Sergio Leone's renown as a filmmaker rests upon a fistful of films, most notably the three Westerns he made with Clint Eastwood in the mid-1960s: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). While the success of these movies ensured Leone's reputation would endure, the few films he made following The Man with No Name Trilogy—culminating in his American gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America (1984) with Robert DeNiro—would solidify Leone's place as one of the great visionaries of his time. In this enhanced revision of Once upon a Time: The Films of Sergio Leone, Robert C. Cumbow examines the work of this Italian filmmaker who made his mark re-envisioning the American Western. This volume includes a greatly expanded introduction and contains newly revised essays in which Cumbow analyzes the transition from "peplum" films to westerns in the Italian popular tradition. The book also examines each of Leone's major films as director, as well as the swan song Italian Western My Name Is Nobody, which Leone co-wrote and guided as producer. Cumbow also studies Leone's compositional style and the influence of Catholicism and the Italian grand opera tradition on his work. He provides a critical evaluation of Leone's style in reshaping the Western genre (and later, the crime film), as well an assessment of the influences on Leone's work, and his continuing impact on subsequent generations of film makers. Additional features of this book include thumbnail comments on the professionals who most frequently made up Leone's cast and crew, as well as an entire chapter devoted to composer Ennio Morricone. The book also includes an exhaustive bibliography, discography, and filmography, completely updated for this new edition. For fans and scholars seeking original and illuminating discussion of his work, The Films of Sergio Leone provides a critical appreciation of this master stylist.

Spectacle, myth, fable - these words instantly leap to mind when considering director Sergio Leone's celebrated films. His popularization of the Spaghetti Western genre, through works like A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), continues to have a profound impact on filmmakers worldwide. In this exciting new study, Italian film scholar Christian Uva explores a side of Leone's works rarely before discussed: the political. Grappling with the contradictions between Leone's politically critical cinematic eye and his aversion to ideological classification, Sergio Leone: Cinema as Political Fable makes sense of how the director's internal political tensions shaped the radical themes of his Western fables. Looking at Leone and his films through a number of lenses, the book examines the elements of Italian history and identity interwoven in the director's stories, provides cultural context for a career spanning from Italy's fascist regime to Leone's death in 1989, and discusses the influences that formed Leone's directorial identity. Uva focuses in particular on the postmodernist theory behind Leone's works, revealing the critical basis of his stylistic and narrative innovations and newly analyzing the most iconic sequences from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967), Duck, You Sucker (1971), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). An admirably thorough take on the man and his works, Sergio Leone: Cinema as Political Fable provides fresh perspective on a director long-established in cinema canon.

Few directors are characterized by both extraordinary film craft and the ironic reputation for lowbrow films. Despite his many achievements as a child of the Italian Cinecitta studios, however, Sergio Leone has been judged severely by writers who find his films lacking in ideas and moralists who find his films unduly cynical. Nevertheless, Leone's greatest cinematic achievement, Once Upon a Time in the West, served to refute these criticisms while exposing the director's unique romanticism and artistic ambition. As Leone's fourth successful American western film, Once Upon a Time in the West earned him acclaim for liberating the western genre, restoring it to a place of antique American simplicity. The principal goal of this book is to sharpen an appreciation for Sergio Leone and his most famous American western. The first two chapters deal with the relationship between Once Upon a Time in the West and the western films that preceded it, particularly those of John Ford. Subsequent chapters concentrate on the central characters of Once Upon a Time in the West, with special attention to Jill, Leone's first female protagonist and a surprisingly successful character, central to the plot and accorded a kind of existential strength usually reserved for men in Westerns. The sixth, seventh and eighth chapters address Leone's visual style, which represents a unique fusion of Hollywood classicism and modernism, and reveals the influences of Italian Surrealism and the French New Wave. The final chapters explore the rhythm, romanticism, and musical character of Once Upon a Time in the West, espousing the theory that Leone's approach to film is, above all, musical.

Almost everything you need to know about Sergio Leone in one handy volume. Presents an analysis of each of his films and discusses his influence on his contemporaries and the film-makers who came after him - all at a bargain price.

The great American Western would never be the same after Italian director Sergio Leones spaghetti-western revolution.

Each entry contains information, lists of cast and crew, a select bibliography and an essay by a specialist in the field. Many include a still shot.

"Italian cinema is regarded as one of the great pillars of world cinema. Films like Ladri di biciclette (1948), La dolce vita (1960), and Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988) attracted unprecedented international acclaim and a reputation, which only continue to grow. Italian cinema has produced such acting legends as Sophia Loren and Roberto Benigni, as well as world-renowned filmmakers like Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Lina Wertmuller, the first woman to ever be nominated for the Best Director award." "The Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema provides a better understanding of the role Italian cinema has played in film history through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, appendixes, black--white photos, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on actors, actresses, movies, producers, organizations, awards, film credits, and terminology."--BOOK JACKET.