FACCIA A FACCIA [FACE TO FACE] (1967)
One of the best reviewed spaghetti western films of the genre’s golden era, Faccia a Faccia was the second western directed by Sergio Sollima after La Resa dei Conti in 1966. It stars Gian Maria Volontè as Professor Brad Fletcher, a liberal East Coast professor, who travels to the west during the American civil war and strikes up an unlikely relationship with Beauregard Bennet (Tomas Milian), a career criminal. Over the course of many years Fletcher and Bennet encounter each other several times, often saving each other’s lives, with each occurrence affecting the other man deeply – Fletcher teaches Bennet to be more humane, while Bennet gives Fletcher several hard doses of reality about life in the American west, and the circumstances which drove him to the outlaw life.
While not as memorable or outlandish as many of his other spaghetti westerns, Morricone’s score for Faccia a Faccia is excellent. The main theme, repeated numerous times in different variations throughout the score, is a rambunctious and dramatic piece which builds out of an impressionistic sequence for drums and organ, slowly turning into a superb combination of nerve-jangling guitars, riotous clashing brass clusters, and a soaring countermelody for strings and chorus. One particular variation on this theme, “Intermezzo,” features the sublimely operatic vocals of Morricone’s regular collaborator Edda dell'Orso.
A recurring secondary theme, “Involuzione,” speaks to the life of Tomas Milian’s character with softer tones, clearly lamenting the fact that truly desperate circumstances, as opposed to personal choice, forced Bennet into his life as a gunslinger. A third theme, “Disperata Nostalgia” is a lovely piece for quasi-romantic acoustic guitars, and there are the usual old-timey saloon music source cues for banjo and harmonica (“Falso Preannuncio,” “Ballando sull’Aia,” “Square Dance”), plus sparsely-scored moments of suspense and danger (“Clandestinamente,” “Scatto Conclusivo,” “Tensione Sottintesa”).
Several versions of the soundtrack for Faccia a Faccia exist; the best one is probably the 2015 GDM/Intermezzo Media 2-CD release, which combines the score with music from the 1971 film Senza Movente. The Faccia a Faccia album presents the excellent original 16-track LP release of the score which enhanced, clean-up stereo sound, and beefs up the running time with a dozen or so variations on the main theme., although the endless repetition does tend to become tiresome, and I usually play the original LP program, and stop after Track 16.
Track Listing: 1. Faccia a Faccia – Titoli (3:15), 2. Preannuncio (1:48), 3. Misterioso e Ostinato (2:22), 4. Clandestinamente (3:03), 5. Faccia a Faccia – Intermezzo (2:46), 6. Falso Preannuncio (2:04), 7. Attimi Irripetibili (0:41), 8. Scatto Conclusivo (1:36), 9. Faccia a Faccia – Ripresa (1:33), 10. Seconda Conclusione (0:45), 11. Disperata Nostalgia (0:49), 12. Tensione Sottintesa (2:00), 13. Involuzione Epica (1:08), 14. Faccia a Faccia (Finale (1:23), 15. Ballando sull’Aia (1:44), 16. Square Dance (4:53), 17. Involuzione Epica #2 (1:29), 18. Preannunico #2 (2:54), 19. Misterioso E Ostinato #2 (0:59), 20. Faccia a Faccia (1:37), 21. Involuzione (1:16), 22. Disperata Nostalgia #2 (0:47), 23. Faccia a Faccia – Ripresa #2 (1:19), 24. Faccia a Faccia – Duello (1:49), 25. Tensione Sottintesa #2 (1:41), 26. Misterioso e Ostinato #3 (0:38), 27. Tensione Sottintesa #3 (0:25), 28. Faccia a Faccia – Ripresa #3 (0:40), 29. Faccia a Faccia – Intermezzo #2 (0:54), 30. Involuzione Epica #3 (1:54), 31. Faccia a Faccia – Ripresa #4 (1:25), 32. Faccia a Faccia Suite (2:20), 33. Faccia a Faccia Titoli – Stereo (3:13), 34. Faccia a Faccia Intermezzo- Stereo (1:55). GDM/Intermezzo Media Records GDM-01005, 59 minutes 05 seconds.
