WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.720 Hey, this is Emily sowderback of Scarecrow Videos Viva Physical Media. 2 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:05.599 All right, this is Matt Lynch, co host of Viva 3 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:08.359 the Projection Booth. Podcast is sponsored by Scarecrow. 4 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.480 Try out Scarecrow Videos rant by mail service. Choose from 5 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:14.519 over one hundred and fifty five thousand films and get 6 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.960 Blu rays, four k's and DVDs all delivered directly to 7 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:18.399 your door. 8 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:25.440 Visit Scarecrow video dot Org. Today. 9 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:28.559 Oh ye is boot It showtime. 10 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:31.199 People say good money to see this movie. 11 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:32.759 When they go out to a theater. 12 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:36.799 They want cold sodas, hot popcorn, and no monsters in 13 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:37.920 the projection booths. 14 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.799 Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring. 15 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:16.680 But I see my man who killed my friend, and 16 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:18.599 when we leave my life to. 17 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:19.799 Me and. 18 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:25.040 My lave debils, Oh my god, I got the spells. 19 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:28.359 So the lad with the rope and the con arkay. 20 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:36.040 Manuel Rasoulo solon the belad jo a bandonatos plaucinante desert 21 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:44.200 Jo went to Rosso di Bandon called Aviva di recording 22 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:57.799 my Calcunese open. I got a quick. 23 00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:01.280 Sure that you should Christia party. 24 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:09.039 Manuel Sierra Moso iquando pa Sava Manuel. Due to the west, 25 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:29.919 diventava only manso, Jimmy Terro, sent sacrogyn not you Brenda 26 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:37.680 leg man arabamo michuen avalta nover like la prendia, call 27 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:55.159 the forts, sabeva, sapeva king willa, sparapacha Churchill appendly around 28 00:02:55.240 --> 00:03:11.199 jocoda study and solo warm of controverting my chair demento Maria, 29 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:14.919 are you tom. 30 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:20.800 Chatters por poor I started same prey to my stir. 31 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.960 On you recommen. 32 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:28.560 H per primo. 33 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:34.719 Don't be a primary relator se per primo no non 34 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:44.800 perseded or divendicta era will cause a dip can speak 35 00:03:44.879 --> 00:04:03.879 javados are acculpi one or my non cherape tempo nonchera 36 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:23.839 tari chera solo tem popoi unacorda pronta tender bunabara pronta 37 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:33.240 black wanna say called pronta judicari monser too pronto on 38 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:36.319 grande Jimmy Terro, san. 39 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:52.279 Sacro, Welcome to the projection booth. I'm your host. Mike 40 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.519 White joined me once again as mister orange Eye. 41 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:57.199 Hi Mike, thank you so much, really glad to be here. 42 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.360 Also back in the booth is Professor Richard I Words 43 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:04.480 Thanks Mike, we continue a month looking at westerns with 44 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.319 one that came out the same year as The Wild 45 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.639 Bunch but has a very different feel. It's Robert Hossain 46 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:14.439 Cemetery Without Crosses, also known as Unacorde Unkult. The film 47 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:18.360 stars Hossein as Manuel, a mysterious figure who gets hired 48 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.680 by the widow of Eli Kin, who was killed by 49 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.360 cattle rancher Will Rogers, yes Will Rogers, while his brother 50 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.319 is Rome Free. We will be spoiling this film as 51 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:28.959 we go along, so if you don't want anything we ruin, 52 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:31.240 turn off the podcast and come back after you've seen 53 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:33.480 the film. There's a great release of it from Arrow. 54 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.120 So Rich, when was the first time you saw a 55 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:38.319 Cemetery without Crosses and what did you think? 56 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:40.759 So, I actually saw it for the first time in 57 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:44.639 preparation for this podcast, prior to you reaching out to 58 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:49.319 record this episode. I actually was not familiar with this film. 59 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.519 I was very thrilled to come across it, and I 60 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:57.000 really enjoyed it very much, and I'm going to really 61 00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:59.480 enjoy talking about it with you and Orrin. 62 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.319 I'm going to break rink a little bit here and 63 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:06.639 say how I saw it the first time. Also similar circumstances. 