Sergio Corbucci was also the director of the cult western Django, which was banned in Britain for many years. Although The Big Silence is his best film, it has never been shown publicly here or in the United States. It’s easy to see why. The film, like most Italian westerns, is incredibly bleak and pessimistic; but worse, it has the most horrible ending of any film I’ve ever seen. It was considered so strong that the producers asked Corbucci to shoot another. Apparently, that version played in certain Middle Eastern countries, where action films are popular but they have to have a happy ending.