Movies - TV
How A Conversation About Horse Butts Birthed Once Upon A Time In The West
By DANIELLE RYAN
When most people think of the filmmaking of Italian director Sergio Leone, many images could immediately come to mind. But after writer and director Bernardo Bertolucci saw the bodacious horse booties in "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," he knew he had to work with Leone, and the result of their collaboration is one of the greatest westerns of all time.
Back in 1988, Bertolucci told the Daily Telegraph that he actually first met Leone during an early afternoon showing of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and told Leone why he liked his movies. He said, "Because of the way you shoot the horses' arses. Most directors shoot them in profile or from the front, but you have this wonderful line of arses, a chorus of arses."
So when Bertolucci explained why he was so enamored with Leone's work in such an interesting way, Leone realized the two had to collaborate. Leone knew that he and Bertolucci had a mutual understanding about deconstructing the mythic ideal of the Old West, which would prove vital when they made "Once Upon a Time in the West" together.