64 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.759 What was it two years ago? At newarkhan out in 65 00:06:09.879 --> 00:06:14.040 Palm Springs the first Palm Springs Nwar khan Orn presented 66 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.879 kind of a talk on Hossein and showed us a 67 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.360 film of his and I said, hey, guys, let's get 68 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:23.680 together and talk about another one of his films. And 69 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:27.360 I'd always wanted to see cemetery without crosses, so this 70 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.120 was a great opportunity. But yeah, orin, when was the 71 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:31.720 first time you ran across this one? 72 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:34.959 That's cool. I'm glad to have opened it up. After 73 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.399 I finished college. This was around five. I think I 74 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:43.480 had nothing to do, and I basically watched like three 75 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:46.040 spaghetti westerns a day for a long time, and I 76 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:48.720 think I went through like one hundred and thirty. They 77 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:50.879 all started merging at one point and you just feel 78 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:53.480 like you're watching the same movie again and again. And 79 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:56.920 Cemetery of that cross has really stuck with me. I 80 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:00.920 did not know anything about Hossein up and field really 81 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:04.040 three or four years ago, but at that point I 82 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:07.199 just knew that it was different than any spaghetti western 83 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:09.680 I have watched. I'm not even sure that I realized 84 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:13.040 it was a French production at that point, but it 85 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:16.959 stuck with me enough to actually take some frames from 86 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:20.360 it into my mood boards when I was a Frontier, 87 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.480 and so there's actually a few shots in Frontier that 88 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:26.160 I can now see in Cemetery without Crosses, which is funny. 89 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:29.720 I am not sure even when I started watching Hossein's 90 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:33.120 movie was recently if I at first realized it was 91 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:35.240 the same person who did Cemetery without Crosses, And I 92 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:38.639 think I only after watching one I realized, oh, that's him. 93 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:43.319 Yeah, Hussein is a fascinating guy. I think I was 94 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:47.160 probably most familiar with him before two years ago, just 95 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:51.560 with his little role in Raffifi, And don't know if 96 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:54.399 I had really seen him in much else, because he 97 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:58.079 was first and foremost an actor and then came into 98 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:03.879 direct it. And it was what like nineteen fifty five 99 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:07.639 all the way to nineteen seventy where he was just 100 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:10.759 cranking out a lot of movies and then went on 101 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:12.199 a hiatus for a while. 102 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:15.959 He moved from movies to the theater. He started in 103 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:18.720 theater and then he started making movies, and in nineteen 104 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:21.959 seventy he switched to the theater. Back to the theater, 105 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:26.199 and he became one of Francis's biggest theater directors. He 106 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:30.240 was doing really huge productions, like massive, almost like Broadway 107 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:30.959 like productions. 108 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:34.519 On stage, he was known for doing Late Miss Arab 109 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:36.720 right or was that just the film. 110 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:38.679 He did the movie of Lame Miss Rob. I'm not 111 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:40.639 sure if he did the play. He might have. I 112 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:44.440 know he did like Battleship of Tempkin on stage for example. 113 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:46.360 This is like fast forwarding a lot. But he also 114 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:51.399 discovered Isabella Johnny had he had an acting school like 115 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:54.360 a theater school, and he literally picked Isabella Johnny from 116 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:56.679 the street. He saw her with her parents and he 117 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:59.000 was like, you should come to my theater school. I 118 00:08:59.080 --> 00:09:02.399 think he might have also so directed Isabelle operez first play. 119 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:04.480 I'm not a hundred percent sure. I think I've read that. 120 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.320 And then he made a few more movies later on, 121 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.919 but he definitely spent spent He spent all this time 122 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.840 acting as well. He was in many movies. I'm sure 123 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:15.320 you've seen him in more movies as an actor. 124 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:20.799 This is an interesting film insofar as it is very offbeat. 125 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:27.120 I've seen it compared to al Topo or Matalo, the 126 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:31.679 acid Westerns. I don't think this is as far out 127 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:34.480 as those westerns are. It doesn't feel like any of 128 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:39.159 our characters are dead or prophets, or there's not a 129 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:42.679 whole lot of religious aspect to this, which I think 130 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:45.600 both of those other films have. I still haven't seen 131 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:49.320 things like Zachary and some of the other acid westerns, 132 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:51.840 but this definitely has a different feel to it, and 133 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:56.799 it's highly indebted to Sergio Leone. He dedicates the film 134 00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:00.240 to Leone, but I don't necessarily even see that much 135 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.559 Leone in this film, even though he allegedly directed one 136 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:05.759 of the scenes in it allegedly. 