Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone [Hardcover]

Christopher Frayling (Author), Autry National Center's Museum of the American West (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

In the mid-1960s an unknown Italian film director named Sergio Leone was given $200,000 and some leftover film stock, and he went to make a Western. With an American TV actor named Clint Eastwood and a script based on a samurai epic, Leone wound up creating A Fistful of Dollars, the first in a trilogy of films (with For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) that was violent, cynical, and visually stunning. Along with his later masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in the West, these films came to define the "Spaghetti Western," a genre that has influenced such contemporary filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, John Woo, and Quentin Tarantino.

Written by the preeminent Leone scholar, this is the first illustrated book to focus on his Westerns, illuminating his visual style, offbeat sense of humor, and sophisticated, elliptical way of telling stories. Augmenting the text are a wealth of visual materials, as well as interviews with Leone, Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Bernardo Bertolucci, composer Ennio Morricone, designer Carlo Simi, and others. The book accompanies an exhibition with the same title opening in July 2005 at the Autry National Center's Museum of the American West in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Of Sergio Leone (1929–1989) and his legendary spaghetti westerns, director Martin Scorsese says, "he created a new genre... a major departure for Italian cinema." Frayling's history of Leone's life and work is a testament to that creation, an all-encompassing and carefully compiled book for fans and students. Besides telling the story of Leone's rise (in 1964, he made A Fistful of Dollars on $200,000 and some leftover film stock), the book contains interviews with composer Ennio Morricone, star Clint Eastwood and Leone himself. Morricone explains that he wrote musical scores for Leone's films without a script, drawing only on the story and Leone's take on the characters. Eastwood defines Leone's westerns as operatic, and great movie villain Lee Van Cleef reveals that he turned down a role in the now classic and critically revered Once Upon a Time in the West because he didn't like the way it was written. Along with intriguing comments by writers and directors, and an essay by Leone about his idol, John Ford, this work provides visually arresting production stills, lobby cards, pictorial source sketches, costume and set designs and posters. This is a work of scholarship and depth on the Italian western and the man who pioneered it. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Sergio Leone had directed some dozen movies before his death in 1989, yet, almost entirely because of his five westerns, made between 1964 and 1971, constituting his take on an American cinematic mythology, his reputation remains lofty to this day. His second feature, A Fistful of Dollars, a violent yet humorous low-budget affair based on Kurosawa's samurai film yojimbo, became a runaway smash and launched the "spaghetti western" and the superstardom of erstwhile second-rate TV cowboy Clint Eastwood. Fistful's two sequels were even more popular, but the ambitious Once upon a Time in the West (1968) flopped when first released in studio-butchered form (later restored, it is now considered Leone's masterpiece). This book, which accompanies a Leone exhibition at the Museum of the American West (Los Angeles), offers essays on his westerns; a wealth of photos and posters; interviews with Leone, Eastwood, and others, including the director's indispensable musical collaborator, Ennio Morricone; and Leone's essay on John Ford, the only other director, perhaps, who marked the western genre as indelibly as did Leone. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810958848
• ISBN-13: 978-0810958845
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #968,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched and colorful volume on Italy's best known western genre director !, June 24, 2005

By 

P. Ferrigno "firehouse444" (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone (Hardcover)

There's no doubt that maverick Italian film director Sergio Leone deserves his place alongside other great western genre directors such as John Ford, Anthony Mann and Henry Hathaway......his operatic visual style, fast paced scripts filled with gallows humour, and filthy unshaven hero's (all filmed on shoestring budgets) breathed new life into the western film genre. This latest book on Leone and his work by British author, academic and Leone biographer, Christopher Frayling, is a sumptuous and comprehensive detailed tome that every Leone fan should have on their book shelf. ( Frayling has also written the superb "Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death" and "Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone" )

Frayling draws upon a remarkable volume of interviews that he has conducted over the past three decades to paint a picture of a visionary director who reignited interest in the western genre at a time when US studios considered cowboys only fit for low budget TV shows. As most any Leone fan could recite in his sleep, Sergio was the son of "Vincenzo Leone", one of Italy's cinematic pioneers, and in his late teens he began working as an assistant director on both European and US productions (predominantly sword and sandal films), but he then gravitated to script writing and directed his first feature film in 1959. Further influenced by the visually dynamic films of legendary Japanese director "Akira Kurosawa", Leone eventually transplanted "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro" to western settings, recruited "Rawhide" star Clint Eastwood as the nomadic uber-gunfighter, and launched a new breed of western film that was dirtier, more violent, the main characters were anti-hero's and nearly everyone got their comeuppance at the film's conclusion.

Frayling includes in-depth interviews with key actors involved in Leone's films ( Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee van Cleef, Claudia Cardinale etc ), as well as composer Ennio Morricone, writing collaborator and director Bernardo Bertolucci, US director Martin Scorsese and others. It's not hard to see how Leone's directorial & visual style has influenced many current action directors including Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriquez, John Woo and others. Additionally, this marvellous book is filled with wonderful shots from Leone's films, lobby cards, posters and storyboard art....all in all, an enthralling and entertaining volume on one of the cinema's truly remarkable directors.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sergio Spectacular!, September 6, 2005

By 

Thomas W. Flynn "Motorhead Man" (Woodside, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone (Hardcover)

Sergio Leone has long been associated with the much-maligned Spaghetti Western genre, a movie category that he did not create but one that he perfected. But his work easily transcends simple Italian Westerns. By mixing extreme close-ups with breathtaking widescreen vistas, Leone created an unmistakable style that few, if any, directors have matched. Sadly, critical reviews of his work have been few but far between. The flag bearer has always been Christopher Frayling, an English Professor of Cultural History. It's no surprise that the foremost Leone expert is an Englishman: many of Leone's films have been extensively edited, in fact butchered, when released in America. Frayling's latest, "Once Upon A Time In Italy: The Westerns Of Sergio Leone," is quite simply an essential purchase for any Leone fan. The companion volume to an exhibit at the Autry National Center's Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, this 240-page coffe table book is packed with rare photos and full-color international movie posters that will have any Leoneist drooling. And the interviews are to die for: Leone himself, Ennio Morricone, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, Claudia Cardinale, Carlo Simi, Tonini Delli Colli, Martin Scorsese and more provide a bounty of behind-the-scenes info. So it's not just a book you want to flip though time and time again, you'll want to read it cover-to-cover. Long Live Leone!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating behind the scenes history, July 15, 2005

By 

arzewski (pittsburgh, pa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone (Hardcover)

What I liked this book is the quality paper, graphic colors, high quality print, and color rendition of the retro movie posters. With intimate interviews, it also reveals the behind-the-scenes touches here and there that made this genre so different from hollywood. Included are interviews to set designers and stylists, with illustrations of sketches of sets, costumes. I was always touched by the "grunge" feel of the clothes worn by the actors, a torn shirt with holes and loose buttons, dirty boots. As one poster says: "he smokes short cigars, he has a long gun, he wears a poncho", and the interviews reveal how the "leone style" was created. Unfortunately there is no english translation of "L'avventurosa storia del cinema italiano raccontata dai suoi protagonisti" (Vol 2, 1981, Feltrinelli, F. Fofi), but this book beautifully selects the best of that time in a high-quality printed production.