Review of Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) by Brooks C — 24 Nov 2012

After his successful Dollars Trilogy, master director Sergio Leone made a film that not only was met with acclaim, but also helped to solidify his reputation as a filmmaker of non-American Westerns. One of the most amazing things about the Spaghetti Westerns is how the Spanish landscape closely resembles that of the Old West. This movie was mostly shot in Utah, but the final scene was shot in Spain. Due to the films being made by Italian filmmakers it would go to prove that these more realistic westerns use filmmaking techniques that were greatly exploited by Italian filmmakers around the time in order to create more effective westerns.

Set in the fictional town of Flagstone, AZ a notorious sociopath named Frank (played by Henry Fonda) is on the loose. When three of his stationed gang members are killed by a vengeful gunslinger simply known as Harmonica (Charles Bronson) at a train station he goes on a rampage and kills the McBain family in cold blood right before the widowed father, Brett McBain and his older son go to the train station to welcome his new wife Jill (played by the lovely Claudia Cardinale). Upon arrival at a bar near the Sweetwater Ranch, she meets Harmonica and discovers the family's demise. When she is presented with a piece of cloth that was left behind at the scene Mrs. McBain decides to stay at the ranch in hopes of protecting its main water supply and ensuring the railroad's construction. She learns that the cloth belongs to Cheyenne (played by Jason Robards). When Cheyenne learns about a plot to take over the 320-acre land of Sweetwater by a shady railroad tycoon, he decides to help Harmonica on his personal quest in ensuring that everything goes according to plan and to clear his name of the crime.

Sergio Leone is one of Italy's greatest directors. After having seen the Dollars Trilogy I've always associated Leone's western protagonist as being Clint Eastwood. Leone manages to successfully depart from what seemed like a typical western formula for him and went with Charles Bronson. The cast of actors in this film is great and Charles Bronson is no exception to Eastwood. Bronson's character is perhaps the darkest protagonist I've seen yet in a spaghetti western. Like Eastwood's Man with no Name, Bronson's character also has no name and is given the name Harmonica because of his character's trademark. I think that not revealing the protagonist's name, especially in westerns, helps to add more of a dark charisma and makes the character more intriguing. The fact that Cheyenne names him Harmonica reminds me of when Eli Wallach's character in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly named Eastwood Blondie.

Unlike Eastwood's character we get backstory to Harmonica and why he is on the quest he is. Eastwood's character felt more like a wandering vagabond with no name who just gets involved in many events and just works his way out. The story to Once Upon a Time in the West doesn't just center on Harmonica, but it mostly tells everything in an omniscient perspective. The focus is mostly on the town and what every character is trying to accomplish. This is a film that is greatly balanced out in terms of narrative and content. Every scene contributes to something and nothing feels unpolished. One thing I will say is that the ending did drag on a little. Leone was guilty of this same thing when he made Once Upon a Time in America, but editing his films from their original counterparts would detract from their engagement quality.

Ennio Morriconie did the music. Ennio is no stranger to making fantastic music tracks to whatever film he works on. He did the music to many Spaghetti Westerns like For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, My Name is Nobody, A Fistful of Dynamite, etc. The music to this movie isn't as eclectic or abundant as the previous Leone westerns, but the soundtrack to this movie is wonderful and does its job nicely.

This movie is one of the greatest Spaghetti Westerns ever made. It has been credited as the film that re-established the Western's significance as cinema art. Everything from the music, cast, directing, cinematography, and complex story is more than enough to earn my recommendation. This film may drag on near the ending, but that alone is not enough to change my view of this movie. Watch it with an open mind and experience the genius that is Sergio Leone.