1:01:03
And as the film builds up, so upping
the ante on brutality becomes important.
1:01:41
"I knew someone
like you and no one helped."
1:01:43
The only moment in the film
where any motivation
1:01:46
is attributed to the Eastwood character.
1:01:49
Up to now, he's been
on the take, from the Rojos,
1:01:52
from the Baxters,
set one against the other.
1:01:54
But here, he's actually doing a moral act.
1:01:57
He's protecting the Holy Family and
sending them back across the border
1:02:01
because, "I knew someone like you,
and there was no one to help."
1:02:05
And in the shooting script, there were
about three pages of explanation,
1:02:09
which referred to a prologue which Leone
originally wanted to put into the movie
1:02:14
of an earlier incident in the stranger's life.
1:02:18
That was cut out,
and instead just that one line.
1:02:20
It's the only moment in the whole film
where you get a sense of moral position
1:02:25
on the part of the stranger.
Otherwise, he works for cash.
1:02:28
Instead of, "Man's gotta do
what a man's gotta do",
1:02:31
the crusading element
in Hollywood Westerns,
1:02:34
what you've got is a much more
pragmatic, hip, streetwise,
1:02:39
1960s, on the take, sort of
James Bondian kind of approach.
1:02:43
Although even James Bond, of course, is
working for Her Majesty's secret service.
1:02:48
He has a sense of values there,
but that's a rare moment in this film.
1:02:54
San Miguel is not a moral place.