Clint Eastwood: after Sergio Leone’s trilogy
Clint Eastwood he didn’t wait for Sergio Leone to work in Hollywood. But it is undeniably thanks to the Italian director that the actor saw his career change. Already with the series Rawhide (1959-1965), the actor had demonstrated that he was at ease in the western genre. Except when Sergio Leone chose him to play For a handful of dollars (1964), it is a myth that has been created. That of the silent and mysterious hero, who will then return and for a few dollars more (1965) e The good, the bad and the ugly (1966). A trilogy anchored to the collective unconscious and a too short collaboration between the director and the actor. Lovers of the genre would surely have liked to see the duo reunite once again. And that could have been the case Hang them tall and short (1968)a somewhat forgotten film by Clint Eastwood, in the tradition of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns.
In Hang Them High, he plays Clint Eastwood Jed Cooper, a man wrongly accused of shooting a man. After being lynched, he was eventually declared innocent. Fearing that he will decide to take revenge, Judge Fenton appoints him marshal and asks him to find the men who attacked him, but within the law.
Hang them tall and shorta simple imitation of Western spaghetti?
After Clint Eastwood’s success with Sergio Leone, the actor has become an in-demand star. This is how he was able to create his own production company The Malpaso Company and have significant artistic control over his films. Hang them tall and short it was his first project with this company and he immediately had his choices. In particular to the script, to which he made some changes (such as for the hanging scene). The actor also confirmed the presence of Ted Post in the production. A man Clint Eastwood had run into Rawhideand for which he will find Go Magnum (1973).
Obviously the instruction given to the director of this television series was to reproduce Sergio Leone’s style. And this, even in music, composed by Dominic Frontiere “in the style” of Ennio Morricone. Because unfortunately for Clint Eastwood, Leone couldn’t direct it a fourth time, he was too busy Once upon a time in the West. The film was also released in the same year Hang them tall and short. And of the two we know that it is Leone’s film that remains in the memory.
However, Hang Them Up was a major box office success when it was released in theaters. And even if not all the press was enthusiastic about it (Variety”a bad American imitation of a spaghetti western“), many still recognize qualities in the film. In a desire to rehabilitate it, Screenrant for example he wrote that the film “it fits completely in a dark and revisionist style the spaghetti westerns popularized by Leone“even if he”the cinematic flair of (Italian filmmaker) is missing“.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