137 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:08.279 Can not really be proven. And I've heard two different 138 00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:10.639 stories about how it happened. There's a French book where 139 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:14.120 they say that what happened was that Josein needed to 140 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:17.799 leave for something in France and he was terrified of flying. 141 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:20.000 I guess he was notoriously terrified of flying, so he 142 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:21.919 had a drive or take a train and he took 143 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.279 a long time, and he tapped Leoni in to come 144 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:27.519 in and direct a couple of scenes. But the scenes 145 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:31.440 Leoni supposedly one of the scenes he supposedly directed is 146 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:35.200 a scene with Hosein in it, So that story makes 147 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:37.840 no sense. So I don't really know how it happened 148 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:38.960 and if it really happened. 149 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:41.440 Yeah, that does cast some doubt on there. And then 150 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:44.639 there's also a whole thing about Dario Argento having a 151 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:48.720 writing credit. From what I understand, he didn't necessarily write 152 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:50.879 the movie, but he might have helped out with the 153 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:53.080 Italian dub dialogue. 154 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:54.480 Is that you're understanding as well. 155 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:57.399 That would be my understanding, and I think that would 156 00:10:57.399 --> 00:11:03.399 be the most logical explanation, because I honestly, listen, I 157 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:06.480 love Argento. He's great, but he's Argenta. It's not really 158 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:09.120 a writer, he's a director. I think this movie is 159 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:12.720 better written than most of Argento's writing. 160 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.000 Yeah, I always wonder how much he brought to the 161 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:16.720 party when it came to Once Upon a Time in 162 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:19.360 the West, because I think he's got a co writing 163 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:20.600 credit on that one as well. 164 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:23.559 That is true. I don't Yeah, I don't know. I mean, 165 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.919 we can never really know. I know, people talk about Hossein, 166 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:29.000 Where's is the Black Glove? And people are like, oh, 167 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:31.960 ur Gentle the Glove, But I'm like, this is years 168 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.559 before ar Gentle meta movie. It's just not I just 169 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:38.519 don't know that it's really I feel like it's just 170 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:39.600 looking for stuff. 171 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:42.840 I would not call this a proto Giallo just because 172 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.080 Hossein puts on a black glove before he commits acts 173 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:46.679 of violence. 174 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.320 I think to what you were saying regarding how it's 175 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:55.440 not exactly like the other acid westerns or kind of 176 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:58.480 hard to place within that genre, I think one of 177 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:02.240 the reasons is for me past after having gone through 178 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:07.200 Hussein's essentially full filmography up until nineteen seventy, I think 179 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.720 this movie is much more corresponds much more with his 180 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:14.600 filmography and which is predominantly a noir filmography, than with 181 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:15.679 westerns as a genre. 182 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:19.440 Even when it came to his earlier western, the taste 183 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:23.759 of violence that felt much more like a noir, especially 184 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:26.919 the black and white photography helps to give that feel 185 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.080 to it as well. I was just so happy in 186 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:31.600 that earlier film to see Mario Adorf, who we're going 187 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:33.440 to talk a lot more about next week when we 188 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:37.159 discussed Deadlock. But that was a lot of fun the 189 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.799 taste of violence as well. And this one i've read 190 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:43.720 it starts in black and white. The version I saw 191 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.639 it does not start in black and white, but it 192 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:49.159 is very muted. It's more I would almost say like 193 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:52.320 a not necessarily a CPA tone. We're not doing any 194 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:56.039 sort of like colorization like a lemonade jail or something, 195 00:12:56.200 --> 00:12:59.759 but it just feels very drained of colors, feels very drab, 196 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:03.519 like a light lighter browns, and then the color does 197 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:06.279 come back into it as we move into the movie 198 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:10.360 about what maybe five minutes in. I'm always fascinated by 199 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:13.879 how spaghetti westerns start, and just having this one start 200 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:18.159 with a horse chase very interestingly shot too, where you've 201 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:21.639 got like POV shots chasing these guys. You've got the 202 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.480 three brothers who are on the run from the Rogers Klan, 203 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:29.240 and just setting up