A talk on spaghetti western opus Once Upon a Time in the West between the Chairman of the Arts Council and an unhinged horror director taking place in the snooty heart of Knightsbridge might not sound like a ticket to filmic funtimes. But when you consider that the chairman in question is ex-governor of the BFI and hardcore western aficionado Sir Christopher Frayling; the director is Sergio Leone collaborator Dario Argento, and the location is the Italian Cultural Institute, it all starts to make a little more sense.
Frayling has been flying the flag for the Euro-western since the ’60s. His early attempts to arrange a season of Sergio Leone films at the then-NFT were met with indifference bordering on condescension by the Italian Embassy at the time, but he has ultimately been vital in bestowing bona fide genre status on these sleazy gems. He has written numerous books on the subject and lent his knowledge to the excellent commentary track of OATITW.
Argento is now revered as the director of such surreal, supernatural and spectacularly violent horror films as Suspira (1977) and Opera (1987), but he found his foothold in the film industry by writing – along with Bernardo Bertolucci, who, due to health concerns, couldn’t make the talk – the treatment for Leone’s one true masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
The Italian Cultural Institute (for those who have not had the pleasure) is not exactly how one might picture it. I had imagined a glittering oasis of piped-in opera, brushed steel and glass as far as the eye can see and a soul-sapping array of society belles with sunglasses perched on their towering bouffants. It is in fact a rather shabby townhouse nestled between a fruit stall and the Argentine Embassy on Belgrave Square, and staffed by a helpful but somewhat disorganised bunch of perfectly normal looking PAs (albeit all wearing sunglasses on their heads).
Herded into a narrow room with a motley collection of family friends, full-bore film buffs, a few confused looking poshos and a smattering of out and out oddballs (as well as design godhead Ken Adam!), the hugely personable Sir Christopher treated us to a rip-roaring, expletive-laden potted biography of Leone that touched upon his father’s time in the film industry, his forgotten school days with Ennio Morricone and a sidelong investigation into the themes and images that run through the great man’s work.
Beautifully framed posters for all Leone’s westerns line the long walls – with triptychs from OATITW and For a Few Dollars More the pick of a very handsome bunch – and Frayling’s peerless collection of stills and other ephemera from the notebooks of Leone’s designers make the fact that we can hardly see him from the back row a little easier to bear.
Argento was a little nervous at first, but soon got into the spirit of things, and his faltering English (which, it has to be said, is still better than my Italian) became a little steadier as he grew in confidence. He spoke of having been unofficially suspended by his newspaper editor for writing a positive review of A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and of the exact same series of events that surrounded his similarly gushing praise for its sequel before he was handpicked by Leone to write a long treatment for OATITW. A charming braggart, he went on to claim that the film is so good that any western that came thereafter was a waste of time, and harbours a similarly robust opinion of his own directorial efforts. His energy and good humour, however, tempered any and all of his many self-assurances.
Unfortunately, the hand-rubbing imperatives of this Man Utd fan meant that I declined the promised chicken-in-a-basket arrangements of Morricone scores, and the cheese and wine soirée that followed, in favour of seeing Chelsea hearts broken by FC Barcelona, but it was a fine evening that was long on anecdote and notably short on luvvy horseshit.
A special mention has to go to the extreme latecomer who burst in just as Sir Christopher and Argento had accepted a deserved round of applause for an hour or so of greatly entertaining Leone lore. Dressed like Beetlejuice and looking like a particularly rumpled Ronnie Wood with a cascading jerry-curl hairdo, he breathlessly, and rather hopelessly, asked of anyone who would listen ‘What did they say about Leone…!??!’
The posters will be up in the Italian Cultural Institute, 39 Belgrave Square, until May 17. We wouldn’t encourage you to cross town to see them but if you are in the area, they are well worth a look.
