DVD Review:

Sergio Leone Anthology

Movie

Sitting down to go through this collection, I was really looking forward to it. I had seen The Good, The Bad and The Ugly before, but the other movies were new to me. I did a little research on Sergio Leone prior to watching these sets here is what I found on Wikipedia. Leone is well-known for his Spaghetti Western films, and his recognizable style of juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with extreme long shots. Despite only directing seven films, Leone is recognized as one of the greatest directors of all time. Of his seven films, he is best known for his The Man With No Name trilogy, which consists of A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, as well as Once Upon A Time In The West. I also had never thought before about the term Spaghetti Western. After learning the name came about because these westerns were all produced by Italian producers. If you’re a fan of westerns there is so much to love about these movies. Clint Eastwood was a virtual unknown at the time and these movies catapulted him to stardom. I am not going to go through each of these movies and explain the plots, but let me end by saying if you’re a fan of this genre, these movies are the holy grail.

9 out of 10

Video

All of the films are presented in a 2:35:1 widescreen aspect ratio. All of the films look great. Considering that some of these films were made for very little money they have done a good job with the transfer. The other issue was that when these films were made film developing establishments were poorly run and as a bonus feature about Fistful of Dollars says it was not a problem with the master but with damage that was caused in the processing of the negative that was never repaired. So I think that this is the best these films will look until they release a hi-def version.

8 out of 10

Audio

These films originally had a mono track. They have been given the 5.1 upgrade. But the producers of the series did not change the audio that much. Going 5.1 gives the overall sound field a deeper scope. Purists will be happy that they tried to stay true to the original. Most of the dialogue will be coming from the center channel with the occasional pan to the other channels. Overall I think they did an admirable job with the audio.

8 out of 10

Extras

If you have been paying attention to any of my other reviews you would know that usually what makes or breaks a set for me is the extras. Well I am happy to say this set has a fistful! The set has so many extras that I am not going to go into detail on them all because you would probably fall asleep before I get to the end. Just know that each film has really good documentaries to go along with the film. All three commentaries are provided by Christopher Frayling who is a biographer of Sergio Leone. They are interesting because he talks about the production and he has great enthusiasm for what he is talking about. Also each film has at least one extra where they talk about various versions and iterations of Leone’s work through the years. One of my favorites was a an extra about the reconstruction of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I love seeing how that was done. There are so many great extras here that if you’re an extras fan you will be in seveth heaven.

10 out of 10

Overall

This series is fantastic and if you like these types of films you would be crazy not to pick this set up. The movies are great the extras are fantastic and the set is quality. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up today.

9.5 out of 10