adrian-43767 From the outset one gets the feeling that Trintignant, a very fine actor, is miscast. According to production reports, he struggled with Italian and English, and it was decided that the best thing was to give him a silent role - which greatly limits his scope, but somehow helps increase the film's claustrophobic atmosphere, hemmed in by constant snow and cold. Kinski gets the plum part, with the clever lines; the actor who plays the sheriff also does well; cinematography is excellent under such strenuous conditions; dialogue is good enough to keep you riveted; and the motivations of all those human living on the brink of animaldom -- especially the group of "outlaws" who prowl outside of town and keep attacking people for food -- almost turn THE GREAT SILENCE into a Western version of MAD MAX. The film is full of Leone-like touches, including significant looks and close-ups. Unlike any Leone movie, it is able to show two human beings who feel real love for each other (Trintignant and the black woman whose husband was killed by Kinski). It also has its fair share of subjective angles and shots, all of which builds up to what should have been a terrific climax.Instead, Director Sergio Corbucci suddenly and unexpectedly decides to turn THE GREAT SILENCE into a historic piece about some massacre. A happier ending would have made it a masterpiece comparable to ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and certainly better than A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS or FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE.The greater the pity - as much as I would like to give it a higher mark, because there is much to be enjoyed about THE GREAT SILENCE, ultimately its weak and wayward ending lets it down. 6/10

jboldway Morricone does a brilliant polyrhythm score. Never heard another poly rhythm score ever. This man is a master. It really doesn't get any better than this soundtrack. Kinski is fantastically evil. Trintigant is amazing as Silence. This is the best Western I've ever watched and the best movie I've ever watched. everybody must watch this movie. Vonnetta McGee did a great job too. Again, the poly rhythm score is unreal. Watch Silence shoot the potatoes. :-) How the hell do you actually get something posted on this? It doesn't seem to like poly rhythm. "there were some problems with your review."

MartinHafer In "The Great Silence", Klaus Kinski plays a wonderfully horrid guy. While he is technically on the side of the law as a 'bounty killer' (I think this was a mistranslation and should have been 'bounty hunter'), his methods are despicable. If he shoots some of the family of the wanted men, he has no problem with this. He also routinely promises to bring in his prey for a fair hearing--and then shoots them dead! Clearly, he has issues.After Kinski (playing, appropriately, a guy named 'Loco') butchers a particular man, his surviving widow is furious and commissions a mute man named 'Silence' (Trintignant) to kill Kinski. Considering that Silence's family was butchered and his throat was cut (making him unable to talk) by bounty hunters, naturally he takes the commission. His plan is to provoke Loco to draw on him and then kill him legally in self-defense. However, there are two things in his way. First, Loco knows he's no match for Silence and vows never to draw his gun on him. Second, the local sheriff hates Loco but doesn't want his town turning into a shooting gallery. In fact, to stop all the butchering, the sheriff arrests Loco and spirits him out of town. That, of course, does not end it and in the end there is a HUGE and very bloody shootout.Aside from the very unsatisfying ending, this is one of the better Italian westerns I have seen. I loved the snowy scenes which set it apart from other westerns. It also is very much like director Corbucci's other westerns in that it is almost a political statement and has a lot to do with the little guy standing up against oppressive legal authorities. But, it's also much better than the other Corbucci films--mostly because it was a bit more restrained and the music wasn't so repetitive. When it came to the acting, I especially liked the snarling Kinski--he was easy to hate. As for Trintignant, he really didn't have a lot to do and as heroes go, he wasn't especially compelling--especially at the incredibly grim and nasty ending. As far as the ending goes, it is interesting that the disc also includes a happy ending apparently shot for some markets--though it lacks sound and may never have actually been used.By the way, isn't it ironic that this Italian western is about a mute AND the DVD has no captions whatsoever?! My deaf daughter couldn't have watched the film with me unless I sat there and interpreted the entire movie! Now THAT'S loco!

LiveGrenade What made me start to love this film was the music, most notably the main theme. In fact, it was the first thing I found of the film. It's slow, starts with a strangely melancholy piano ring and strumming of guitars, then building up with violins and flutes and finally going back over the song again with a chorus. I found it happy at first, it was a beautiful piece. After I watched the film, I could never really listen to the song the same way again.Let me explain why. The first opening scene is of a man wearing heavy black clothing riding a horse,going through a snowy valley, then you see five or so people armed with rifles hiding behind a snow bank. The man on the horse comes within a few yards from them, and then stops. He looks around as crows fly onto a hillside, and then looks back down as the men jump out. But before any of the men can fire, the man on the horse pulls out a Mauser Repeating pistol and sends a flurry of bullets into each one of them with a shot to the face. The camera takes shots of each one of the dead men, blood streaming down from their faces. One man apparently stayed hidden, but suddenly then jumps out, throwing his rifle down and screams "Wait! Don't shoot! I won't do it again, honestly Silence!" The man on the horse looks down, without a change in his expression, shoots the other man's thumbs clean off and leaves him to bleed to death in the snow.The film is in no way a family friendly story, and this is only a small teaspoon of what The Great Silence has to offer. Released in 1968, during the heyday of the Euro-Western trend, the film wasn't exactly a box office success as about one hundred other Euro-Westerns were released at the same time, and was sadly overlooked. But now, the film finally finally has received the attention it deserves.The film follows the story of the Silence (the man on the horse, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant), who takes vengeance on the bounty killers who are after the reward money on the wrongly accused poor folk hiding away in the mountains. One of the bandits becomes fed up with hiding, and goes to find his wife and taker her away to a safer place. But the bounty killer Loco (played by Klaus Kinski), takes the bandits wife, Pauline (played by Vonetta McGee) and uses her to lure him out, then kills him for the reward money. Pauline, wanting revenge, seeks out Silence to kill Loco. But once Silence is on Locos trail, Sheriff Burnett (played by Frank Wolff) who was sent out to stop the Bounty Killers murder for reward, is the only thing between Silence and Loco. But this isn't your normal western, and just like in real life, the good guy's don't always win.The Great Silence is still something to marvel at, even to the modern film-goer. Straight from its blood soaked story, to its beautiful snowy locations, to its bleak and other wise depressing ending. The Great Silence will leave you never looking at Euro-Westerns (or any western) the same way again.