In the snowy Utah winter of 1898, bounty hunters from all over the United States gather to hunt down a large group of outlaws hiding in the mountains. Dead or alive means preferably dead in this context. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski are both part of the hunt, but they have completely different motives. The interplay between the two character actors, Trintignant and Kinski, works excellently despite the fact that one is mute, where they are both ice-cold killers locked into rigid codes of honour.
With The Great Silence, Sergio Corbucci demonstrates his masterful grasp of a genre he himself insisted he hated, even though he was behind some of the genre's most important works. Besides this one, he made Django (1966), The Mercenary (1968) and Companeros (1970), among others. In The Great Silence, he set the action in a snowy landscape, unlike most other Italian westerns, and he stated that the film's dark mood was inspired by the news of Che Guevara's death just before filming began.
The American distributor was very unhappy with the ending and refused to distribute the film. Here at home, it was stopped by the Norwegian censors, even after two reviews, the conclusion was ‘Treacherous’. As a result, perhaps the finest moment of the Italian western with music by Ennio Morricone was never shown in cinemas in Norway. In retrospect, it is considered one of the pivotal spaghetti westerns and has inspired many filmmakers. Quentin Tarantino and his Hateful 8 are, of course, best known, while in Japan a 26-episode samurai series Oshi samurai was made: Kiichi Hôgan (Mute samurai, 1973/74) starring the incredible Tomisaburô Wakayama as Trintigant.
Restored copy
The restoration of The Great Silence was carried out under the auspices of Cineteca Nazionale. It is based on negatives owned by Movietime, and the work was carried out by the laboratories Augustus Color and Studio Cine in Rome.
Running time 1h 55m (115 minutes)
Original title: Il grande silenzio
Italy/France, 1969
Director: Sergio Corbucci
Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Vonetta McGee, Frank Wolff
Italian voice, English subtitles
Age limit 15 years
Tickets are sold at Odeon Kino Stavanger