Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Sergio Corbucci swaps the desert for snowy mountains, howling coyotes for howling wind, and supplies a strong silent hero so silent that he doesn't speak at all. Ennio Morricone changes tone completely and gives us a morose, sad soundtrack that perfectly matches the atmosphere of desperation that flows through the entire film. No doubt about it – this film leaves a mark.In the mountains of Utah, starving citizens of the town of Snow Hill are forced to steal to feed themselves, and in turn have to hide in the mountains with a price on their head. The corrupt banker and Justice of the Peace Pollicut (Luigi Pistilli), encourages bounty hunters to hunt them down, as he makes a percentage on every 'bandit' brought in. However, the persecuted folks have help in the form of Silence, who really, really hates bounty hunters – and with good reason. Silence will only fire upon someone if they draw first, and he also likes to shoot the thumbs off bounty hunters, as Pollicut knows too well. Worst of all the bounty hunters is Loco (Klaus Kinski), who doesn't even care why people have a price on their heads, as long as he gets the money, and there's no 'dead or alive' where Loco is concerned. If they're dead, he doesn't have to feed them. Loco kills the husband of Pauline, who returned from exile to visit his wife, and she hires Silence to kill him. Loco knows that Silence is too fast for him, and will not be drawn into a gunfight…yet.There's also a new Sheriff in town that quickly twigs that things aren't quite right in Snow Hill. Burnett (Wolff, playing the only character approaching 'comic relief'), does not agree at all with Pollicut and Loco's tactics, even going so far as to arrest Loco and take him elsewhere for a trial. That's enough plot! There's loads going on in this film, and plenty of it must have been quite daring for 1968. The interracial sex scene between Silence and Pauline for starters (and the music during this bit is outstanding, even for Morricone!), the bloody violence with headshots being a speciality, and the ending! The ending! Jesus! Buddha! Brian Blessed! The ending! Indy! The ending! I will not reveal it here, but it's certainly not something you encounter very often, in any genre. Jaw-dropping.The acting is also faultless too, even if it is dubbed. Klaus Kinski is very restrained for the most part, but still comes across as a polite, malicious, sadistic murderer who is also smarter than everyone else. This might possibly be the best film I've seen him in. Luigi Pistilli isn't too far behind either. He's cowardly and scheming and likes to make others do his dirty work (mainly Mario Brega, who meets a gory end that stands out). Frank Wolff jumps between comedic and serious as the only male character in possession of a soul. His character follows the law to the letter, which may be a mistake in the hostile environment of Snow Hill. I'm not familiar with the actress that plays Pauline but she also stands out as a woman channelling her grief into one simple task – to kill Loco.This one gets the highest recommendation for me!

I can't really say why is it that I liked this movie so much since I'm not a big fan of westerns, but it has a good story, the acting isn't bad and the characters themselves were interesting(specially Silence). I honestly was amazed by it, specially considering how old as the movie is, I saw this around 2006, i got home from work around 2am, and this was one of the few interesting things that was on, i stayed awake just to finish watching it, and was glad that I did, since the ending is the best part of the movie, You just don't see an ending like this one very often. The movie is a bit violent, but it doesn't cross the line to a point to where it's just pointless violence or too graphic. Regardless of whether or not You like westerns, I think the is a movie You will enjoy, specially if You like being surprised.

Corbucci's brutal western recreates the Snow Hill, Utah, massacre of 1898, and pulls no punches in doing so. Jean-Louis Trintignant stars as not only the man with no name (complete with cheroot), but the man with no voice. Jean-Louis looks quite at home on the range which is more than can be said for his nemesis and bounty hunter Klaus Kinski who wears a fur coat so huge, he looks like he stepped out of his friend's (Herzog) documentary about bears.The subtitled dialogue is pretty terrible and the Italian cast with their cissy haircuts don't exactly exude authenticity as cowpokes. Combine all this with a lack of respect for the 'code of the west', epitomised in an ending which is beyond bleak, and you begin to see why western purists hate the spaghetti offshoots so much. It's not so much their revisionism as a destruction of a nation's imagined history. Visually, it's a stunning piece of work, from trademark close-ups to atypical snowy landscapes it's a visual treat while Ennio Morricone's score comprising classical and ambient electronics, is superb and worthy of a separate listen. Overall, though, I'd say 'spaghetti' is something of misnomer here, this is more like raw meat.

When asked what my favorite Spaghetti Western is I usually place Corbucci's Django at the top of my list but truth be told The Great Silence is far superior; it's a mesmerizing masterpiece overflowing with Roman violence and French nihilism. Corbucci isn't interested in presenting us with "good" or "bad," instead he introduces characters with very real human flaws such as greed, lust and the thirst for revenge. These men with their deep emotional scars, and monetary motivations, use the laws of the land to oppress religious freedom and justify murder. There's obviously more lying beneath the surface of this film for those interested in sharpening their analytical chops.If Django's theme was mired in the muck and mud, The Great Silence's theme was buried beneath the frozen snow. Perhaps I'm looking too hard but it would appear to me that Corbucci's film portrays the snow almost as a living entity, as if it were a character witnessing the atrocities of Snowhill. The film's locations combined with the snow (actually shaving cream) and fog created a sense of isolation and an atmosphere of dread-inducing stillness.French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant (Questi's Death Laid an Egg) is perfect as the infamous Silence, a character that mocks the "silent anti-hero" stereotype of Spaghetti Westerns by being mute! Speech isn't the only thing Trintignant resists, he also carries a Mauser pistol with detachable wooden stock instead of the traditional six-shooters or repeater rifles used in pretty much all Westerns. To say he was different from other Spaghetti Western bad asses would be a slight understatement.I won't say much about the finale but it was incredibly dark and depressing; I was angry and saddened as the film ended on a reflection so powerful it'll remain with you long after the film is over. Forget hand-holding, Corbucci lops hands off at the wrist. I cannot recommend this film enough, seek it out and add it to your collection.