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Deleuzean Hybridity in the Films of Leone and Argento Keith Hennessey Brown PhD Film Studies University of Edinburgh 2012 Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my supervisors, Professor Martine Beugnet, Dr Daniel Yacavone, and the late Professor John Orr. I would then like to thank my parents, Alex and Mary Brown; all my friends, but especially Li-hsin Hsu, John Neilson and Tracey Rosenberg; and my cats, Bebert and Lucia. Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................... 5-20 Theory ............................................................................................................. 21-62 Sergio Leone ................................................................................................... 63-119 Dario Argento ................................................................................................. 120-177 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 178-191 Figures ............................................................................................................ 192-203 Filmographies ................................................................................................. 204-207 Films Cited ...................................................................................................... 208-215 Works Cited .................................................................................................... 216-222 Chapter 1: Introduction 5 Introduction/Overview In this comparatively brief chapter I begin by introducing my central research proposition. I then introduce my corpus of films and establish their significance both in their own right and as somewhat representative examples of a broader area of cinema. Following this I introduce my corpus of theory. Throughout, I seek to position my research within its wider context, identifying precedents for the approach I will take, alongside the originality of the thesis as a whole. Research Proposition My central contention in this thesis is that the films made by the Italian directors Sergio Leone and Dario Argento between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s are distinctive instances of a Deleuzean hybrid cinema. Gilles Deleuze suggests that we can identify two main, contrasting forms of cinema. These are the cinema of the movement-image and the cinema of the time- image. As a philosopher of difference, Deleuze tends to present the two cinemas as alternatives. This is enhanced by their most important respective manifestations. The movement-image is associated with classical Hollywood genre cinema, the time-image with modern European art cinema. Accordingly, a Deleuzean approach leads to two contradictory hypotheses on the nature of Leone and Argento’s films. On the one hand, that they are genre works (westerns, gangster, thrillers and horror films) suggests they are movement-image. On the other hand, that they are post-Second World War continental European films suggests they are time-image. My contention is that we can resolve this apparent contradiction by considering the films as including combinations of movement-images and time-images. This entails reading Deleuze’s theory somewhat against the grain, by suggesting the existence of a continuum between the two image regimes. Crucially, however, there are a number of precedents for using Deleuze’s ideas to investigate hybrid cinemas, with these also demonstrating the value of modifying or extending his theories. In addition, I would suggest that we can deploy notions of hybrid cinema as a means of exploring the career trajectories of certain directors, by considering the proportions and types of movement-image and time-image apparent over their filmographies. The Films of Leone and Argento My main corpus of films comprises fourteen works by Italian directors Sergio Leone (1929- 1989) and Dario Argento (1940-). The Leone films span the period 1964 to 1984 and are all westerns with the exception of his final film, which belongs to the gangster/crime genre. The Argento films span the period 1970 to 1982 and are allgiallo 1 thrillers or fantasy-horror films, with some overlap between these genres. The Leone films areA Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)2, Once Upon a Time 1 Giallo means yellow in Italian, and refers to the distinctive coloured covers in which mystery and thriller novels have been published since 1929. Giallo is thus somewhat equivalent to the more familiar French term noir. 2 The two films with ‘Dollars’ in their titles and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly are collectively also known as the Dollars Trilogy or the Dollars Films. 6 in the West (1968), Duck You Sucker (1971), My Name is Nobody (1973)3 and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). The Argento films are The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971), Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)4, Deep Red (1975), Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980)5 and Tenebrae (1982)6. The exclusion of Argento’s later films allows for a clearer and closer comparison to be made with Leone’s films, my contention being that the two directors were doing similar things in their respective genres during this time period. Argento also broke into filmmaking through collaborating with Leone uponOnce Upon a Time in the West. Leone and Argento’s influence Leone and Argento’s films were influential in their time. One indicator of this is to compare the numbers of westerns and thrillers produced in Italy before and after Leone and Argento’s respective first films in these genres, A Fistful of Dollars and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, in 1964 and in 1970 (figures from Fridlund, 2006: 8; Martin, 1996): Western Production in Italy, 1962-1976 Thriller Production in Italy, 1964-76 Year Number of westerns Year Number of thrillers 1962 2 1963 14 1964 35 1964 2 1965 58 1965 2 1966 68 1966 5 1967 70 1967 4 1968 73 1968 8 1969 33 1969 7 1970 42 1970 6 1971 51 1971 28 1972 44 1972 33 1973 20 1973 8 1974 13 1974 9 1975 13 1975 9 1976 3 1976 3 As can be seen, the number of western productions increased markedly between 1964 and 1965, much as the number of thrillers did between 1970 and 1971. As is also evident, western productions in Italy were largely confined to a time period of ten or so years, with peak production between 1965 and 1968; indeed, in 1967 and 1968 more than one-quarter of all Italian productions and co-productions were westerns. The giallo thriller was always less important than the western in box-office terms. Whereas each of the Dollars Trilogy took the top spot for box-office receipts in Italy for the year it was released, each of the Animal Trilogy only placed in the top ten. Nevertheless, a comparable pattern is evident, with giallo production at its peak in production in 1971-72 (Baroni, 1995a, 1995b). 3 Based on a Leone scenario and co-directed with Tonino Valerii. 4 The three films with animals in their titles are collectively also known as the Animal Trilogy or the Animal Films. 5 Together Suspiria and Inferno constitute the first two parts of theThree Mothers Trilogy. They are also sometimes referred to as the Three Mothers Films. 6 The film is entitled Tenebrae in English, but Tenebre in Italian. In both languages Tenebre is the title of the book within the film that gives it is name. 7 Leone and Argento’s influence amongst Italian genre filmmakers is further demonstrated by the plethora of westerns and thriller with titles that aped those of the Dollars Trilogy and the Animal Trilogy. A by no means exhaustive list would include For a Fist in the Eye (Dir: Michele Lupo, 1965); A River of Dollars (Dir: Carlo Lizzani, 1965); 10,000 Dollars for a Massacre (Dir: Romolo Guerreri, 1967); For 100,000 Dollars a Killing (Dir: Giovanni Fago, 1967); The Beautiful, The Ugly and the Stupid (Dir: Giovanni Grimaldi, 1967); A Coffin Full of Dollars (Dir: Demofilo Fidani, 1971);The Bloodstained Butterfly(Dir: Duccio Tessari, 1970); The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (Dir: Riccardo Freda, 1971); Don’t Torture a Duckling (Dir: Lucio Fulci, 1972), and Two Cats of Nine Tails... in the Middle of Amsterdam (Dir: Osvaldo Civriani, 1972). A few examples demonstrate the continuing international relevance of the two directors’ work: James Wan, the Australian-Malaysian director of Saw (2004), has remarked “a lot of people have said that Saw is similar in tone to Se7en, but the biggest influence wasn’t a recent Hollywood thriller at all. It was the work of Dario Argento from the 1970s.”7 US director Quentin Tarantino has labelled The Good, The Bad and the Ugly “cinematically