a passionate, persuasive spokesman as Christopher Frayling, who meshes Leone's life, times and movies into the quintessential film biography.
June 7, 2019
Sognare in GRANDE
Il buono, il brutto e il cattivo (1966)
C'era una volta il West (1968)
C'era una volta in America (1984)
Il buono, il brutto e il cattivo (1966)
C'era una volta il West (1968)
C'era una volta in America (1984)
November 8, 2008
I recently re-read this book because I've added it to the reading list on the film studies course where I am course leader. It's brilliant - quite the best book on Italian Westerns both for film buffs and film students. Central is its demonstration of how the Italian Western develops the classical (Aristotelian) dynamic inherent in the traditional western while developing the socio-political critique of movies like SHANE, which reaches its highest point in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. This is one of my top five favourite movies of all time! While most of my movies are urban thrillers set in contemporary British settings they are also (like Mike Hodges GET CARTER and anything by Walter Hill) very much urban westerns. Leone is a genius and this book a worthy testament to his art and deployment of familiar myth
July 2, 2024
This book is a behemoth, but if you are a fan of Leone's you are in for a treat. I didn't know before purchasing this book that Frayling's specialty was actually as a Leone biographer, and a scholar of the Italian Westerns of the 60s and 70s. I had only known him to be a "Frankenstein Expert", and had only ever listened to a commentary of his on the original 1931 Frankenstein.
I can say with some confidence that this book is going to be the most in-depth reading you'll ever find on Leone. Frayling goes into incredible detail on Leone's life and cinema. I guess the good thing about a director with such a "Small" filmography, is that you are able to dedicate exhaustive research into each film. This book is huge and the 500 or so pages may seem daunting, but Frayling kind of breaks it up perfectly and in a way that services the fans of each of the films in question.
The first 100 pages, broken up into 4 chapters, begins with Leone's birth to performers/filmmakers and his childhood during the rise of fascism and WW2 in Rome, takes us through his tireless work as an assistant director to some of the greats (including De Sica), and finally to his making a name for himself as a director on some relatively unknown sword & sandal epics.
What follows are five 40-50 Page Chapters dedicated to each of the five westerns her directed. As a huge fan of all but one of these (Duck, you Sucker), you couldn't ask for a better deep dive into each of these films. You can tell that Frayling could easily stretch any or all of these chapters into standalone books, but honestly it is so much better that he keeps them at an accessible length while providing SO much.
The problem was that, because I'm not as much of a fan of Duck, You Sucker, that chapter, while interesting began to feel tedious. Unfortunately, this made the book slow down a bit for me and was not a great segue into a chapter about his Hiatus between Duck, You Sucker and Once Upon a Time in America (which was made up mostly of producing Tonino Valerii's My Name is Nobody) and then a very dense, 90 page chapter on OUATIAmerica. I don't know that film as well, and I certainly don't dislike it, but I'm not nearly as much of a fan as I am of his Westerns. This chapter is not really helped by including a nearly 15 page summary of the first draft of the script.
Anyway, I will say that if I was a Fan of his final film, I'm sure I would have breezed through that chapter as I had with all the others. I'm sure that big fans of that film will LOVE this part of the book. All in all, it is such a thorough and fascinating book that shows you specifically just how much of Leone's life he actually put into his work. It certainly shows every time you watch his movies.
I can say with some confidence that this book is going to be the most in-depth reading you'll ever find on Leone. Frayling goes into incredible detail on Leone's life and cinema. I guess the good thing about a director with such a "Small" filmography, is that you are able to dedicate exhaustive research into each film. This book is huge and the 500 or so pages may seem daunting, but Frayling kind of breaks it up perfectly and in a way that services the fans of each of the films in question.
The first 100 pages, broken up into 4 chapters, begins with Leone's birth to performers/filmmakers and his childhood during the rise of fascism and WW2 in Rome, takes us through his tireless work as an assistant director to some of the greats (including De Sica), and finally to his making a name for himself as a director on some relatively unknown sword & sandal epics.
What follows are five 40-50 Page Chapters dedicated to each of the five westerns her directed. As a huge fan of all but one of these (Duck, you Sucker), you couldn't ask for a better deep dive into each of these films. You can tell that Frayling could easily stretch any or all of these chapters into standalone books, but honestly it is so much better that he keeps them at an accessible length while providing SO much.
