Once Upon a Time in the West

1968 ‘C'era una volta il West’ Directed by Sergio Leone

The father of the spaghetti western returns again, with his most masterful work yet!

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.

Claudia Cardinale Henry Fonda Jason Robards Charles Bronson Gabriele Ferzetti Paolo Stoppa Woody Strode Jack Elam Keenan Wynn Frank Wolff Lionel Stander Livio Andronico Salvatore Basile Aldo Berti Joseph Bradley Frank Braña Marilù Carteny Saturno Cerra Luigi Ciavarro Spartaco Conversi Bruno Corazzari Bill Crawley Paolo Figlia John Frederick Don Galloway Michael Harvey Robert Hossein Stefano Imparato Francesca Leone Show All…

Alternative Titles

Er was eens in het verre Westen, Ükskord Metsikus Läänes, Fins que li va arribar l'hora, Bilo jednom na Divljem zapadu, Dastan-e bozorg-e gharb, Ruzi ruzegary gharb, Kartą vakaruose, Había una vez en el Oeste, Het gebeurde in het westen, Ondt blod i Vesten, Dawno temu na Dzikim Zachodzie, A fost odată în vest, Harmonica - En hämnare, Bilo je nekoč na Divjem zahodu, Batıda Kan Var

western

166 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★★ 7

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 a soundtrack ranging from glorious, to thrilling, to haunting! An all star cast as magnificent as the film itself! Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, and Claudia Cardinale!
As lusty as it is gutsy! A place and time when guns and grimaces did all of the talking!
Naughty Approved!
Review by CinemaClown ★★★★★ 27

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…
Review by Sean Baker 4

Felt it was time for a revisit. One of my faves.
I tweeted about and someone was nice enough to reply with this link:
ascmag.com/articles/shooting-once-upon-a-time-in-the-west
Good read.
Watched on Blu-ray
Review by Monday Seagull 8

Cinema might as well be silent again.
Sleep well, Maestro. Your music will live forever.
Review by matt lynch ★★★★★

"There were no dollars back then."
"But sons of bitches, yeah."
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 13

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…
Review by Sid ★★★★★ 6

This was a rewarding experience from start to finish,a masterpiece in true sense.It excels in every department but what stands out to me are the intense character moments and the clever action sequences.The West is brought to life by atmospheric cinematography and chilling score.
Review by Two Cineasts ★★★★★ 12

“Keep you loving brother happy.”
(Henry Fonda as Frank)

Hi everybody, I rewatched this masterpiece and it was just ohh wow. I get the feeling it gets better, any time I watch it. In my opinion, it’s the greatest western and of course one of the best films of all time and not to forget it places on number 45 on our “111 favorite movies” list. Long time I had thought about writing a review to that movie, but I was afraid to write something satisfying about such an important film. I will try to analyze everything that’s mentionable. I think most…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★

"something to do with death."
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★★ 1

Sergio Leone’s epic western Once Upon a Time in the West informs a tale of the consequence of loss together with the exploration for vengeance and sketches an across-the-board picture that while deliverance might be achieved, it can never bring back what's been taken away. Tonino Delli Colli’s cinematography ensures that it's a beautifully shot film from beginning to end with stunningly composed unhurried scenes with very little dialogue, and Leon gives prominence to the evil and bravado of masculinity into the narrative.
The cast and performances are uniformly fantastic, with Henry Fonda cast against type as villain Frank, and Claudia Cardinale as Jill McCain who's much more than the conventional one-dimensional female character often found within the Western genre. There’s…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 8

"There were no dollars in them days."
All of Sergio Leone's westerns have been about the arrival of capitalism (both to the historical American West and to then-contemporary 1960's Italy), but Once Upon a Time in the West takes a slightly more specific perspective. Instead of looking at the (monetary) value of life, it uses the symbol of the cowboy to chart how the arrival of capital and industry parallels the decline of traditional male heroism. Industrialization causes heroic masculinity to defensively over-inflate and begin to collapse in on itself. The film takes this macho war hero whose glory days are behind him and shows how society is moving forward without him. Removed from the spotlight, this symbolic centerpiece is…
Review by ☆ Sophie ☆ 4

