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Once Upon a Time: The Films of Sergio Leone

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One sadly cannot say that about many books concerning films or filmmakers.I am glad to say that this book is a glorious exception.Mr Cumbow is quite unlike the majority of movie intellectuals who are often are in love with the sound of their own jargon,actual and pseudo.There is no doubt that "Once Upon A Time" is the definitive work so far on the films of Sergio Leone.

Though envied for his innovative and daring shot compositions and characterizations,Sergio Leone was often dismissed as a revisionist and exploitation artist,at the same time a certain British director called Alfred Hitchcock was recovering from similar allegations.Often both their films were dismissed as pulp,in Hitchcocks case,B movies with A stars.However myopic reviewers often crippled by a misguided sense of moralism invariably miss the rich subtexts and simmering tensions sexual,social and various others just as interesting.Dario Argento was often referred to as the Italian Hitchcock.Argento was flattered but dismissed the remark by noting that he "I am Latin and my films are more passionate." Not to indulge in Victorian era style racial stereotyping but Argento is correct.He does find it difficult to disguise and conceal his rage,fears,passions and nightmares that make his films so gloriously over the top yet haunting and hypnotic.

Similarly Sergio Leone's closest description would be a Latin John Ford.John Ford also did not shy away from morally ambiguous men.But Leone took it a step further and seemed to have celebrated and exaggerated their persona to the extent that their every trivial mannerism which often were personally created by Leone is dramatic, executed with panache and almost Biblical grandeur .Dont let the Beat Takeshiesque poker faces fool you,an undercurrent of excitement and nervous energy are not the only things that simmer underneath.

The reason I mention all these things is that I cannot imagine that a person whose intellect and perception any less formidable than Cumbow's to do justice to these films and flesh out the characters in all their breathtaking mythical persona complete with often tragic flaws and their reaction to the rugged world(not just geographically!) around them.We see why and how Leone chose his gorgeous ,macho compositons and why he moved the camera in the scene in the graveyard with Eli Wallach in THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY atleast 10 years before Martin Scorsese. Courtesy of Cumbow ,we know Leone inside and out and how his Catholicism,misogyny,the silent film background of his father ironically coupled with the operatic heritage of Italy,his personal jaundiced view of the world and humanity are so inseperable from his films.Indeed many complained the Jewish gangsters in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA look Catholic.It doesnt matter as Mr. Cumbow points out,not just the Jewish but even the gangsters in that film are window dressing for something that even more terrifying than the gangsters themselves,that is the omnipresent sense of doom that permeates the film wearing down your resistance much quickly than the "Spinal Tap" scene in THE EXORCIST.Cumbow reveals so many deciets, intrigues and other subtexts you missed in his films that you will be scratching your head with wonder and awe at the mastery and depth of Leone and the insight and perception of Cumbow.If nothing else this book should nay will make you enjoy Leone's films on levels you never thought you could!Its well worth it!