Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West - Just the facts

Once Upon a Time in the West (originally released in Italy in 1968 under the title C'era una volta il West) & released in USA May 1969, is an epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone.

Its critical acclaim has led some to declare it "the greatest Western ever made".

The film stars Henry Fonda unusually cast as the villain Frank, Charles Bronson as his nemesis "Harmonica", Jason Robards as the generally benign bandit Cheyenne, & Claudia Cardinale as a newly-widowed homesteader with a past, Jill.

It is the first part of a loose trilogy of epic, elegiac films that examine social & political issues from American history. It is followed by 1971's A Fistful of Dynamite (known alternatively as Once Upon a Time... The Revolution or Duck, You Sucker) & 1984's Once Upon a Time in America.

Plot
The story opens as Brett McBain & his children are preparing to welcome Brett's new wife, Jill, to his homestead when they are inexplicably murdered. The ambush on the McBain family is carried out by the outlaw Frank & his gang, but is made to look as if it were carried out by the renegade bandit Cheyenne & his gang. Frank's actions are a result of his employ of the railroad tycoon Morton, who is secretly trying to obtain McBain's land & ultimately reach the Pacific Ocean with his railroad. Meanwhile, a lone stranger, "Harmonica", arrives in town in search of Frank for unknown but haunting reasons. At the same time, Cheyenne, who has now broken free of confinement & has discovered that Frank has tried to set him up for the McBain murders, joins forces with Harmonica against Frank (and Morton) & together they try to protect the beautiful Jill who now controls McBain's property. The real & ultimate question of this story? Why is Harmonica after Frank? All is revealed, "only at the point of dying" when Harmonica finally confronts Frank in the final showdown.

Cast

Once Upon a Time in the West, in true Sergio Leone style, ends with an extended shootout scene between Harmonica (Charles Bronson) & Frank (Henry Fonda).Actor Role
Henry Fonda Frank
Claudia Cardinale Jill McBain
Jason Robards Cheyenne
Charles Bronson Harmonica
Gabriele Ferzetti Morton (railroad baron)
Paolo Stoppa Sam
Woody Strode Stony
(member of Frank's gang)
Jack Elam Snaky
(member of Frank's gang)
Keenan Wynn Sheriff (auctioneer)
Frank Wolff Brett McBain
Lionel Stander Barman

Overview

Origin of the film

Henry Fonda as the villain
Jason Robards as CheyenneAfter making The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, Leone had intended to retire from making Westerns. He had come across the novel The Hoods by "Harry Grey" (a pseudonym), an autobiographical book based on the author's own experiences as a Jewish hood during Prohibition, & planned to adapt it into a film (this would eventually, seventeen years later, become his final film, Once Upon A Time In America). However, Leone was offered only Westerns by the studios. United Artists (who had produced the Dollars Trilogy) offered him the opportunity to make a film starring Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas & Rock Hudson, but Leone refused. However, when Paramount offered Leone a generous budget along with access to Henry Fonda, his favorite actor whom he had wanted to work with for virtually all of his career, Leone accepted this offer.

Leone commissioned then-film critics (and future directors) Bernardo Bertolucci & Dario Argento to help him develop the film in late 1966. The men spent much of the following year watching & discussing numerous classic Westerns at Leone's house, & constructed a story made up almost entirely of "quotations" from American Westerns (see below). (see Frayling)

Leone later commissioned Sergio Donati, who had worked on several of Leone's other films, to help him refine the screenplay, largely to curb the length of the film towards the end of production. Many of the film's most memorable lines of dialogue came from Donati, or from the film's English dialogue director, expatriate American actor Mickey Knox.

Style
Once Upon a Time in the West features Leone's distinctive style, which is very different from, but very much influenced by, Akira Kurosawa's Sanshiro Sugata.

Themes & motifs

Claudia Cardinale was in a a major motif of the film, which is the railroad; its advent heralds the arrival of civilization & culture, marking the death of the mythic Old West. The climax involves a gun duel between Harmonica (Bronson) & Frank (Fonda), iconic figures of the "ancient race" about to disappear forever from the Western landscape. Another major theme is water: there are several scenes involving water being drunk or served, a well has a central role in the plot, & the Pacific Ocean plays prominently in Morton's motivation to build the railroad.

