Review of Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) by Bradley C — 26 Aug 2013

Even if you don't like Westerns, you should watch this movie (you can kill me later if you don't like it). After watching a lot of blah movies this summer, I have finally realized what was missing after watching this movie. Story depth. This movie has more depth in the first 15 minutes than the majority of films that came out this summer. Sergio Leone crafted something amazing with this movie, from the camera work to the set pieces to the action and intensity. One thing that might annoy people is Sergio Leone worked on a form of silent communication between characters which I think works very, very well. This technique does involve quite a bit of eye action but the focus and the acting really stand out with what was being attempted. There is more Shakespeare in the non-speaking between characters in this movie than all of the last movie I saw (Mortal Instruments: City of Bones).

Let's talk about part of what makes this movie so special and why it has so much depth but first cinema history! Before this movie and others at the time, Westerns were more glamorized as forces between good and evil. Even if your hero was an outlaw, he was still a "good" guy. (On a side note something I find interesting is Westerns and Fantasy are actually very similar). It was often the good guy wore white or was in some way represented by white (white hat) and the bad guy would be all black or black hat (see, Fantasy again). In some ways, Cowboys were like the first superheroes a young generation identified with and then came the spaghetti westerns. Suddenly there were gray areas between black and white. The good guys were no longer paragons of virtue and the bad guys weren't so easily defined. It was a different type of Western and one that brought more thought into actual storytelling. This and Fistful of Dollars are to westerns like Watchmen is to comics.

Great so now that I have a little hyperbole out of the way let me go on into this movie specifically (and more hyperbole). When there is talk about shades of gray I think people misinterpret what is being said. Gray is after all a boring color and hard to get variety if everything is shades of gray (there must be more than 50 right?) What it is really talking about in my opinion is character motivation. We hear all the time about how characters should be 3D and not cardboard cutouts but have we thought about what that really means? Obviously it means characters should have a past but it's not just a past. It is series of life choices that lead them to that moment we are first introduced to them. There is still more though than that, it is how the consequences of past actions determines future choices and a character's primal motivation. The very thing that makes them tick and this movie demonstrates it on every character at every level. The characters drive the story and it suddenly stops becoming a simple fairy tale but something more real and emotional. Before people were just painting in black and white with stories but now there is something new added and it isn't gray, it is color. There is so much more range in what is being told.

Okay so you can tell I thought the characters were amazing but the story they tell in this movie is equally amazing. Right, so back to the beginning. The movie starts out with a mystery in what is happening and starts to deliver several different threads, slowly it all starts to weave together and come to a very satisfying conclusion. The story pacing is really something else and you can tell a lot of effort went into crafting this story. Charles Bronson delivers an outstanding performance a delivers some of the best one liners in any movie (sorry Arnold but Bronson really beat you on this one). Then you have the introduction of Frank played by Henry Fonda. This was quite a different role than what I am used to seeing Henry Fonda play and wow did he do an amazing job. This role is somewhat like Heath Ledger's Joker except I found Frank a bit more chilling. (Seriously, Frank and the Joker would be a scary combo). Then you have Cheyenne who ended up being my favorite character.... Well tied for favorite (okay so I am susceptible to eye candy, leave me alone). Jason Robards was simply put amazing, clever and really brought a different type of charisma to the movie. He is one of those there is method to his madness characters and always says something surprising. Then we have the lone female in the movie played by Claudia Cardinale. Who? Yeah I hadn't heard of her either but her character was very interesting (and guys... she is very pretty) because she wasn't quite the damsel in distress. She used what she knew and worked with people in ways that stayed true to her character in trying to accomplish what she wanted.

I hate to leave this for last and I almost forgot to mention this but the music in this movie is amazing. Ennio Morricone did an amazing job that is almost unparalleled in modern movies. It adds so much to the atmosphere and mood of what is being presented on screen but at the same time Sergio Leone also knew when to use silence very effectively. The movie uses sounds in such an incredible way. It really makes the movie over the top on my recommendation list.

In my opinion if you're even remotely interested in storytelling you should watch this movie. If you like westerns then chances are you have seen this movie already and are saying to yourself, "Wow, GE is slow on the uptake here." If you haven't seen it though, make time to see it. If you like adventure movies and action movies see this movie. If you recall I trashed The Lone Ranger and then watching this movie I thought it was so funny that they both share quite a few similarities but this movie is how to do it right. If you don't like older movies you should suck it up and watch this anyway. (At the end of the day if you don't like this movie, feel free to hurt me.).

This is on the Green Embers' Recommended List!