this tension right away, giving us 204 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:33.600 these three guys and then taking us to the one 205 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:39.279 is definitely dying Eli and he moves over and there's 206 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:42.679 his ranch right there and his wife, and we get 207 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:46.960 his whole lynching. We get the hanging, very well shot 208 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:49.279 hanging scene. I really like the way that they did 209 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:53.000 that and just putting her on this path to revenge, 210 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.000 and I like that she uses her husband's share of 211 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:59.840 the money from the gig that the he and his 212 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.919 brothers just pulled. What is the whole story? There was 213 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:06.559 a crime but they're the criminals, right. It feels like 214 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.279 the Rogers people had every right in the world to 215 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:10.120 kill these guys. 216 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:15.480 I'm not sure that I have definitive answer on what 217 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:20.279 the crime was, because I actually like the deliberate ambiguity 218 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:26.120 of it. I don't feel Whossan really was trying to 219 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:29.840 put his thumb on the scale, and it really is 220 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.519 hard to tell who the heroes and the villains are 221 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:38.559 in this piece, and I like that intentional blurring of 222 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:45.919 the narrative. What I loved about the opening is I'm 223 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.559 a fan of films that just drop us right into 224 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:52.559 the action. You don't really have to know much about 225 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:58.120 Western mythology to begin to make sense of the very 226 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:03.159 kinetic cinematography that starts it. We have no idea who's 227 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:06.600 chasing who. It appears to be that there's this gang 228 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:10.279 going after these two other writers who are in the 229 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.840 lead pack, and there's one person who appears to be 230 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:17.600 ailing on a third horse. But what I really like 231 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:23.080 is that a lot of the cinematography is shot towards 232 00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:27.240 the purstsuit, not towards the destination, So you actually have 233 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:31.399 no idea in the pre credit sequence where any of 234 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:37.240 this is headed. And I really felt that really established 235 00:15:37.480 --> 00:15:41.840 that this isn't going to necessarily be a story about 236 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.399 any particular destination, and in fact, this probably will be 237 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.639 a film that has no final destination, because, as you 238 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:53.159 were saying so correctly, it ends up just being a 239 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:58.000 poetic riff on revenge and all of its different manifestations. 240 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:02.799 So this is really, on one level, a melodrama about 241 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:08.840 revenge that just happens to hijack an American genre, repurposed 242 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:13.200 through an Italian sensibility, and then grinded through a French 243 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:18.440 novelle fog stylization. And at the end of the day, 244 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:20.679 what you come up with is what I think makes 245 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:26.440 Robert Whosaying special as a author of films, which is 246 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:28.840 that he is a deeply, at the root of it, 247 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:33.960 a humanist who likes to tell very direct stories about 248 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:38.200 human nature. And that's what I took out from this film. 249 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.200 I felt this did better than most spaghetti westerns that 250 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:45.320 don't have the name Leoni attached to it with giving 251 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:50.120 the characters humanity and that I could actually believe motivations 252 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:52.519 in this film and they didn't feel just like the 253 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:54.279 machinations of a screenwriter. 254 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:57.480 Yeah, I like what you're saying about not knowing the destination, 255 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.519 because I think there's a literal camera move to show 256 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:06.160 us the Eli's house. We don't even see where he's headed. 257 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:08.880 His brothers are going one way, he starts going the 258 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.799 other way, listing along, and just you can tell that 259 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:16.839 he's been shot and he's just barely keeping onto this horse, 260 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:20.039 and once he falls off in front of his own 261 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:23.000 place and it's, oh, okay, I guess his place is 262 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:25.680 right here. So I like that kind of reveal that 263 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:29.680 Hosein does with this direction on that and that's right 264 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.039 around the time I believe that the color starts to 265 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:33.799 seep in. And I want to say that that's also 266 00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:37.519 a bookend, right. It happens at the end as well, 267 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:39.400 which kind of speaks to, like you were saying, rich 268 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.400 the whole cyclical nature. 269 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:42.359 Of this revenge. 