I’d be lying if I were to say that the works of Sergio Leone haven’t inspired me beyond what they would the average person. As much as I love Western films and watched them as a kid, I grew tired of the cliches, the one liners and the one dimensional heroes and villains that were portrayed throughout them, that is, until I watched A Fistfull of Dollars and it pretty much altered the course of history forever. I mean, at least for me, that is. The Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone team has to be the best pairing conceivable for creating atmosphere and pure gold, so much so that I can’t even imagine what Leone’s films would have been like with a different composer.
If you want to know the extent of the influence, all you’ll have to do is read my first novel, The Godslayer, by the time you reach the end if you aren’t feeling the Leone influence I’d say you probably need to have a really long Leone marathon or maybe learn to play the harmonica. This stuff, the values and the feel are just imprinted in my brain at this point and I’m not in any way ashamed of that. So imagine using one of Ennio Morricone’s songs (albeit a longer remix), L’estasi dell’oro, from Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) for a recap of Breaking Bad. Yes, this absolutely exists and it takes one of the best television dramas in history and gives it a whole new meaning with the song from the amazing standoff at the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly overlayed on it.
There have been other versions by the same person, but this one is the one which he claims to be “final.” Yes, it obviously contains massive spoilers for Breaking Bad.
