Once Upon a Time in the West Reviews

Although I have not seen all his films, I have yet to see a Sergio Leone film I hate. The movies I have seen of his are visually gorgeous with superb scores and interesting stories and characters. Once Upon a Time in the West is no exception. It is long and slow, but I think the film was deliberately paced like that.

Once Upon a Time in the West does take a lot of risks, including improvising the action around the score's moods. This was a risk that paid off. The story is rich and compelling and the dialogue is thought provoking and beautifully written. Leone also proved what a fine director he was by directing so wonderfully on this film.

The characters are great and quite complex, and are further advantaged by being wonderfully portrayed. There is the brutish gunfighter, the beautiful widow, the mysterious harmonica player and the sympathetic outlaw. Henry Fonda particularly does brilliantly in the role of Frank. The visuals once again are exquisite and quite grandiose in its scope and beauty, while Ennio Morricone's wonderfully operatic-like score fully justifies why he is considered one of the all-time great film composers.

All in all, a big and bold western and one unlike any other. It also took risks, ones which could have gone horribly wrong but due to the evident work and care of all involved, they paid off. 10/10 Bethany Cox

this masterpiece of Sergio Leone is surely in the top 3 of the best western movie ever made and the all stars cast and the legendary soundtrack from Ennio Morricone have made this film one of the most legendary western movie of all time.

Pounding hooves, train's signal, music scores, gunshots; All the classic Western sounds are present here. Rough & tough men, fedoras, trenchcoats, trains, standoffs; All the strong points of Western are greatly detailed here. Oh, it also has Claudia Cardinale and Henry Fonda's stunning blue eyes thrown as a bonus. It is generally considered as the greatest western film ever made and subsequently, one of the greatest of all time. Now you see, I'm 50-50 with that comment. Sergio Leone was a great director, no doubt, but this film just did not have the fire, the intensity, the nail-biting atmosphere as his Dollars Trilogy had. This one had a more sombre, slow pace to it, something I both enjoyed and got irritated by it. I mean, I enjoyed it from A to Z but I was expecting a lot violence and epic standoffs, something this film offers little to none. Unlike the character-and-dialogue driven Dollars Trilogy, this film was more story driven. A stiff, hard on the edges story, more like. To tell you the truth, I liked the characters more than anything. They were greatly - and minimistically - written for the screen and superbly acted by the cast. There was a heavy sense of realism going around. No actor veered from their character and all stayed true to it till the very end; The mysterious remained the mysterious, the villain the villain and the greedy the greedy.

Moving forward, Sergio Leone is one of those directors that, when a group of people discuss and argue about his films, end up narrowing it down to just two: Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, widely considered to be his greatest achievements, and greatest works of cinema as a whole. The latter is the third chapter of the Dollars Trilogy I've mentioned above, while the former is original and has no connection to it. Both are at the top of the Western genre and are often ranked at the top. In my opinion, Once Upon..., mature and sensible it may look, is not better than The Good... It's like Need For Speed II: SE and Need For Speed Carbon. The no-laws-apply-here attitude of the former is much more enjoyable than the realistic approach of the latter. No matter how tuned-up and realistic the series become, many people still opt for the older, man-were-they-serious by-gone titles. I guess that's the case here.

Changing tracks, from the performances, I thoroughly enjoyed Jason Robards as Cheyenne. A character like Cheyenne might sound like a complicated character on paper, but Robards tackled him professionally and as uncomplicately as possible. An impressive performance, might win you over the first time. Being the sole female of the film, Claudia Cardinale handled the film on her shoulders amazingly. She was fun to watch. Granted, Charles Bronson never really was in my top 100, as I consider him to be an OK actor, his performance as Harmonica was also quite OK. I mean, he was perfect for the role, he just wasn't 100% into it, but still good if compared to today's standards. Now, the only guy who challenged Robards squarely in the eye has to be Henry Fonda as Frank, the antagonist of the film. Seeing him as a villain was disturbing, as he had by that time established himself as playing heroes. His hypnotizing stare and striking blue eyes made him a unique personality on-screen. I believe every weather-beaten, heartless villain should have these two characteristics, chop chop, as they are striking and dominating.

