Directed by Sergio Leone • 1968 • Italy, United States
Starring Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale
Sergio Leone breathed new life into the western with this masterful epic, which stands as one of the genre’s most timeless artistic achievements. Henry Fonda, cast against his good-guy image, stars as Frank, a ruthless murderer who feels no remorse, even after annihilating Mrs. McBain’s (Claudia Cardinale) entire family. Charles Bronson plays the Man, a harmonica-wielding loner who will never forget how his brother was savagely tortured. Joining forces with Cheyenne (Jason Robards), who was wrongfully accused of Frank’s crimes, The Man sets out to put an end once and for all to the outlaw’s reign of terror. Leone choreographs the action with breathtaking virtuosity, all set to the swelling strains of Ennio Morricone’s iconic score.
Up Next in 30 Years of The Film Foundation
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Wanda
Directed by Barbara Loden • 1970 • United States
Starring Barbara Loden, Michael HigginsWith her first and only feature film—a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in—Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of characte...
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Soleil Ô
Directed by Med Hondo • 1970 • France, Mauritania
Starring Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Gabriel GlissandA furious howl of resistance against racist oppression, the debut from Mauritanian director Med Hondo is a bitterly funny, stylistically explosive attack on Western capitalism and the lega...
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Black Panthers
Directed by Agnès Varda • 1970 • United States
Agnès Varda turns her camera on an Oakland demonstration against the imprisonment of activist and Black Panthers cofounder Huey P. Newton. In addition to evincing Varda’s fascination with her adopted surroundings and her empathy, this perceptive sho...