270 00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:46.039 And that's when she goes to the Hossein character and 271 00:17:46.119 --> 00:17:48.279 you can tell that they have a past as well. 272 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:50.680 You're not really sure on that either. I don't think 273 00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:55.519 that this movie is very rich with backstory or exposition, 274 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:58.200 which is, like you said, absolutely fine. I kind of 275 00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:01.359 like this vagary that we have where we don't necessarily 276 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:04.279 know all of the motivations of these characters, and we 277 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:07.200 don't necessarily know the past that they've had. We are 278 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:12.200 dropped into this, which I appreciate. And when she gums 279 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:14.920 to him and says, I want you to take care 280 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:19.039 of Will Rogers and his gang, it's revenge is a 281 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:22.240 game that never ends. He puts it right out there, 282 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:25.079 but he still ends up. It's almost like he's faded 283 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:29.079 to be in this role and spoilers, but this will 284 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:33.359 eventually kill him just because of this cyclical nature, that 285 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:35.039 whole dig two. 286 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:35.799 Graves kind of thing. 287 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:38.319 He is due for one of these graves at the 288 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:39.000 end of the film. 289 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.000 I think one of the things I like about Robert 290 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.000 Hussein in particular in this film is he's very much 291 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:48.920 in a showdown, tell mode, and I find that because 292 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:53.559 there's so few clues, I find myself watching more intently 293 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:57.119 and reading more into the few fragments we have. So 294 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:02.880 I believe all of Manuel and Eli and Maria's relationship 295 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.279 is in a single photograph we see for about four seconds, 296 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.640 and it implies everything that there is this rich backstory 297 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:14.480 that was immortalized in a photograph, and you feel he 298 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:16.799 has some sort of psychic debt and you don't know 299 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:20.279 whether or not Adios the debt more to the murdered 300 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:23.599 man or to the abandoned widow, and it might even 301 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:25.720 in fact be both, because there could be a very 302 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:29.599 deep triangulation here. What I loved about it is it 303 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:31.759 wasn't spelled out. And that's again where I'm going to 304 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:35.640 keep saying. I think Hussein is at his strongest when 305 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:38.720 he's in a genre picture, recognizing that the audience will 306 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.440 go with him on very scant evidence. And I just 307 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:45.720 love that that, in fact, the entire relationship that is 308 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.200 at the core of this film might just be encapsulated 309 00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:50.920 in a wordless photograph we only see once. 310 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:53.759 Yeah, I love that. I think it's interesting in terms 311 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.200 of the audiences at the time because they were walking 312 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:59.640 into it knowing the relationship between these two people. Because 313 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.079 hose and Michelle merce start together in Angelique and this 314 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:08.119 was really a subversion of her role in French cinema. 315 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.240 Hossein already started subverting his own image from Ajilique with 316 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:15.559 his previous films, definitely with The Vampire of Dizeldorf, and 317 00:20:16.599 --> 00:20:20.880 when people went to see the film, that relationship was 318 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:23.000 already there. It was like a standard. It was kind 319 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:27.240 of like a convention in a way, so they might 320 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:30.240 have literally not have needed it. That is true, and 321 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:33.079 I think, you know, there's always sort of a duality, 322 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:37.880 I think in Hossein's films, where characters might say what 323 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:40.279 their intent is and what they think, but they behave 324 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:43.559 exactly the opposite of that. So that's at the beginning, 325 00:20:43.640 --> 00:20:46.039 Hossein basically says, I don't remember the exact quote, but 326 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:49.240 he says something something like this, this never ends well, 327 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:50.920 like revenge is never This is just not the way 328 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.319 to go. And then he never even questions that. He 329 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:56.920 just does it, and there is I think it's made 330 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.559 even more tragic at the end when you kind of 331 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:03.400 realize that it's maybe his own regret over not being 332 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:05.599 with her, is doing it out of love or out 333 00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:09.319 of his own guilt essentially, which is also a very 334 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:14.640 noar guilt, of very noar element, which makes this whole 335 00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:17.599 thing even more futile, because he's telling you right at 336 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:20.480 the beginning, is telling you there's no point on any 337 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:20.640 of it. 338 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:25.559 He reminds me of the Robert Vaughan character from A 339 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:28.359 Battle Beyond the Stars, where it's which is of course 340 00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:33.319 indebted to the Magnificent seven. When she goes to find him, 341 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.960 he's living in a literal ghost town. There's no one 342 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:41.680 else there. There's the dust and the old roulette wheel 343 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:43.880 and these kind of things that you're seeing. He's the 344 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:47.359 only person that's there. It's like he is all Murady 345 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:49.039 has signed himself to be a ghost. 