The problem was that, because I'm not as much of a fan of Duck, You Sucker, that chapter, while interesting began to feel tedious. Unfortunately, this made the book slow down a bit for me and was not a great segue into a chapter about his Hiatus between Duck, You Sucker and Once Upon a Time in America (which was made up mostly of producing Tonino Valerii's My Name is Nobody) and then a very dense, 90 page chapter on OUATIAmerica. I don't know that film as well, and I certainly don't dislike it, but I'm not nearly as much of a fan as I am of his Westerns. This chapter is not really helped by including a nearly 15 page summary of the first draft of the script.
Anyway, I will say that if I was a Fan of his final film, I'm sure I would have breezed through that chapter as I had with all the others. I'm sure that big fans of that film will LOVE this part of the book. All in all, it is such a thorough and fascinating book that shows you specifically just how much of Leone's life he actually put into his work. It certainly shows every time you watch his movies.
November 4, 2008
The new DVD of Sergio Leone's brilliant art-film-disguised-as-a-western, "Gui La Testa," has the single best commentary I've ever heard for any film, by Christopher Frayling; I wish his Leone bio rose to the same level of detail and insight when discussing Leone's films, but I suppose if it did, it would be 3,000 pages long. As it is, it offers more to chew on than any other Leone-related book (with the possible exception of Oreste De Fornari's). Truth to tell, my problem with it is not with Frayling, but with Leone. Every biography of a film director I admire (Kubrick, Polanski, Fosse, Tarkovsky, Lean, Huston, Peckinpah, Frankenheimer, to name a few) invariably sours me on the man himself, usually in inverse proportion to how much I love his work. If I've divined anything from reading them, it's 1) to make great films you have to be a complete asshole, and 2) the less I know about my heroes, the better.
on-hiatus
February 18, 2020Review in progress.
This book is so dense it's going to take me forever to finish. Loads of fascinating detail in here though. I have so much respect for Christopher Frayling.
The beginning talks about how Leone's family helped Italian Jews during WWII. I'm going to come back to this section.
Clint Eastwood really hated those cigars.
The lawsuit between Kurosawa and Leone was fascinating to read about. I haven't been able to find any details about that case online, but this book includes a lot of interesting tidbits. (pgs. 147-150).
Leone saw Yojimbo at the theatre and it inspired him to make Fistful, not only inspired him, he wanted to remake it. He thought his producer, Jolly films, bought the rights, but uh, they didn't.
pg.151 introduces Ennio Morricone
p.165 - For A Few Dollars More
This book is so dense it's going to take me forever to finish. Loads of fascinating detail in here though. I have so much respect for Christopher Frayling.
The beginning talks about how Leone's family helped Italian Jews during WWII. I'm going to come back to this section.
Clint Eastwood really hated those cigars.
The lawsuit between Kurosawa and Leone was fascinating to read about. I haven't been able to find any details about that case online, but this book includes a lot of interesting tidbits. (pgs. 147-150).
Leone saw Yojimbo at the theatre and it inspired him to make Fistful, not only inspired him, he wanted to remake it. He thought his producer, Jolly films, bought the rights, but uh, they didn't.
pg.151 introduces Ennio Morricone
p.165 - For A Few Dollars More
April 14, 2023
I'll begin with a disclaimer: my wife searched out this book for me because I am a huge fan of Sergio Leone. When we took a tour of Italy years ago, the only time I deviated from the tour was to take a train and bus ride outside of Rome, then walk the final few miles with my son to the small town of Pratica di Mare where he is buried. I brought flowers to lay at his grave. When we finally found the small cemetery, it was locked, and was surrounded by a six foot wall. If I had been alone, that would have been the end of my pilgrimage. But we went around to the back of the cemetery where people driving on the road could not see us, and my adult son provided me a boost up so that I could get over the wall and then followed me over. We easily found his large grave marked by two lion statues (for "Leone") and I thanked his spirit for all the wonderful entertainment he gave to the world. I took some photos and we climbed back out and retraced our steps to Rome. I also have a picture of my son asleep on the bus ride back.
