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The Great Silence

Play trailer Poster for The Great Silence 1968 1h 45m Western Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 13 Reviews 89% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
On an unforgiving, snow-swept frontier, a group of bloodthirsty bounty hunters, led by the vicious Loco, preys on a band of persecuted outlaws who have taken to the hills. As the price on each head is collected one-by-one, only a mute gunslinger named Silence stands between the innocent refugees and the greed and corruption that the bounty hunters represent. But in this harsh, brutal world, the lines between right and wrong aren't always clear and good doesn't always triumph.
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The Great Silence

Critics Reviews

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Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times 04/26/2018
Nothing works out the way these people, not to mention audiences who love classic Hollywood westerns, expect. Not even close. Go to Full Review A.O. Scott New York Times 03/28/2018
The mood is sometimes jaunty, but "The Great Silence" is no joke, and the fatalism of its ending serves as an implicit critique of the sentimental optimism of many Hollywood westerns. Go to Full Review Simon Abrams Village Voice 03/28/2018
Corbucci constantly subverts the generic tropes that he dabbled with two years earlier in Django, that blood-soaked and oft-imitated riff on A Fistful of Dollars. Go to Full Review Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia 11/19/2021
The Great Silence is, quite simply, one of the best Spaghetti Westerns ever made Go to Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins 08/24/2020
7/10
Something must also be said about the wintery setting - a rare choice for a Western. Go to Full Review David Bax Battleship Pretension 10/29/2018
With the help of a typically stellar score from Ennio Morricone, The Great Silence is one of the prettiest, most thoughtful movies you'll ever see with a body count in the dozens. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Laurian D @Laurian Dec 5 Probably the darkest and most surprising western you'll ever see, in which the line between good and evil is as blurred as it gets. Very gripping and thought provoking gem of a movie. See more C S Aug 22 One of the greatest films of all time. Corbucci was a genius. Excellent dark spaghetti western with a marvelous Morricone score. Loved seeing that Mauser C96 aka the "Broomhandle Mauser" in this movie. See more Jhon C Jul 21 Epico, fuori dagli schemi, la storia la moralità... Corbucci era un genio! See more W. W. W Jun 29 Can't get used to a Western speaking Italiano See more Hector I Jun 13 A Western with (at least) two levels of interpretation. The first is a classic Western in reverse, where the bad guy is the good guy. We follow two characters, the bounty hunter “Tigrero” played by a Klaus Kinski whose delicate timbre is almost frightening. The bandit is called “Silence” because he never speaks. We follow the life of a town called White Snow, isolated in a terrible winter, as starving bandits attack each other to survive. But an amnesty is about to be declared for all these outlaws. The bounty hunters are obviously against it, as they are abusing their rights to hunt down these bandits. What follows is a confrontation between these two heroes that leads to a duel - classic, in short. The other aspect of this film is its very violent, dark and cynical side. In this world, those who are supposed to protect the “good people” do evil, and those who are supposed to protect them, like the sheriff, fail to do so. You'd think that this inverted world of good guys=evil guys and bad guys=good guys would lead to the triumph of the good guys... but it doesn't, and the terrible finale casts a dark shadow over the film, especially as I'd grown quite attached to the Sheriff, for example, who was a bit of a twit at first, but a fine gunman. See more Tim M @tgmacman Jan 27 An all-timer for the spaghetti Western subgenre, The Great Silence will leave you speechless with its bold storytelling and bleakly beautiful cinematography. See more Read all reviews
The Great Silence

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Cast & Crew

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Sergio Corbucci

Director

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Silence

Klaus Kinski

Tigrero

Frank Wolff

Sheriff Burnett

Luigi Pistilli

Pollicut

Vonetta McGee

Pauline

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The Great Silence

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Movie Info

Synopsis On an unforgiving, snow-swept frontier, a group of bloodthirsty bounty hunters, led by the vicious Loco, preys on a band of persecuted outlaws who have taken to the hills. As the price on each head is collected one-by-one, only a mute gunslinger named Silence stands between the innocent refugees and the greed and corruption that the bounty hunters represent. But in this harsh, brutal world, the lines between right and wrong aren't always clear and good doesn't always triumph.
Director
Sergio Corbucci
Producer
Alberto Marras
Screenwriter
Sergio Corbucci
Genre
Western
Original Language
Italian
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Mar 30, 2018
Release Date (Streaming)
May 31, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA)
$53.1K
Runtime
1h 45m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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