Review of Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) by Simon H — 11 Jul 2014

Once Upon a Time in the West is a well made Western but I can not see it being everyone's ideal entertainment for the almost 3 hour running time. I believe the running time is what the issue is. For myself personally I felt the pacing of the film hard to follow and a bit of work on editing may help. Once the plot went in a direction that caught your attention it would not be long until it began to slow down again. This kept repeating itself throughout the film and did not seem to keep a steady (but exciting) pace. I ended up finding myself struggling to keep my attention fro the full 3 hours as well as finding myself confused over which character I should have been rooting for. The film started with a situation occuring which should have worked into a storyline of revenge, but you never really feel that this is what you end with. The ending expected happened but it was how that puzzled me. It could be that this is how Sergio Leone wanted it to go by giving it an unpredictable feel to normal life in the West, but for me it just felt disappointing.

Away from this personal issue of mine though, I can not praise enough the work that has been put into this film. The script is well written with nice amounts of humour pocketed in there. The usual choice of the Spanish filming locations is a smart move. With the sets and costumes suitable for the era you really find yourself in the Wild West and not watching a film set. The music is also spot on with the fantastic haunting sound of the harmonic played whenever Charles Bronson enters the scene.

Once Upon a Time in the West includes an excellent cast and has been made to perfectly represent the West. The opening scene with detail to every single thing in the frame is a ideal example to what perfect filmmaking is. Whilst I did not appreciate the story fully this time, hopefully a second viewing would give me the chance to understand it more and reward it a full 5 stars.