For those unfamiliar with his work, Leone is considered the preeminent director of Italian, or "Spaghetti" Westerns. His first three Westerns, with Clint Eastwood as The Man With no Name are called the Dollars Trilogy or the The Man With No Name Trilogy. His films were:
The Last Days of Pompei, 1959
The Colossus of Rhodes, 1961
A Fistful of Dollars, 1964
For A Few Dollars More, 1965
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1966
Once Upon a Time in the West, 1968
Duck, You Sucker ! (aka A Fistful of Dynamite), 1971
Once Upon a Time in America, 1984
Most critics feel that Once Upon a Time in the West is among the finest Westerns ever made, and that this film and Once Upon a Time in America were his crowning achievements. Beginning with the Dollars Trilogy films, the soundtracks for all of his films were composed by Ennio Morricone, a genius easily worthy of his own biography. Morricone received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and even if you aren't familiar with his name, you would recognize parts of many of his celebrated scores, now considered synonymous with Western film music, ad often used in commercials. The mind-blowing thing about Leone and Morricone is that there is a famous photograph from 1937 of a grade school class in Rome with the two of them seated nearby to one another, as if the Lord was saying, "I'm lining the two of you up for something special together in life." Years later when that plan came to fruition, Morricone remembered Leone, but Sergio didn't remember Ennio.
Quentin Tarantino, my favorite director, names Leone as his. They share a number of stylistic similarities, but both are most recognized for and most conscious of the ENTERTAINMENT value of their movies, above all other considerations. Violence is entertaining. However, it is not presented as existing without serious consequences.
In Fraling's biography, there is an unfortunate recurring theme - that one of Leone's biggest failings was giving thanks to and recognizing his collaborators. Not so much specifically with Morricone, but with many of his screenwriters and other behind-the-scenes personnel he worked with. So sad. Many of his contemporaries commented on related parts of Sergio's psyche - that first of all he lacked self-confidence and wasn't particularly well-rounded in his education, and that he compensated for these deficiencies by putting on a big show of bravado when he met people already well-entrenched in the business - actors, for example. So he often got off on the wrong foot with people he needed to work with. He also apparently had a famously inaccurate memory and told stories at dinner parties that grew over the years with each retelling.
Overall, Fraling's book is extremely well-researched, and I can't imagine anyone putting together a more complete review of his life and work. Fraling includes tons of colorful stories from his professional and personal life. However, for my purposes, a lot of the details behind his film projects were pretty tedious and dry.
Leone's father, Vincenzo directed the very first Italian film Western, La vampira indiana (The Indian Vamp) in 1913, with his wife action in it.
The story for Once Upon a Time in the West was modeled on several previous Westerns, especially Johnny Guitar and The Searchers. The Searchers and OUATITW share the famous backdrop of Monument Valley. Leone explained that for his ultimate take on the Western, he "wanted to take all the most stereotypical characters from the American Western ... The finest whore from New Orleans (Jill); the romantic bandit (Cheyenne); the killer who is half-businessman, half-killer ... (Frank); the businessman who fancies himself as a gunfighter (Morton); (and) the lone avenger (Harmonica)."
I have not yet become a fan of Once Upon a Time in America. But Frayling's story of Leone's bizarre and mysterious meetings with the writer of The Hoods, on which it is largely based, is fascinating. If you read the condensed script given in the book, it is obvious that the film would be very misogynistic. I went online to see what others thought, and that is a commonly reported criticism. However, in fairness, art is a product of its time, so I would need to see the film compared with other films of the 80's to get a relative sense of its tone before condemning Leone's vision. Elizabeth McGovern, who played a character who is raped in the movie, saw the rape scene as 1. a part of the violence of the male character involved, and 2. a part of the Italian male psyche - portraying most women as either Madonna figures or whores. I'm not sure how either of those tropes has anything to do with rape. I believe that BEYOND the rapes, the entire feel of the script is misogynistic. Leone said, "I've always made epic films, and the epic, by definition, is a masculine universe." Guess what, Sir. That excuses a script that minimizes the roles of women, not one that treats them as disposable and interchangeable.
I would summarize Frayling's take on Leone's place in film history with the following:
"The first modern cineaste to make really popular films, a bridge between 'art films' and popular cinema."
