A wing door squeaks, the floor creaks, a fountain’s windmill groans incessantly in the background. Three men wait for a train in the middle of nowhere. The air is burning hot and even the smallest movement feels overpowering. Every detail receives greatest attention within this tedious opening scene. And every sound or noise becomes the soundtrack in an otherwise totally silent wasteland until the unmistakable sound of the harmonica introduces the stranger. This end of silence is the beginning of an epic spaghetti western, a tale of death, greed, revenge and hope for a better life…
Ennio Morricone – the master of film music – composed the well-known theme and the rest of the score before the shooting for the film started. The film’s cinematography developed mostly from the inspiration from the music. Every camera position, every cut and every gaze follows the rhythm of the score, as the music gains in importance and eventually becomes a part of the storyline.
Alexander Streb
