#41 Once Upon A Time In The West

In Summary

Two years after The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Sergio Leone made another grand Spaghetti Western, Once Upon A Time In The West.

The same filmmaking flair remains in Once Upon A Time In The West, the extensive use of close-ups and long shots, along with the timing of scenes to musical cues, however, the story follows a much more convoluted plot as characters form and disband varying alliances across the two hours and 45 minutes of screentime.

There are four lead characters in Once Upon A Time In The West who are roped into a plot involving a dead man and a railroad fortune. Frank, a cold-blooded killer, played by Henry Fonda. The mysterious harmonica playing assassin, played by Charles Bronson. The widowed Jill McBain, played by Claudia Cardinale. And finally, Cheyenne, the outlaw, played by Jason Robards.

The complex web of Once Upon A Time In The West is pointed towards during the opening scenes. The film starts with a group of outlaws waiting, and waiting, and waiting, at a desolate train station. The audience waits for the film to get going, when it does, each of these men are abruptly slayed by a newcomer with a harmonica.

The film then cuts to a man out hunting with his kid, heading home for dinner with the rest of his children. Just as it feels the film has settled down, the man and all his children are cut down by Frank and his gang.

It is only the third scene, when we are introduced to Jill McBain, where the film really starts to get going. Nonetheless, Leone has laid down the lawless, ruthless world in which Once Upon A Time In The West exists, as well as an air of mystery as to what the reasoning behind the murdering is.

Throughout the rest of the film, information is drip-fed to the audience as to what the nature of the mystery really is. However, Once Upon A Time In The West is really a film about conflict itself rather than the mystery that drives the plot forward.

A Memorable Quote

I saw three of these dusters a short time ago. They were waiting for a train. Inside the dusters, there were three men... Inside the men, there were three bullets.

Things You May Not Know

• Henry Fonda initially turned down the role of Frank, only to be convinced by Sergio Leone. Leone wanted the audience to be shocked that Fonda - who generally played good guys - was the cold-blooded murderer.
• For the film's opening scene, the filmmakers put jam on one of the actor's faces so that flies would land on it.
• Clint Eastwood was intended for the role of 'Harmonica' but turned it down. Charles Bronson was the third-choice for the role, behind James Coburn.

One of the Greatest of All Time?
Once Upon A Time In The West is a film I respect more than I enjoyed. I appreciate the technical skill and flair that went into making this film, however, I found the form of storytelling a little too slow to keep me engaged throughout the film's length.

Although this is a shorter film than The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, it feels much longer as it lacks that sense of narrative drive that Leone's previous Western epic had. Leone arguably linger a little too long over individual scenes and shots, where a similar effect could be achieved with quicker pacing - this is most apparent during the scene introducing Jill McBain, which comes across as overly grandiose.

Once Upon A Time In The West feels more of a filmmaker's film than an audience's.