346 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:53.799 That really is all the backstory you really need with 347 00:21:54.759 --> 00:21:58.000 Hussein's interpretation on the Man with No Name, is he 348 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:06.400 really is a Borisian living in this completely fascinating ghost town. 349 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:13.680 And within that you get this claustrophobic feeling that whatever 350 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:19.160 he had prior to the film's official starting story, he 351 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:27.400 clearly the first demonstration we see of his own agency 352 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:30.839 is when he just starts to shoot up bottles in 353 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:36.160 his own room. You know that he's going to be 354 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:38.160 one of the fastest guns in the West, and he's 355 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:40.960 a dead shot and all of that great stuff. But 356 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:47.559 to what point he starts as a tragic figure? And 357 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:51.559 I do like what Orange said that what sets this 358 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:56.519 apart from other European takes on the Western is they're 359 00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:02.240 not Guilt is not often the major driver of why 360 00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:06.720 people act in Westerns, And one could even almost argue 361 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:12.319 that it's almost The Searchers also has an essential narrative 362 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:16.759 of guilt that drives the character of Ethan in The Searchers, 363 00:23:17.160 --> 00:23:21.359 but here Hussein does seem when he finally gets activated, 364 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:24.680 he's only activated out of guilt, not out of any 365 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:28.000 sort of he's going to fix anything. There's no essential 366 00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:31.000 sense that anything's going to be made right. And in fact, 367 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:34.599 the part that I loved about this film is even 368 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:40.720 though I could follow all of the action as motivated 369 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:44.559 by human nature, it really was all these people are 370 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:49.400 very broken people, and it's actually in their brokenness that 371 00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:52.359 they start to do things that, when we might code them, 372 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:54.880 is like why are they doing that? It's why not 373 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:58.319 do that? It's almost like a why not film, because 374 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:03.480 they're completely broken, and that, again, I think is part 375 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:09.920 of the existential dread that comes from Hussein's background in noir. 376 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:15.200 For me, it is the palpable sense of malaise that 377 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:18.759 just drenches this film that makes it noir. There's nothing 378 00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:23.319 more really into cinematography or in the genre. But it 379 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:28.400 is in that malaise that he taps into so effectively, 380 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:31.240 which also then for the one or two moments of 381 00:24:31.319 --> 00:24:34.519 levity or the one or two moments when it seems 382 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:38.200 like there might be a way out of this existential trap, 383 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:42.160 you just realize just how tightly constructed the script is. 384 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:45.000 To go back to one of Orne's earlier points, this 385 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:47.240 very much is a Hussein film, and I can see 386 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:52.640 his fingerprints everywhere, because he is a master genre melodramaist, 387 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:57.000 and he knows how to manipulate these dramas. And he 388 00:24:57.319 --> 00:25:00.599 wasn't trying to be Godar or truth. Oh, he was 389 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:03.759 trying to be Robber trusaying. And I think this film 390 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:07.559 fell off my radar in film school because film schools 391 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:11.880 don't really talk about the master genre craftsman. They want 392 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:16.759 the more avant garde, outrageous art film stuff. This isn't 393 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:19.200 an art film. To me, that this is a great 394 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:26.240 genre film. But sadly, oftentimes critics diminish the power of 395 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:30.480 what great craft in a genre is just as important 396 00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:32.920 as great craft and an art film. But we sometimes 397 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:35.319 mistake one is more artful than the other. 398 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:38.839 There's no real way to discover it in the sense 399 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:43.160 that nobody knows Hossein's film spirit now. I don't think 400 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:46.240 even in France. He's just now he's starting to get rediscovered. 401 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:50.240