"God's Not On Our Side Because He Hates Idiots Also..."

The final member of  Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Il buono, Il brutto, Il cattivo, 1966) cast, "Blonde" aka. the infamous Man With No Name (Though he's called "Joe" in Fistful by the coffin maker, and "Manco"("The Monk") by one of the lawmen in For a Few...), Clint Eastwood.

"Even a Filthy Beggar Like that Has Got a Protecting Angel..."

Continuing in reverse order: Lee Van Cleef as "Angel Eyes"/Sentenza whose icy cool badness is, to me, the only thing  Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Il buono, Il brutto, Il cattivo, 1966) needed more of.

"One B@stard Goes In, and Another Comes Out!"

In keeping with the Western theme, I had nearly forgotten that I'd been commissioned to do a series based on Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Il buono, Il brutto, Il cattivo, 1966)  as a Chrismas gift.  We're going in reverse order, starting with Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez ("...also known as The Rat") played by all-time great Eli Wallach.

"Here We Go, Mama..."

Our final Once Upon a Time in the West gunfighter is the great Woody Strode. Strode's career in the limelight began as a world class college athlete in track and field and football at UCLA. He would go on to play some professional football before an injury would lead to a brief stint in professional wrestling.  Strode's early screen time as an extra soon turned to small roles before he landed two of his most memorable roles: Sergeant Rutledge in the John Ford Western of the same name, and as Draba the gladiator in Kubrick's Spartacus. But in Europe, Leone had given him his first close-ups on screen, and actively helped Strode build a very successful career in European films. On a trivia note, the Native American woman at the train station in the opening sequence with Strode was played by his wife, Hawaiian princess Luukialuana "Luana" Kalaeloa.

"...Looks like We're Shy One Horse."

This week's second facial landscape belongs to one of the Hollywood's most recognizable character actors, Jack Elam. Elam had a fifty year career in front of the camera, and is probably best known for his appearance in a wide variety of Western films and television shows. His trademark was a wonky left eye which he was blind in that was the result of a childhood fight. As Once Upon a Time in the West was the closest Leone ever came to a Hollywood western, it would make sense why he'd hire Elam, already a 20+ year acting veteran,  to play the leader of the men who meet Harmonica at the film's opening.

Waiting for a Man with a Harmonica...

One of Sergio Leone's trademarks was using faces as landscapes, and so this week, I decided to do some up-close portraits in that tradition using the three men from the opening to Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West, 1968).

First up was Canadian actor Al Mulock.  Mulock was used twice in the extreme close-up category by Leone. In the The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, 1966), Mulock's is the first face that swims into view against a deserted landscape.  Unfortunately, in Once Upon a Time, Mulock did not finish his part of the opening as he committed suicide before the shoot was over, and is covered by a double in many of the wide shots.

Have a Good Funeral, My Friends! Sartana is Paying!

Our final Spagetti Western drawing for this week is a quiet moment out on the porch with Sartana, one of Euro-cinema's gunslinging legends.  The character originated with and was played four out of five times in the official canon by the great Gianni Garko (and once by smiling George Hilton...who's still not my favorite, but for whom my opinion has softened over time).  While he started out as a more standard hero, Sartana soon became a seemingly omniscient angel of vengeance as the films rolled out, and his arsenal of bizarre weaponry developed with him. (Some genre critics claim similarity to Bond, but I saw it more like the makeshift weaponry of the Lone Wolf and Cub series.)  Naturally, like Django, Sartana was also featured in a host of knock-offs and the usual character dub-jobs (ie. since all Spaghettis were shot without sound, when they dubbed in the voice, they'd just call the lead "Django" or "Sartana" whether they had any similarity to Nero or Garko or not).  If you can track them down, the series is an awfully good time...though don't save George's lone outing for last...stick with Garko.

La Resa Dei Conti

With the sun shining bright and summer in full force, it's well nigh time for Spaghetti Western Week!

We kick things off with a drawing of Tomas Milian as Cuchillo. The character appeared in two films by Sergio Sollima: The Big Gundown (aka. La resa dei conti, 1966) and Run Man Run! (Corri uomo corri!, 1968).  Gundown is easily considered one of the tops of the genre (if you're gonna watch it, you gotta track down the uncut version), although all three of Sollima's westerns are very well regarded (Face to Face (Faccia a Faccia) 1967, is probably my personal favorite.).  I believe the above was drawn from a publicity still for Run Man Run!

The Many B-List Sartanas...

Many spaghetti westerns had their titles and dialogue re-dubbed to turn their heroes into so many Djangos and Sartanas. This quickie was from a screen-grab I made from the '71 entry Django Defies Sartana, which was perhaps the weakest title of the knock-offs though a slightly better movie than many of them. There's simply no beating One Damned Day at Dawn...Django meets Sartana for title umph. Much like there's no beating Gianni Garko, the original and best Sartana. Perhaps I should be drawing him instead...

Per un Pugno...of sketches

A pair of li'l quickies. Quick brush pen sketch of directing great Sergio Leone. Then a parallel pen of Mark Damon. I was just trying some quick technique things out, and figured some spaghetti would do the trick.