Elizabeth,
You're right. I just watched the clip again. The brother kicked him. My bad. I've not seen the complete movie in years, it's never on TV.
While I'm typing, thought I'd pass on the opening scene, it's a good example of how the harmonica works in the movie, it starts off like opening from High Noon, then the train comes in, nobody gets off, so the gunfighters turn to walk off, but they hear this harmonica... It's Charles Bronson on the other side of the train playing it of course. Here's the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZpO6aNLwE
The harmonica really works well in this movie, Leone put a lot of thought in it, had the soundtrack playing on set so everybody would move to the beat, it's a really well orchestrated thing. I also read once that Henry Fonda had somebody make him brown contacts and darkened his eyebrows so he'd look like John Wilkes Booth. Leone sees him and says no, I want blue eyes, I want Henry Fonda. When people look at the screen, I want them to say "Jesus Christ, that's Henry Fonda."
I've got to get that on DVD or something and watch the whole thing again. That movie had a profound impact on me when I was a kid. I seriously wouldn't be playing harp, building harps or anything if I hadn't seen it. I remember as a kid I tried for years to play that, I never could get it, until I got a chromatic.
Dave __________ Dave Payne Sr. Elk River Harmonicas www.elkriverharmonicas.com
----- Original Message ----
From: "EGS1217@xxxxxxx" <EGS1217@xxxxxxx>
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 9:07:41 PM
Subject: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] harp movies (once upon a time in the west)
Excerpted from Dave Payne's post about "Once Upon a Time in the West"
" Finally, he tires, falls, the brother is hanged."
I always thought (and believed I just saw it again in the video clip)...that the brother with the noose around his neck while standing on his kid brother's shoulders...actually kicks him away after calling the Fonda character a 'son of a bitch'...effectively hanging himself...just so the younger brother would NOT feel responsible for his older brother's death. It made the scene for me....am I misinterpreting this?
If you hadn't brought the 'eerie' harp playing in the background to my attention, I doubt I would have realized just how much it was incorporated into the soundtrack. Thanks! Great movie...definitely worth re-visiting.
Elizabeth
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