The classic movie John Carpenter called “jaw-dropping”
Director John Carpenter has pretty much seen it all. He’s released several acclaimed films in the science fiction, horror and action film genres. Amongst them, Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, The Fog and Precinct 13, all of which have an element or two of humour within them too.
It goes without saying that Carpenter is one of the most varied film directors in Hollywood, but his talents do not end there. Carpenter is also an acclaimed musician and has scored, either solo or in collaboration, most of the music for his films, going to show that genius is simply dripping out of the New York-born artist’s fingers whenever and however he works.
Aside from science fiction, action and horror films, though, Carpenter looks to be a big fan of the old-fashioned western. During an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Carpenter explained that he got into the industry in the first place to make westerns. “I’m a western fan,” he said. “Loved westerns… Loved them. I mean, huge love. I think my first love…”
“Well, cinema’s my first love, but along with science fiction and horror, when I was a kid in the ’50s, I saw westerns,” he added. “I was at the theatre in 1959, buying my ticket to Rio Bravo. They held it over two weeks in our town because everybody was going. And I went back again. I was in the theatre, buying popcorn, as a little kid. Oh, I’ve watched it too many times.”
Rio Bravo, the 1959 western, directed by Howard Hawks and starring western legend John Wayne, is certainly a big love of Carpenter’s, but it’s definitely not the only film in the genre that the director greatly admires. He went on to discuss Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, released in 1968.
“I remember seeing Once Upon A Time in the West, and it was a jaw-dropping movie,” Carpenter admitted. “I couldn’t believe that movie. But after that, what are you going to do? I mean, you can’t do a gunfight any better than Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson. You cannot do it any better. You cannot; there’s nothing you can do. You cannot do a revenge story – Bronson’s whole journey in that – any better.”
The film starred Henry Fonda, who was cast against type, having usually played the hero in his movies, as the villainous outlaw, Frank, while Charles Bronson played ‘Harmonica’, who seeks out revenge against Frank. Ennio Morricone once again provided an excellent score for a Sergio Leone classic.
