When it comes to westerns, few rival the span and spectacle of Sergio Leone’s epic spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West. Originally released in Italy in 1968 and released in the United States a year later, the movie wasn’t an immediate hit with the critics but has since found legendary status. It is also the first portion of a rather loose trilogy, the other two being A Fistful of Dynamite from 1971 and Once Upon a Time in America from 1984.
Once Upon a Time in the West is a masterpiece brimming with tremendous depth, character development, and dark humour. Leone’s creation was originally designed as a way to work with Henry Fonda, an actor who Leone had admired for a long time. After creating his epic masterpiece The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Sergio wanted to quit doing westerns. However, the studios would only offer him film opportunities within that genre. When the chance to work with Fonda came up in a western format, Leone jumped at the chance. But he was going to do things his way and show the audience a side of Fonda never before seen.
Fonda stars as Frank, a brutal gang leader who guns down a whole family without flinching. He frames a bandit, Cheyenne (Jason Robards), for the killing and moves on. Harmonica (Charles Bronson) is on the trail of Frank, hoping to gain vengeance for the killing of Harmonica’s older brother. These three characters all swirl around Jill (Claudia Cardinale), who holds the key to important land on which her deceased husband, killed by Frank, was intending to build a small town to capitalize on the well water and the passing steam train.
Once Upon a Time in the West is the quintessential tale of land development and corruption in the early formative days of the American West. The story, put together by then-film critics Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci, would use elements from typical westerns of the time. Argento and Bertolucci studied The Searchers, High Noon, and other classic westerns to get the flow of the story down pat. Mickey Knox, an American ex-pat, came along to write the dialogue for the film and editor Sergio Donati helped file down the runtime. Leone’s films were notorious for their immense length and needed to be cut down for a general box office release. This never pleased the director, of course.
Stylistically, Leone captured this film in a different style than some of his other westerns. The pacing is not upbeat or lively. Instead, Once Upon a Time in the West is a rather sombre tale with constantly changing characters. Cheyenne, Harmonica, and Frank often change their views and become increasingly hard to define by the normal western stereotypes, creating a complexity to the film. The character of Jill is especially challenging, as she is prepared to do just about anything to save her own skin.
It is this style that helps Once Upon a Time in the West become one of the all-time great westerns. Its slow and deliberate gait help increase the suddenness of the violence and the calamity of its more chaotic moments. The gunfights are sudden, brief, and violent. This approach gives a real sense of danger to the characters, demonstrating that a moment is all that is needed to change the entire course of events in the story. The rituals preceding the violence are given far more time here to develop, as Leone’s interest lies not with the gunfight but with the prelude to it and the aftermath.
Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best westerns I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. The characters are bold and have tremendous depth. The cinematography is excellent and often quirky and surprising, giving way to some compelling shots. The music from Ennio Morricone is tremendous, as always, and builds on the film’s almost-mythic qualities. Fonda, Robards, Bronson, and the beautiful Claudia Cardinale are all fantastic in their roles, too, especially Fonda, whose turn as a terrifying villain serves to highlight a wonderful career. Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West has all the ingredients of a masterpiece.
10/10
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