Review of Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) by Peter H — 16 Mar 2011

Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST [1968]: this is truly one of the most amazing Spaghetti Westerns ever made, combining elements from classic Hollywood westerns with stunning cinema-photography , brilliant performances from the main cast, a haunting and amazing score by Ennio Morricone and brilliant direction from Sergio Leone. ONCE was made not long after Leone had finished his "Dollar Trilogy" with THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY [1966] which was a huge success for Leone but when ONCE originally hit screens as a follow up to GOOD the original audiences and critics were not impressed by ONCE, but now well over 43 years later this film has become a wildly celebrated masterpiece of cinema (much like other masterpieces of cinema that have meet much better parse as time goes by). So here is another positive review of the jaw-droopingly brilliant film ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.

THE PLOTLINE: Much like other Leone Westerns the story in this film is straight forward; with a backdrop setting of the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. When a farm family, the Mc Bain's are brutally murdered by hired gunmen headed by a ruthless outlaw called Frank (Henry Fonda). The reason for the massacre was to clear the way for the fast approaching railroad of the rail tycoon, Mr Morton. But when a woman called Jill arrives in town and turns out to be the widow of the late Mr Mc Bain and the new owner of the Mc Bain estate, Jill's life is in danger until a mysterious man with a harmonica (Charles Bronson) and an outlaw called Cheyenne come to her aid.

The acting in this film is all round brilliant for what little dialogue that is featured in this film, but the cinema-photography, the haunting score by Morricone and the direction by Leone make this a truly classic western and an unforgettable film, my rating is a worthy 100%.