Reel Genius Movie Club Watches Ranked
Recommended by: Stephen Busch
I don’t think I’ll be able to rate or review this film properly. I had so much trouble getting through the movie and it took me about 5 hours to finish the entire thing. I just could not get I to this one for the life of me. I don’t know if it was my mood, or I just wasn’t feeling the film. I do know one good thing: Ennio Morricone’s score was brilliant and my favorite aspect of the film. Other than that, I could have cared less about the film.
I feel bad because this film is a classic and is considered a masterpiece of cinema. But I guess slow westerns are not for me.

Recent reviews

Review by Pouriya Nozargan ★★★★

بگو ببینم واقعاً لازم بود همه‌شون رو بکُشی؟ بهت گفتم فقط اونا رو بترسونی
-مردم وقتی دارن می میرن بیشتر ترس رو درک می‌کنند
Review by Jeankle Rinkle ★★★★

Sergio Leone made a movie where the first 10 minutes is mostly just some guys waiting for a train and made it engaging and interesting. I don't know how he does it.
This movie also has one of the best soundtracks for any movie. R.I.P. Ennio Morricone, your work really elevated movies to something bigger than life.
Review by rix397 ★★★★½

Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone were the most dangerous pair in the west.
Also, the final duel is now one of my favorite scenes ever.
Review by bafoofleton ★★★★

soundtrack!
Review by Charlie

The film speaks for itself immensely but I’ll do my best.
This is such an epic western, it’s runtime alone should indicate how massive this feels. It had a real sense of maturity. It was a lot more atmospheric than Leone usually does from what I’ve seen, Fistful of dollars felt more like a gunslinger fun thriller, whereas this was very dense.
Like I said before, atmospheric. The opening scene is perfect in my opinion, and that lead to the rest of the film allowing me to just be in the world with these characters, and it was such a fun time
What a score as well 🥺
Review by David Keen ★★★★

Stunningly beautiful, Leone elevates the genre with his masterful direction. For me, Robards steals the show.
Side note: it’s possible Claudia Cardinale is the most beautiful woman ever.
Review by Jonah Wright ★★★★½

Call me crazy all you want but I think this is Leone's finest work with another fantastic score from Ennio Morricone which may be one of the best all time. A harmonica riff has never been more mysterious and intimidating.
Review by Tim Burnham ★★★★★

This will certainly rub some people the wrong way but I mentioned in my recent Dawn of Justice review that Leone reminds me very much of the work of both Nicolas Winding Refn and Zack Snyder. I'll add Ana Lily Amirpour and Tarsem Singh to that distinction. The class of visual storytellers making films as paintings. The placement of an iconographic character or symbol in a frame does more to tell the story and ask questions than anything narratively.
And like Snyder's absurd visual feasts, particularly DoJ, this film never really stops to explain itself. It asks you to both bring your baggage about America, the Old West, and the Western genre to the film and to also be prepared…
Review by Johan ★★★★

Didn't feel quite as monumental this time, but it's still Leone and Morricone at the top of their game. The best type of film to relax with on a Sunday while not even thinking about doing anything productive.
Review by Eduardo Barañano ★★★★★

Creo que aquí está mi escena favorita de todo el cine (y otra que se le acerca tanto que practicamente está a la misma altura) que he visto hasta ahora, y por bastante. Y no se cuando cambiará eso.
Review by Eric

I tried to watch this a few months ago, but I got an hour and 40 minutes in before detracting from the snooze fest. One of those pure westerns that put me off the genre, and it is a Sergio Leone film. I liked his lower rated Duck You Sucker and Fistful of Dollars. Strange.
Review by leon vegas ★★★★½

Another fantastic film from Leone.
Another fantastic score from Morricone.
What more can I say?
I’d probably say this is just under The Good, The Bad and the Ugly for me but it’s still so solid and although I’m not the biggest western fan, all of Sergio’s films are so much fun to watch, as well as being expertly crafted.