Italian director Sergio Leone began his career with the sword-and-sandals opus COLOSSUS OF RHODES in 1961. In 1964, inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO, Leone helmed A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, which starred then virtually unknown Clint Eastwood. The picture proved a mega-hit in Europe and did well enough in the U.S. to encourage United Artists to release its sequel, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, and the majestic conclusion of the trilogy, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. Next up were Leone’s operatic masterworks ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and the tragicomic DUCK YOU SUCKER (aka A FIST FULL OF DYNAMITE). It wasn’t until 1984 that his next effort was released, a magnum opus about Prohibition-era Jewish gangsters in New York, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, starring Robert De Niro. Sadly, it turned out to be the maestro’s swan song. Sergio Leone died in 1989, having influenced a generation of filmmakers and audiences.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (IL BUONO, IL BRUTTO, IL CATTIVO), 1966, MGM Repertory, 161 min. From the opening whistle and whipcrack theme, to the final images of a vast cemetery stretching almost to infinity, THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY is surely one of the bloodiest, funniest and most wickedly entertaining portraits of human corruption ever made. Leone’s surreal masterpiece of the American West during the last days of the Civil War follows a trio of equally violent and unrepentant gunslingers (Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef) who engage in a jawdropping series of double- and triple-crosses to get their hands on a fortune in stolen Confederate gold. [35mm] Trailer | Buy Tickets

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (C’ERA UNA VOLTA IL WEST), 1968, Paramount, 165 min. Charles Bronson is a soft-spoken, harmonica-playing gunslinger bent on revenge against brutal assassin Henry Fonda. Co-starring Claudia Cardinale as an independent-minded mail-order bride and Jason Robards as a wry bandido with an agenda of his own. [35mm] Trailer | Buy Tickets