The Great Silence (1968)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Great Silence (1968) – S. Corbucci

Wintry Spaghetti Western (that takes place in “Utah” in 1898) featuring Jean-Louis Trintignant (what a career!) as a mute gunfighter (Silence) with a vendetta against bounty hunters working within a cruel law (soon to be rescinded) that allows them to massacre “outlaws” wanted dead or alive.  Klaus Kinski plays the most devious and brutal of the bounty hunters (called Tigrero in the subtitled Italian version I watched, but Loco elsewhere), piling up corpses for the hefty reward money. The new sheriff in town (Frank Wolff) sympathises with the ragtag group of outlaws hiding in the hills just outside of Snow Hill and finds a way to arrest Kinski, with plans to transport him to a larger prison. Meanwhile, Pauline (Vonetta McGee), widow of a recently killed outlaw, solicits Silence’s help in getting revenge.  We already know he’s the fastest gun in the area, encouraging the bad bounty hunters to draw first so he can kill them in self-defence. Eventually, there’s a showdown.  Ennio Morricone’s score really adds to the action, heightening those trudges through the deep snow (on foot or on steed) and cinematic vistas (matched by the many huge head close-ups that director Sergio Corbucci favours). The ending is astonishing but historically accurate (I think).  Moody and somehow majestic.