1968 ‘C'era una volta il West’ Directed by Sergio Leone
This classic western masterpiece is an epic film about a widow whose land and life are in danger as the railroad is getting closer and closer to taking them over. A mysterious harmonica player joins forces with a desperado to protect the woman and her land.
Although Sergio Leone never really made anything better or more entertaining than The Good, the Bad & the Ugly in my opinion, he did come incredibly close to repeating that cinematic feat with this spaghetti western epic. A stunning work of blazing originality & featuring precision craftsmanship in nearly all departments of filmmaking, Once Upon a Time in the West is western in its purest form that fuses breathtaking art into the legacy of Wild West unlike any other example before or after it.
The story revolves around a small chunk of land which is the region's only water source. The family that owns the land is slaughtered by Frank & his gang, after which the ownership transfers to Jill, the widow of…
A true masterpiece in every sense of the word! The opening scene takes the mundane (sweaty gunslingers with weathered faces, dripping water, pesky fly and a rusty old windmill) and literally turns it into a work of art!
A western that's so real you can almost see the beard stubble grow by the minute and the sweat trickling from your screen!
Gorgeous cinematography with soundtracks ranging from glorious, to thrilling, to haunting! An all star cast as magnificent as the film itself! (Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale)
As lusty as it is gutsy! A place and time when guns and grimaces did all of the talking!
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Beautifully composed, shot, and told, Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West" is well deserving of its reputation as one of the best Westerns ever made. An epic story of lawlessness, vengeance, and the women and men conquering the untamed American west, Leone's film is meditative and gritty, sweeping and violent. It compels with its carefully composed aesthetic, archetypal-yet-specifically drawn characters, and grand themes.
Steeped in dirt, sweat, and stubble, Leone's film is made up of narrative threads well-known to genre fans. Murder, westward expansion, and frontier justice dominate the plot. The story focuses on a widow whose husband owned precious water rights near the town of Flagstone. With parties trying to forcibly rid the widow of her…
"Do you know anything about a guy going around playing the harmonica? He's someone you'd remember. Instead of talking, he plays. And when he better play, he talks."
What a pleasure it was for me to finally get to watch this masterpiece which I kept on putting off because of its nearly three hour runtime. I was blown away by Sergio Leone’s direction in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, and that was the only film of his that I’d seen up to this point, but now I honestly can’t say which of the two films I prefer. This is perhaps a better film because it is set on a grander and epic scale, but perhaps not as entertaining…
Almost 50 years after it's release we're still guaranteed to be captivated by Once Upon a Time in the West's beautiful photography, the incredibly ambitious story, the untalkative ironic humor, the stylistic directing, the perfect ensemble cast and last but not least, Ennio Morricone's both grandiose and minimalist musical score. If there ever was a film that stood the test of time, without any signs of flaws, this is it.
Once Upon a Time in the West is - along side with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - my favourite Sergio Leone western. It describes one of the most mythical eras in American history: The building of the Pacific Railroad.
As the thematic and manufacturing scale of the…
Masterpiece
Beyond the fact that this is one of the greatest movies ever made, this movie teaches you one very important lesson. DON'T F*CK WITH CHARLES BRONSON.
Before seeing this film I was led to believe that it was a masterpiece on the level of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Many people say it is Sergio Leone's true masterpiece. Unfortunately, I didn't find this to be true. The film felt overly long and drawn out. A movie like TGTBaTU is quite long, but it feels like an real adventure where things are progressing. This film felt like it could easily be 30 minutes shorter if not more. The characters weren't that memorable, and the plot takes a long time to get going. The film looks good, with odd strange shooting decision thrown in, but unfortunately I've come to expect more from these films than jus looking good.
Being a Sergio Leone film, it's obviously well-made and also benefits from some good performances and scenes that, taken individually, are great. However, the movie's plot can be highly convoluted, which did stop me from fully enjoying it at times. Slightly disappointing considering its reputation, but still worth a watch.
This film has a lot going for it: the score, beautiful cinematography, great costumes and set design, and some inventive use of audience expectations against them (for example, casting Henry Fonda as the villain).
But anyone awarding this film 5 stars is overlooking some glaring flaws. Sound mixing is terrible. You have the sound up just high enough to hear the dialogue and then a train rolls by and blows out your eardrums. This type of thing happens again and again.
The acting is meh, despite all the star power, although I suppose you could blame this on poor dubbing, or bad dialogue, or poorly set up character motivations. Everyone looks great, in the sense that they look like they…
"I tend to like Sergio Leone's work and this one did have a good story and looked great, but I found it a bit of a struggle to stay awake through some scenes. In fact, I did fall asleep about an hour in when I first tried to watch it. There's only so much close-up squinting and spitting one can handle before the attention wanders. Still, taken as a whole the picture was pretty damned good and I'd be happy to watch it again sometime. I think I'll just have to remember to drink lots of caffeinated beverages first. :op"
I had a hell of a time sitting through this movie on a plane. The first 2 acts were slow. Some say this is about building tension, but I was bored out of my mind. The movie never gives you any real reason to care. The main character gets shot in the first scene AND THEN THIS IS NEVER ADDRESSED AGAIN. He is basically invincible. Does it even matter who we root for when we know he will win every gun duel and kill EVERYONE with little effort?
Morricone is a genius, but I hated the soundtrack and sound effects. Just constant fucking whirring and chirping and every high-pitched squeal you could imagine.
And yeah I get that these Westerns are about building tension and maintaining mystery or whatever but could we get some fucking character development ffs?
And fine, I'll say it: I couldn't tell the difference between a lot of the characters.
Popular opinion would have us believe that The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is Leone’s magnum opus and the greatest western of all time. While the latter title is more arguable, the former is certainly one many avid moviegoers would also attribute to this film, and that debate will probably rage on for quite some time still. I’m not sure quite where I stand yet, given this is my first viewing of this piece while I’ve seen the other twice, but I’m certain both are magnificent pieces of work. Leone has come a long way from simply adapting a Kurosawa film just a few years earlier to creating these two masterworks.
Much of that praise should also be given…
Autumn Rewatch Challenge 2017
second mission accomplished:
Rewatch one of your Top Ten favorite films of all time: "Once Upon a Time in the West"
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