Pacing
The film features long scenes in which there is very little dialogue & not much happens, broken by brief & sudden violence. Leone was more interested in the rituals preceding violence than with the violence itself. The dry, unsentimental tone of the film is consistent with the arid semi-desert in which the story unfolds, & imbues it with a feeling of realism which contrasts with the elaborately choreographed gunplay.

Music
The music was written by composer Ennio Morricone, Leone's regular collaborator, who wrote the score under Leone's direction before filming began. As in The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, the stirring music contributes to the film's mythic or operatic grandeur.

The film features leitmotifs which relate to each of the main characters (each with their own unique theme music), as well as to the spirit of the American West. It was Leone's desire to have the music available & played during filming.

DVD release

Once Upon a Time in the West 2-Disc Special Edition.After years of public requests, Paramount Pictures released a 2-Disc "Special Collector's Edition" of Once Upon a Time in the West on November 18, 2003.

With a running time of 165-minutes, this edition is the color 2.35:1 aspect ratio version in anamorphic wide-screen, closed captioned & Dolby.

The commentary, by film experts & historians such as John Carpenter, John Milius, Alex Cox, film historian & Leone biographer Sir Christopher Frayling, Dr. Sheldon Hall as well as Claudia Cardinale & director Bernardo Bertolucci, a co-writer of the film.

The second disc has special features, including three recent documentaries on several aspects of the film:
An Opera Of Violence
The Wages Of Sin
Something To Do With Death

There is a Railroads: Revolutionizing the West featurette, location & production galleries, cast profiles, as well as the original trailer.

Acclaim
Though not as popular as the "Dollars trilogy" which preceded it, Once Upon A Time in the West is considered to be Leone's most acclaimed film, together with The Good, the Bad & the Ugly & Once Upon A Time In America. West has also gained an ardent cult following around the world, particularly among cineastes & film makers. I thought it was great, a great movie showing the sort of revenge people like. Not that all revenge is good of course, but hey maybe it is, but not V accidental things, and some other, but its good to venge bullies, and oppressors.

Christopher Frayling's books, Spaghetti Westerns (1984) lists box-office grosses, & Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death (2000) has an evaluation of the film's critical / popular reception & legacy.)

Movie references
Leone's intent was to take the stock conventions of the American Westerns of John Ford, Howard Hawks & others, & rework them in an ironic fashion, essentially reversing their intended meaning in their original sources to create a darker connotation. The most obvious example of this is the casting of veteran movie good guy Henry Fonda as the villainous Frank, but there are also many other, more subtle reversals throughout the film. According to film critic & historian Christopher Frayling, the film quotes from as many as 30 classic American Westerns. (See this discussion, which lists many references confirmed by Frayling, Leone & others, as well as speculative ones.)

Some of the major films used as references for the movie include:

