director: Sergio
Leone
starring: Rory Calhoun · Lea Massari · Georges Marchal · Conrad San
Martin · Angel Aranda
Sergio
Leone was arguably the best director to emerge from Italy's Golden Cinema
Period. His Man
With No Name Spaghetti Western series was landmark cinema and
ONCE
UPON A TIME IN THE WEST may be the greatest western ever made.
Since both of his parents were successful in Italy's movie industry,
he found work at an early age. Between 1946-61, Sergio was an assistant
director to numerous filmmakers, both American and European. He worked
on 35+ films, including Quo Vadis (1951), Helen of Troy
(1956), Ben-Hur (1959) and Sodom and Gomorrah (1961),
before receiving the green light for his own production.
Mr
Leone was always enamored with American cowboy stars and jumped at the
chance of signing Rory Calhoun (fresh from the US TV series 'The Texan'
[1958-1960]) as the leading man for his sprawling COLOSSUS OF RHODES.
The film turned into a massive spectacle, clocking in at over two hours,
with a cast of (literally) thousands, and an enormous budget. This story
of rebel groups attempting to overthrow a corrupt ruler in ancient Rhodes
found much success at the International box office, allowing Sergio Leone
to make the type of film he really wanted to make... a western, FISTFUL
OF DOLLARS.
After
only 11 films, Sergio Leone died from a heart attack at age 60 in April
of 1989.
An
Italian production in English language; widescreen format, totally uncut
version (128 min.), DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC, playable on any American
machine. Extras include theatrical trailer.