In all, Once Upon... is an impressive movie, and takes itself too seriously, which might repel some viewers. If you're not one of them, then it is for you! Try it!

8.5/10

The film portrays two conflicts that take place around Flagstone, a fictional town in the American Old West: a land battle related to construction of a railroad, and a mission of vengeance against a cold-blooded killer. The main storyline revolves around a struggle for Sweetwater, a piece of land near Flagstone containing the region's only water source. The land was bought by Brett McBain (Frank Wolff), who foresaw that the railroad would have to pass through that area to provide water for the steam locomotives. When railroad tycoon Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) learns of this, he sends his hired gun Frank (Fonda) to simply intimidate McBain to move off the land, but Frank instead kills McBain and his three children, planting evidence on the scene to frame the bandit Cheyenne (Robards) and his gang. By the time McBain's new bride, Jill (Cardinale), arrives from New Orleans, the family is dead and she is the owner of the land.
Henry Fonda as Frank

Meanwhile, a mysterious harmonica-playing gunman (Bronson), whom Cheyenne later dubs "Harmonica", pursues Frank. In the film's opening scene, Harmonica kills three men sent by Frank to kill him, and, in a roadhouse on the way to Sweetwater, he informs Cheyenne that the three gunfighters he killed appeared to be posing as Cheyenne's men. Sometime later, Harmonica kills two men sent by Frank to kill Jill.

Back at Sweetwater, construction materials are delivered to build a railroad station and a small town. Harmonica explains to Cheyenne that Jill will lose Sweetwater unless the station is built by the time the track's construction crews reach that point, and Cheyenne puts his men to work building it.
Claudia Cardinale as Jill McBain

Meanwhile, Frank turns against Morton, who wanted to make a deal with Jill. Frank's betrayal is made easy by the fact that Morton is crippled. After having his way with her, Frank forces Jill to sell the property in an auction. He tries to buy the farm cheaply by intimidating the other bidders, but Harmonica arrives, holding Cheyenne at gunpoint, and makes a much higher bid based on his reward money for delivering Cheyenne to the authorities. After rebuffing another intimidation attempt by Frank, Harmonica sells the farm back to Jill. At this point, some of Frank's men try to kill Frank, having been paid by Morton to turn against him, but Harmonica helps Frank kill them in order to save that privilege for himself.

After Morton and the rest of Frank's men are killed in a battle with Cheyenne's gang, Frank goes to Sweetwater to confront Harmonica. On two occasions, Frank has asked Harmonica who he is, but both times Harmonica refused to answer him. Instead, he mysteriously quoted names of men Frank has murdered. The two men position themselves for a duel, at which point Harmonica's motive for revenge is revealed in a flashback: When Harmonica was a boy, Frank killed his older brother by tying a noose to the top of an arch, placing it around the brother's neck, and forcing Harmonica to support his brother on his shoulders with a harmonica in his mouth. Harmonica draws first and shoots Frank, and when Frank again asks who he is, he puts the harmonica in Frank's mouth. Frank nods weakly in recognition and dies.

With Frank dead, Harmonica and Cheyenne say goodbye to Jill, who is supervising construction of the train station as the track-laying crews reach Sweetwater. Cheyenne collapses almost immediately, revealing that he was shot by Morton while he and his men were fighting Frank's gang. The work train arrives, and the film ends as Jill carries water to the rail workers and Harmonica rides off with Cheyenne's body towards the horizon

It had been a while since the last time I saw this flick so I thought it was definitely time for a re-watch. And, of course, it was pretty awesome. To be honest, 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' remains, hands down, my favorite Western directed by Sergio Leone but this one was very good as well. Indeed, the directing, the acting, the music, everything was quite amazing. Back in those days, it was pretty shocking to see the great Henry Fonda, who always played the righteous man, portray this time a cold heartless SOB. I mean, if I recall correctly it, he even shots a kid in his very first scene. It was also pretty neat to see Charles Bronson in a decent movie for once. Apparently, at the time, Sergio Leone actually was done making Westerns and wanted to move on towards something else but then when he was given the biggest budget he ever had and the opportunity to work with Henry Fonda, he reconsidered and created arguably one of the best Westerns ever made. Personally, even though I did like it very much, the story didn't grab me as much as 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' but it was still pretty spellbinding. To conclude, it is a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