High Noon. The opening sequence is similar to the opening High Noon, in which three bad guys (Lee Van Cleef, Sheb Wooley & Robert J. Willkie) wait at a station for the arrival of their gang leader (also named Frank, played by Ian MacDonald) on the noon train. In the opening of Once Upon a Time in the West, three bad guys (Jack Elam, who appeared in a small part in High Noon, Woody Strode, & Al Mulock) wait at a station. However, the period of waiting is depicted in a lengthy eight-minute sequence, the train arrives several hours after noon, & its passenger is the film's hero (Charles Bronson) rather than its villain. The scene is famous for its use of natural sounds: a squeaky windmill, knuckles cracking, & Jack Elam's character trying to shoo off a fly. According to rumor, Leone offered the parts of the three bad guys to The Good, the Bad & the Ugly stars Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef & Eli Wallach.
3:10 to Yuma. This cult Western by Delmer Daves may have had considerable influence on the film. The most obvious reference is a brief exchange between Keenan Wynn's Sheriff & Cheyenne, in which they discuss sending the latter to Yuma prison. In addition, as in West the main villain is played by an actor (Glenn Ford) who normally played good guys. The film also features diegetic music (Ford at one point whistles the film's theme song just as Harmonica provides music in West). & the scene in which Van Heflin's character escorts Ford to the railroad station while avoiding an ambush by his gang may have inspired the ambush of Frank by his own men in Leone's film.
Johnny Guitar. The character of Jill McBain is supposedly based on Joan Crawford's character Vienna, & Harmonica may be influenced by Sterling Hayden's title character. Some of the basic plot (settlers vs. the railroad) may be recycled from this film. (Frayling)
The Iron Horse. West may contain several subtle references to this film, including a low angle shot of a shrieking train rushing towards the screen in the opening scene, & the shot of the train pulling into the Sweetwater station at the end of the film. (Frayling)
Shane. The massacre scene in West features young Timmy McBain hunting with his father, just as Joey hunts with his father in Shane. The funeral of the McBains is borrowed almost shot-for-shot from Shane. (Frayling)
The Searchers. Leone admitted that during the massacre of the McBain family, the rustling bushes, the stopping of the cicada chirps, & the fluttering pheasants to suggest a menace approaching the farmhouse, were all taken from The Searchers. (Frayling)
Warlock. At the end of this film, Henry Fonda's character wears clothing very similar to his costume throughout West. In addition, Warlock features a discussion about mothers between Fonda & Dorothy Malone that is similar to those between Cheyenne & Jill in West. Finally, Warlock contains a sequence in which Fonda's character kicks a crippled man off his crutches, as he does to Mr. Morton in West.
The Magnificent Seven. In this film, Charles Bronson's character whittles a piece of wood. In West, he does the same, although in a different context.
Winchester '73. It has been claimed that the scenes in West at the trading post are based on those in Winchester '73, but the resemblance is slight. (Frayling)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The dusters (long coats) worn by Frank & his men in the opening massacre resemble those worn by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) & his henchmen when they are introduced in this film. In addition, the auction scene in West was intended to recall the election scene in Liberty Valance (Frayling).
The Last Sunset. The final duel between Frank & Harmonica is shot almost identically to the duel between Kirk Douglas & Rock Hudson in this film. (Frayling)
Duel in the Sun. The character of Morton, the crippled railroad baron in West, was based on the character played by Lionel Barrymore in this film. (Frayling)
Sergeant Rutledge. In this John Ford Western, there is a scene in which Constance Towers' character falls asleep in a chair with a rifle in her lap, looking out for hostile Apache, just as Jill McBain does in Leone's film.
My Darling Clementine. A deleted scene in West featured Frank getting a shave with perfume in a barber's shop, much like Fonda's Wyatt Earp in this film.
There are other, smaller references, to various non-Westerns, most notably Luchino Visconti's The Leopard.

Contrary to popular belief, the name of the town "Sweetwater" was not taken from The Wind, Victor Sjöström's silent epic. Bernardo Bertolucci has stated that he looked at a map of the southwestern United States, found the name of the town in Arizona, & decided to incorporate it into the film. However, a "Sweetwater" -- along with a character named McBain -- also appeared in a John Wayne Western, The Comancheros, which Leone admired. (Frayling)

Deleted scenes & alternate versions

The American release
The film was a huge hit in Europe & quickly developed a cult following. In the US, however, it had a rather poor opening reception, gaining largely negative or indifferent reviews in its complete form (165 minutes). Paramount edited the film to about 145 minutes for the wide release, but the film tanked at the box office. The following scenes were cut for the American release:

The entire scene at Lionel Stander's trading post. Cheyenne (Robards) was not introduced in the American release until his arrival at the McBain ranch later in the film. (Interestingly, Stander remained in the credits, even though he did not appear in this version at all).
The scene in which Morton & Frank discuss what to do with Jill at the Navajo Cliffs. This scene was important because it established the growing rift between Morton & Frank -- a key reason why Morton decides later on in the film to have Frank killed.
Morton's death scene was edited considerably.
Cheyenne's death scene was completely excised.

1984 re-release
The English language version was restored to approximately 165 minutes for a re-release in 1984, & for its video release the following year. This version has gained a large cult following in America.

Extended versions
A slightly longer, 168 minute version exists in Italy which features several scenes augmented with additional material, though no complete scenes are present that are missing. The longest known cut to exist is 171 minutes long.

