A respected expert on many aspects of cultural history, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling is the author of the popular and critically acclaimed biography Sergio Leone, Something to do with Death and is a world renowned expert on the Spaghetti Western.   

In this talk, based on his subsequent book Sergio Leone – Once Upon A Time in Italy (2005), and illustrated with many clips, Christopher Frayling will discuss Leone’s groundbreaking Westerns. Enthralled by the myths of the American West, Leone set out to make films that were ‘fairy tales for grown ups’, packed with quotes from moments of his favourite films.   

A Fistful of Dollars (1964) kick-started the remarkable Spaghetti Western phenomenon, smashing all box office records in Italy and becoming a huge international success. Leone’s style and vision evolved through the ‘Dollars Trilogy’ – A

 Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966) – culminating with the extraordinary Once Upon A Time in the West (1968), which regularly appears in critics’ ‘best of’ lists. His last Western, A Fistful of Dynamite aka Duck, You Sucker (1971), was a ‘late reaction against idealistic Italian “political” Westerns set in the Mexican Revolution’.   

Sergio Leone became one of the most popular and influential directors of the Post-War era. Quentin Tarantino has cited Leone as not only his favourite Italian filmmaker, but also ‘the greatest combination of film stylist – [and] storyteller’. His films were scored unforgettably by Ennio Morricone, and his casting of the character that became known as ‘the Man with No Name’ turned an initially reluctant Clint Eastwood into one of the biggest icons of cinema history.    

This event is expected to end around 22.00.   

Tickets & Pricing

Spring Season 2011 ticketing applies.