Yankee Film Review: Difference between revisions

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''Where there's muck, there's brass'', the English proverb says, meaning that dirty business may be very lucrative. A film critic once added: ''And where's cinematographic muck, there's Tinto Brass.'' (*1). Most people only know Brass as the director of movies like ''Salon Kitty'' or ''Caligula,'' but before he turned to erotic cinema, he directed several avant-garde movies that were well-received in Italian intellectual circles. He also made two short experimental movies on visual language in collaboration with author and university professor Umberto Eco. And yes, he had also directed a spaghetti western.
''Where there's muck, there's brass'', the English proverb says, meaning that dirty business may be very lucrative. A film critic once added: ''And where's cinematographic muck, there's Tinto Brass.'' (*1). Most people only know Brass as the director of movies like ''Salon Kitty'' or ''Caligula,'' but before he turned to erotic cinema, he directed several avant-garde movies that were well-received in Italian intellectual circles. He also made two short experimental movies on visual language in collaboration with author and university professor Umberto Eco. And yes, he had also directed a spaghetti western.


For those who thought that a western directed by Brass could only be something completely out of the ordinary, Yankee might be a disappointment. Thematically it's an odd-looking, but otherwise unexceptional variation on the [[Per un pugno di dollari|A Fistful of Dollars]] formula. French actor Philippe Leroy is the proverbial stranger in town who smells money when he's told - by the local gravedigger - about a man called The Great Concho, a megalomaniac bandit who has supreme power over the region. Concho is living in his private palace, a church no longer required for public worship, surrounded by an army of henchman. In the sheriff's office, the stranger notices that Concho and his men all have a price on their head and therefore represent a fortune. The Yankee concocts a scheme to eliminate them all, and collect all the bounties.  
For those who thought that a western directed by Brass could only be something completely out of the ordinary, Yankee might be a disappointment. Thematically it's a ''not-so-special'' variation on the [[Per un pugno di dollari|A Fistful of Dollars]] formula. French actor Philippe Leroy is the proverbial stranger in town who smells money when he's told - by the local gravedigger - about a man called The Great Concho, a megalomaniac bandit who has supreme power over the region. Concho is living in his private palace, a church no longer required for public worship, surrounded by an army of henchman. In the sheriff's office, the stranger notices that Concho and his men all have a price on their head and therefore represent a fortune. The Yankee concocts a scheme to eliminate them all, and collect all the bounties.  


That's the movie we know, but apparently not the movie Brass had in mind. His material was taken away from him and re-edited by the producers to make the whole thing look more like a spaghetti western à la Leone. Brass acknowledged in various interviews that he was influenced by the paintings of Dali and De Chirico and the psychedelic fumetti, Italian comics, by Guido Crepax (*2). he had also wanted to construct his movie like a bullfight, with Leroy in the role of the torero teasing and agonizing his victim before giving him the estocada, the pierce through the heart. In spite of the producers decision to interfere, some of his original intensions still shine through: the action scenes are marked by the rapid editing techniques of Brass' experimental movies and many scenes - especially those in the church - breathe a certain psychedelic atmosphere.  
That's the movie we know, but apparently not the movie Brass had in mind. His material was taken away from him and re-edited by the producers to make the whole thing look more like a spaghetti western à la Leone. Brass acknowledged in various interviews that he was influenced by the paintings of Dali and De Chirico and the psychedelic fumetti, Italian comics, by Guido Crepax (*2). he had also wanted to construct his movie like a bullfight, with Leroy in the role of the torero teasing and agonizing his victim before giving him the estocada, the pierce through the heart. In spite of the producers decision to interfere, some of his original intensions still shine through: the action scenes are marked by the rapid editing techniques of Brass' experimental movies and many scenes - especially those in the church - breathe a certain psychedelic atmosphere.  

Revision as of 16:36, 10 February 2018

Where there's muck, there's brass, the English proverb says, meaning that dirty business may be very lucrative. A film critic once added: And where's cinematographic muck, there's Tinto Brass. (*1). Most people only know Brass as the director of movies like Salon Kitty or Caligula, but before he turned to erotic cinema, he directed several avant-garde movies that were well-received in Italian intellectual circles. He also made two short experimental movies on visual language in collaboration with author and university professor Umberto Eco. And yes, he had also directed a spaghetti western.

For those who thought that a western directed by Brass could only be something completely out of the ordinary, Yankee might be a disappointment. Thematically it's a not-so-special variation on the A Fistful of Dollars formula. French actor Philippe Leroy is the proverbial stranger in town who smells money when he's told - by the local gravedigger - about a man called The Great Concho, a megalomaniac bandit who has supreme power over the region. Concho is living in his private palace, a church no longer required for public worship, surrounded by an army of henchman. In the sheriff's office, the stranger notices that Concho and his men all have a price on their head and therefore represent a fortune. The Yankee concocts a scheme to eliminate them all, and collect all the bounties.

That's the movie we know, but apparently not the movie Brass had in mind. His material was taken away from him and re-edited by the producers to make the whole thing look more like a spaghetti western à la Leone. Brass acknowledged in various interviews that he was influenced by the paintings of Dali and De Chirico and the psychedelic fumetti, Italian comics, by Guido Crepax (*2). he had also wanted to construct his movie like a bullfight, with Leroy in the role of the torero teasing and agonizing his victim before giving him the estocada, the pierce through the heart. In spite of the producers decision to interfere, some of his original intensions still shine through: the action scenes are marked by the rapid editing techniques of Brass' experimental movies and many scenes - especially those in the church - breathe a certain psychedelic atmosphere.

Brass' editing techniques and unusual framing (often showing only one eye of a character) make up for a familiar storyline. Initially his western is a bit too talkative, but the action picks up in the second half with a series of brisk action moments and some grotesque imagery. Concho's girlfriend (Mirella Martin) is tied naked to a totem pole and Leroy is symbolically crucified on a wheel of fire (no, Johnny Cash does not perform the theme song). Leroy is not very convincing as the stranger, but Celi is quite remarkable as the villainous Concho, a cross between the traditional Sancho type of buoyant Mexican bandit, a Mafia Don and a depraved Roman emperor.

Notes:

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