''If you want to, you can lay me over the table and amuse yourself. And even call in your men. Well. No woman ever died from that. When you're finished, all I'll need will be a tub of boiling water, and I'll be exactly what I was before - with just another filthy memory.
-sighs-''You make good coffee, at least?''


Epic story of a mysterious stranger with a harmonica who joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.

Henry Fonda: Frank

Claudia Cardinale: Jill McBain

Jason Robards: Cheyenne

Charles Bronson: Harmonica

There were three men in her life.

One to take her...

one to love her...

and one to kill her.

C'era una volta il West by Sergio Leone the man who made The Good, The bad and the Ugly has crafted something of legend, of finesse, of grandeur.

Never before have i seen a Western that feels like a fairytale and music and tuneful heavenly melodies that jump out and set the scene, the mood. Music that tears your soul apart in vibrant doses. Harmonica playing, whistling, shanties, some harpsichord/piano playing oh god I'm in heaven. There's some tunes that will stick in your head all day on this, the scenes pay gladly, and it surely pays off.

Combine that with performances that are as timeless as eternity and you have something that really does glow. Claudia Cardinale is so beautiful, she really cannot be faulted with how her face shows such soulful sorrow and yearning and such beauty. Although I'm always amazed how a woman living in the turbulent West can have perfect make up and perfect eye lashes.
Henry Fonda as Frank plays a cool calculating villain with those radiant eyes of sea blue. The beginning massacre reminded me of Kill Bill, where him and his men wipe out a whole family.
Charles Bronson also has a shroud of mystery and wonder, he's a legend and screams this with just a look everytime he's on screen. Plus that damn iconic Harmonica hence his alias which adds to the mystery of his character.
Jason Robards has a voice that makes David Carradine sound like his long lost brother from yonder, he adds alot to the amazing trio that is Fonda, Bronson & Robards.

Gunwork, cinematography, score, did i mention Claudia. This movie is a dazzling magical Western Classic that combines tunes with emotion, and has character's who know what there doing.

There's a final revelation between Fonda & Bronson that clicks everything in place.

A Sergio Leone triumph. Masterpiece and inspiration for many movies to follow after 1968. Definitely ahead of the game and it's time.

''He's whittlin' on a piece of wood. I've got a feeling when he stops whittlin'... Somethin's gonna happen.''

When I went into this, I knew I'd have to write something about it, so as I watched I kind of pictured what I'd do. After 25 minutes I said to myself "The first 25 minutes of this movie are perfect!" Then, after 45, I said "The first 45 minutes of this movie are perfect!" And so it went on for a 160 minutes, after which the only thing I could think of about for this review is "The 160 minutes of this film are perfect!" So yeah, Once Upon a Time in the West sure deserves all the praise it gets. It's called the ultimate western, but it's so much more than that. Sure, it has all the things any good western should have and none of the things it shouldn't have (meaning that there are no saloon fist fights, thank god), but the movie also has soooo much more to it. All the dialogue is layered with subtext ontop of subtext, none of it is nonsenical, everything reveals more and more about these great characters. The performances are beyond solid, providing atleast four unforgettable characters that will haunt anyone who dares enter Leone's masterpiece. The pacing is pitch-perfect every step of the way as well, as is, well, pretty much every other thing as well. The sole problem I can come up with that actually bothered me during the film is the way the score occasionally ends and then restarts. This sometimes works, but every once in a while a tune just cuts in a bad point where the transition from music to no music doesn't feel natural and it kind of takes me out of the film when this happens. The train scene with Harmonica aboard is a good example of this. This is however by no means a flaw that would lower my appreciation towards the picture in any way. This is a film that could be used as the dictionary definition for masterpiece.