Deleted scenes
Several scenes, only some of which were filmed, appear in the original screenplay; had they been included, they would have made the movie around three & a half hours long. They include:

A scene after the opening shootout, in which Harmonica is recovering from his wounds in a hotel in Flagstone, & is beaten by three Sheriff's deputies. It is established during this scene that the Sheriff of Flagstone (Keenan Wynn) is apparently being paid off by Frank or Morton -- a point that does not appear in the final version. (Harmonica carries several scars on his face from this scene throughout the rest of the film.)
A scene in which Jill first meets Sam the coach driver (Paolo Stoppa) was cut, & a lot of the dialogue was reworked into the scenes in which Sam drives Jill first to the bar, & then to the McBain ranch.
Jill goes into town to see a Mr. O'Leary about the deed to the Sweetwater ranch. Dialogue from this scene was later reworked into the scene where Harmonica & Cheyenne begin constructing the railroad station.
Just before the first meeting of Harmonica & Frank on Morton's train, Harmonica tracks Wobbles (Marco Zuanelli), one of Frank's henchmen, through a crowded passenger train, before reaching Morton's train.
A brief scene after Frank & his gang depart from Morton's train, leaving Harmonica tied up with Morton & several of his henchmen. In this scene, Harmonica challenges Morton's assertion that he really is Frank's boss - which precipitates the beginning rift between Frank & his boss.
A scene where Frank goes into Flagstone just before the auction to get a shave. During this scene, the barber says of Harmonica "He's whittling on a piece of wood, & I have a feeling that when he gets through whittling, something's going to happen" is spoken by the barber; in the final cut, this line is given to Cheyenne just before the final duel.
A short sequence in which Harmonica pulls a gun on Cheyenne before turning him in to the Sheriff at the auction was cut. This scene was replaced by Harmonica & Cheyenne exchanging glances on the hotel stairwell.

Trivia

Actor Al Mulock (featured in the opening train sequence as well as Leone's The Good, the Bad & the Ugly) committed suicide in full costume by leaping from his hotel room. Frank Wolff, the actor who plays McBain, also committed suicide in a Rome hotel in 1971.
Sergio Leone originally offered the role of Harmonica to Clint Eastwood - when he turned it down, Charles Bronson was hired. Leone then tried to reteam the three stars of The Good, the Bad & the Ugly as the three men waiting at the train station.
Brett's daughter sings a couple of lines of Danny Boy while waiting for Jill McBain to arrive. The lyrics for this song were not written until 1910.[7]
While the original draft was 436 pages long, there were only 12 pages of actual dialogue.
Henry Fonda did not accept Leone's first offer to play Frank, so Leone flew to New York to convince him, telling him: "Picture this: the camera shows a gunman from the waist down pulling his gun & shooting a running child. The camera pans up to the gunman's face & ... it's Henry Fonda." After meeting with Leone, Fonda called his friend Eli Wallach, who advised him to do the film as "You will have the time of your life."
The German language release has been titled "Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod" (Play the song of death for me). The line "Keep your loving brother happy" during the lynch scene is overdubbed with the title line. This stresses Harmonica's story & his reasons for revenge. There are some other additions to the original text as well. Interestingly, a German title for Leone's following film, Duck, You Sucker was "Todesmelodie", meaning "death melody" or "song of death" despite such a title not having the relevance for Duck, You Sucker as it does for Once Upon a Time in the West.

Quotes
Harmonica: "Did you bring a horse for me?"
Snaky: "Looks like we're....[snickers] Looks like we're shy one horse."
Harmonica: (shaking his head) "You brought two too many."

Harmonica: "You don't 'sell' the dream of a lifetime."

Frank: "How can you trust a man who wears both a belt & suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants."

Cheyenne: "Go on, play your Harmonica! Play so you can't bullshit."

Morton: "As long as you use your head, you never lose."

Cheyenne: "Do you know anything about a guy going around playing the harmonica? He's someone you'd remember. Instead of talking, he plays. & when he better play, he talks."

Cheyenne: "You know, Jill, you remind me of my mother. She was the biggest whore in Alameda & the finest woman that ever lived. Whoever my father was, for an hour or for a month -- he must have been a happy man."

Morton: "Not Bad. Congratulations. Tell me, was it necessary that you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them."
Frank: "People scare better when they're dying."

Frank: "Just a man."

Cheyenne"Just pretend it was nothing"

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