A director whose vision transformed the Western.
A major influence on many directors, most prominently Lucas, Spielberg, Scorcese, Carpenter and obviously Tarantino.
The artist behind certain iconic images and cinematic gestures, such as showdowns and duels with extreme close-ups.
For those unfamiliar with his work, Leone is considered the preeminent director of Italian, or "Spaghetti" Westerns. His first three Westerns, with Clint Eastwood as The Man With no Name are called the Dollars Trilogy or the The Man With No Name Trilogy. His films were:
The Last Days of Pompei, 1959
The Colossus of Rhodes, 1961
A Fistful of Dollars, 1964
For A Few Dollars More, 1965
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1966
Once Upon a Time in the West, 1968
Duck, You Sucker ! (aka A Fistful of Dynamite), 1971
Once Upon a Time in America, 1984
Most critics feel that Once Upon a Time in the West is among the finest Westerns ever made, and that this film and Once Upon a Time in America were his crowning achievements. Beginning with the Dollars Trilogy films, the soundtracks for all of his films were composed by Ennio Morricone, a genius easily worthy of his own biography. Morricone received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and even if you aren't familiar with his name, you would recognize parts of many of his celebrated scores, now considered synonymous with Western film music, ad often used in commercials. The mind-blowing thing about Leone and Morricone is that there is a famous photograph from 1937 of a grade school class in Rome with the two of them seated nearby to one another, as if the Lord was saying, "I'm lining the two of you up for something special together in life." Years later when that plan came to fruition, Morricone remembered Leone, but Sergio didn't remember Ennio.
Quentin Tarantino, my favorite director, names Leone as his. They share a number of stylistic similarities, but both are most recognized for and most conscious of the ENTERTAINMENT value of their movies, above all other considerations. Violence is entertaining. However, it is not presented as existing without serious consequences.
In Fraling's biography, there is an unfortunate recurring theme - that one of Leone's biggest failings was giving thanks to and recognizing his collaborators. Not so much specifically with Morricone, but with many of his screenwriters and other behind-the-scenes personnel he worked with. So sad. Many of his contemporaries commented on related parts of Sergio's psyche - that first of all he lacked self-confidence and wasn't particularly well-rounded in his education, and that he compensated for these deficiencies by putting on a big show of bravado when he met people already well-entrenched in the business - actors, for example. So he often got off on the wrong foot with people he needed to work with. He also apparently had a famously inaccurate memory and told stories at dinner parties that grew over the years with each retelling.
Overall, Fraling's book is extremely well-researched, and I can't imagine anyone putting together a more complete review of his life and work. Fraling includes tons of colorful stories from his professional and personal life. However, for my purposes, a lot of the details behind his film projects were pretty tedious and dry.
Leone's father, Vincenzo directed the very first Italian film Western, La vampira indiana (The Indian Vamp) in 1913, with his wife action in it.
The story for Once Upon a Time in the West was modeled on several previous Westerns, especially Johnny Guitar and The Searchers. The Searchers and OUATITW share the famous backdrop of Monument Valley. Leone explained that for his ultimate take on the Western, he "wanted to take all the most stereotypical characters from the American Western ... The finest whore from New Orleans (Jill); the romantic bandit (Cheyenne); the killer who is half-businessman, half-killer ... (Frank); the businessman who fancies himself as a gunfighter (Morton); (and) the lone avenger (Harmonica)."
I have not yet become a fan of Once Upon a Time in America. But Frayling's story of Leone's bizarre and mysterious meetings with the writer of The Hoods, on which it is largely based, is fascinating. If you read the condensed script given in the book, it is obvious that the film would be very misogynistic. I went online to see what others thought, and that is a commonly reported criticism. However, in fairness, art is a product of its time, so I would need to see the film compared with other films of the 80's to get a relative sense of its tone before condemning Leone's vision. Elizabeth McGovern, who played a character who is raped in the movie, saw the rape scene as 1. a part of the violence of the male character involved, and 2. a part of the Italian male psyche - portraying most women as either Madonna figures or whores. I'm not sure how either of those tropes has anything to do with rape. I believe that BEYOND the rapes, the entire feel of the script is misogynistic. Leone said, "I've always made epic films, and the epic, by definition, is a masculine universe." Guess what, Sir. That excuses a script that minimizes the roles of women, not one that treats them as disposable and interchangeable.
