Although five-time Academy-Award nominee Ennio Morricone has scored numerous films in various genres, his westerns will undoubtedly remain his most memorable cinematographic accomplishments. This guide demonstrates Morricone's unique and enduring contributions to the art of film music through a discussion of his compositional and orchestrational processes, many of which are evident in his music for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in a way that can be easily understood by both musicians and nonmusicians. Leinberger begins his study with a brief discussion of Morricone's musical background through his experience in the Italian music business, his earliest Italian film scores, and his accomplishments in Hollywood. The second chapter is a discussion of the many compositional techniques that distinguish Morricone's music from that of other film composers. Subsequent chapters examine the historical and cultural context of the film and attempt to place the style of Morricone's score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in relation to his scores for other well-known Westerns. The book's final chapter is an analysis of compositional techniques presented in chronological order from the film's opening credits to its climactic ending. Although this guide focuses on Morricone and his music from a theoretical perspective, other non-musical issues that are relevant to the audience's ultimate experience of the film are also discussed.

The landmark biography of one of the twentieth century's most recognizable directors--now back in print

If misfortune hadn’t gotten in the way, Sandra Sanborn would be where she belongs—among the rich and privileged instead of standing outside a Hollywood studio wearing a sandwich board in the hope of someone discovering her. It’s tough breaking into the movies during the Great Depression, but Sandra knows that she’s destined for greatness. After all, her grandmother Vira crossed the country during the Gold Rush and established the Sanborns as one of San Francisco’s most prominent families, and her mother Mabel grew up in a lavish mansion and married into an agricultural empire. Success, Sandra feels, is in her blood. She just needs a chance to prove it. In between failed auditions, Sandra receives a letter from a man claiming to be her father, which calls into question everything she believes about her family—and herself. As she tries to climb the social ladder, family secrets lurk in the background, pulling her down. Until Sandra confronts the truth about how Vira and Mabel gained and lost their fortunes, she will always end up right back where she started from. Right Back Where We Started From is a sweeping, multigenerational work of fiction that explores the lust for ambition that entered into the American consciousness during the Gold Rush and how it affected our nation’s ideas of success, failure, and the pursuit of happiness. It is a meticulously layered saga—at once historically rich, romantic, and suspenseful—about three determined and completely unforgettable women.

This work combines a history of Hollywood with an analysis of how and why the entertainment capital of the world has consistently survived its own limitations to meet changing public tastes with its own brand of vigour and renewal for over 60 years.

For many years, movie audiences have carried on a love affair with the American West, believing Westerns are escapist entertainment of the best kind, harkening back to the days of the frontier. This work compares the reality of the Old West to its portrayal in movies, taking an historical approach to its consideration of the cowboys, Indians, gunmen, lawmen and others who populated the Old West in real life and on the silver screen. Starting with the Westerns of the early 1900s, it follows the evolution in look, style, and content as the films matured from short vignettes of good-versus-bad into modern plots.

Robert B. Ray examines the ideology of the most enduringly popular cinema in the world--the Hollywood movie. Aided by 364 frame enlargements, he describes the development of that historically overdetermined form, giving close readings of five typical instances: Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Godfather, and Taxi Driver. Like the heroes of these movies, American filmmaking has avoided commitment, in both plot and technique. Instead of choosing left or right, avant-garde or tradition, American cinema tries to have it both ways. Although Hollywood's commercial success has led the world audience to equate the American cinema with film itself, Hollywood filmmaking is a particular strategy designed to respond to specific historical situations. As an art restricted in theoretical scope but rich in individual variations, the American cinema poses the most interesting question of popular culture: Do dissident forms have any chance of remaining free of a mass medium seeking to co-opt them?

The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly includes the best and worst teams and players of all time, the most clutch performances and performers, the biggest choke jobs and chokers, great comebacks and blown leads, plus overrated and underrated players and coaches.