I would summarize Frayling's take on Leone's place in film history with the following:
"The first modern cineaste to make really popular films, a bridge between 'art films' and popular cinema."
A director whose vision transformed the Western.
A major influence on many directors, most prominently Lucas, Spielberg, Scorcese, Carpenter and obviously Tarantino.
The artist behind certain iconic images and cinematic gestures, such as showdowns and duels with extreme close-ups.
April 15, 2013
A thorough biography and critique of the great film director. The book was not hagiography - the author did not hesitate to point out Leone's faults, including poor treatment of subordinates (especially writers), tendency toward being a blowhard when entertaining dinner guests, making contradictory statements about his films, overeating, and engaging in long-running petty feuds with actors, including Clint Eastwood. I liked Eastwood's observation as to how he and Leone grew apart, that Leone kept making bigger and bigger pictures, and he, Eastwood, was making smaller ones. Also very good was how the author gave the backstory on some of the major films Leone made, and in that respect, the chapter on "Once Upon A Time In America," was wonderful. What I got from the book was that Leone thought big when it came to the movies, and was willing to risk his reputation (as well as other people's money) to do something big, even if it meant failure. The only shortcoming I found with the book was that it sometimes bogged down in detail. Highly recommend.
July 1, 2016
I can't imagine a better biography/film-criticism book being written on the great Sergio Leone and his works. Frayling's work may be too scholarly and in-depth for surface level fans, but for those who want everything to know on the life and films of one of the greatest directors to ever live than this is the place to go. Sir Christopher Frayling is the preeminent Leone scholar and a great resource on Italian cinema. He has also provided some superb and enlightening commentaries on the blu-rays of Leone's films that I recommend you go buy and watch. If your heart has swelled with delight at the strains of Ennio Morricone's off-beat soundtracks and your hands have twitched in anticipation as you watch the sweaty close ups of Almeria desert dusted strangers glare at one another, than I guarantee you will love this book.
July 28, 2012
The best book available on Sergio Leone. Frayling vividly documents the making of all Leone's classic films, as well as providing an endearing portrait of a one-of-a-kind film artist.
A one star demerit, however, because Frayling has the audacity to claim that Leone was a better director than Sam Peckinpah. Better smile when you say that, pal.
A one star demerit, however, because Frayling has the audacity to claim that Leone was a better director than Sam Peckinpah. Better smile when you say that, pal.
February 23, 2010
A job very well done by Sir Christopher Frayling. I would have liked a little more information about Sergio Leone as a person but as for the insight into the life of Sergio Leone the movie maker, you can hardly ask for more.
February 27, 2008
Sergio Leone is a master of film.
Christopher Frayling is a master of the long biography of Sergio Leone.
It shows.
Christopher Frayling is a master of the long biography of Sergio Leone.
It shows.
December 14, 2022
This is an extremely detailed account, not just of Leone's career but also a history of the Italian film industry and the cinematic influences on Leone, particularly American Westerns. The author has a huge amount of knowledge - personally, at times there was too much detail but that could easily be skipped. You certainly can't fault Frayling on the depth and breadth of his knowledge on his subject matter. Fascinating.
January 13, 2020
Un libro indispensable para los que admiramos el legado fílmico de Sergio Leone. El único detalle de la publicación española (T&B editores) es que cuenta con menos fotografías que la edición original. Sin embargo, es un mérito haber traducido y publicado esta obra en nuestro idioma.
January 12, 2019
A must-read for Leone aficionados.
April 11, 2019
Terrific book. Essential reading for any serious fan of Sergio Leone. Very entertaining and full of useful information. I found every question I had about Leone answered comprehensively.
July 4, 2023
One of my favorite books on the life and films of Sergio Leone, one of my favorite filmmakers
January 20, 2025
One of the best directors bios of all time. There are tons of great stories. My favorite chunks were all about Once Upon a Time in America.
September 2, 2015
Sergio Leone was from a past era of cinema grandeur. His was the most obvious case of style over substance...but what a style his films had. I recommend it as a read for ardent film buffs.
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