The 50th Anniversary of the premier of “Once
Upon a Time in the West” is this Friday December 21st. All this week
we’ll be running posts relating to what many critics say is the greatest
Euro-western of all-time.
“You could say that Once Upon a Time in the West was the
movie that made me consider film-making... but more, how to make an impact as a
film-maker...” Quentin Tarantino
A FILM TO REMEMBER: “ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST” (1968)
By Scott Anthony
Before I get into this, I want to make mention “A FILM TO
REMEMBER” will be a series about films that have reached a milestone
anniversary since their origin. The articles will contain the film’s plot
outline, director, cast, a compilation of trivialities, various photos, movie
trailer, critical reception and more. So, let’s start:
We are here to mark the celebration of the 50th
Anniversary of Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”. Let’s take an
inside look at the film:
PLOT OUTLINE:
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with
a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin
working for the railroad.
STUDIO:
Paramount Pictures
DIRECTOR:
Sergio Leone
CAST:
Claudia
Cardinale … Jill McBain
Henry Fonda …
Frank
Jason Robards …
Manuel “Cheyenne” Gutiérrez
Charles Bronson
… “Harmonica”
Gabriele
Ferzetti … Mr. Morton
Paolo Stoppa …
Sam
Marco Zuanelli
… Wobbles
Keenan Wynn …
Sheriff of Flagstone
Frank Wolff …
Brett McBain
Lionel Stander
… Barman
Woody Strode …
Stony
Jack Elam …
Snaky
Al Mulock …
Knuckles
Enzo
Santaniello … Timmy McBain
Simonetta
Santaniello … Maureen McBain
Stefano
Imparato … Patrick McBain
Antonio Palombi
… Old Stationmaster
Claudio Mancini
… Brother of “Harmonica”
Dino Mele …
“Harmonica” — Young
Michael Harvey
… Frank’s Lieutenant
Benito
Stefanelli … Frank’s Lieutenant
Aldo Sambrell …
Cheyenne’s Lieutenant
GENRE(S):
Western
TAGLINE:
There were three men in her life. One to take her…one to
love her…and one to kill her.
Still image of Claudia Cardinale in “Once Upon a Time in
the West”.
The film is known for being an exaggerated, fairy-tale
variation on the Western, creating a horseback epic of bad guys with a heart of
gold and an iron engine that reshapes the landscape as its tracks are laid
through the wilderness in this hyperbolic of a wild west opera. Director Sergio
Leone makes what many call his magnum opus and pulls together most of the
themes from his Man with No Name trilogy films, and also contributes to one of
the most famous credited sequences in cinematic history, featured with Ennio
Morricone’s striking musical score and stabled by an unrivaled cast and
swaggering performances from Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards and
Charles Bronson in a stylish, violent, poetic elegy of a spaghetti western
landmark. The film is based from a story from Dario Argento, Bernardo
Bertolucci and Sergio Leone, and then written by Sergio Donati and Sergio
Leone, it got panegyric critical reception but did get a little criticism,
however, in subsequent years, the film has developed a greater critical
standing and become known as one of the genre’s all-time masterworks.
Here’s what some of the critical receptions have been for
the film over the years:
Douglas Pratt from Hollywood Reporter says: “Sergio
Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ is one of the greatest face movies ever
made.”
Vincent Canby from New York Times says: “‘Once Upon the
Time in the West’ is almost always interesting, wobbling, as it does, between
being an epic lampoon and a serious homage to the men who created the dreams of
Leone’s childhood.”
Roger Ebert from Chicago Sun-Times says: “The movie
stretches on for nearly three hours, with intermission, and provides two false
alarms before it finally ends.”
Chuck Stephens from Village Voice says: “If only the
first 10 minutes of Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ still
existed, this most hyperbolic of oat operas would still be acknowledged as one
of the genre’s greatest exhumations.”
Stanley Kauffmann from The New Republic says: “There is
something touching and maniacal about the two-and-three-quarter-hour result.
Leone’s adoration of all the standard props and décor — the horses, the
saloons, the guns, the clenched jaws, the histrionic taciturnities — has a
childlike wonder about it.”
As you can tell by the critical reactions, the film
received much praiseworthy adoration though a few critics complained of its
length and convoluted plotting, howbeit, Leone loaded up in this revisionist
western with an authentic yet hyper stylized, complete with the coolest cowboy
fashion (gunslingers in long coats has never been bettered), main street
shootouts, raw, memorable characters and plenty of unforgettable moments that
are sturdied with an elect cast and performance by Fonda, Cardinale, Robards
and Bronson in this operatic oater, kick-ass, shoot ‘em up, styled ode of a
mystic western classic. But I’ll let you decide…
So, to get a better look at the film, here’s a link to
the movie trailer of Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”:
Here I have provided 12 interesting and intriguing trivia
facts (I wanted to keep it limited) about “Once Upon a Time in the West”:
*After making
his American Civil War epic “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), director
Sergio Leone had intended to retire from making westerns, believing he had said
all he wanted to say. Leone had come across the novel “The Hoods” by the
pseudonymous “Harry Grey,” an autobiographical novel based on the author’s own
experiences as a Jewish hood during Prohibition, and planned to adapt it into a
film but this would eventually, 17 years later, become his final film, “Once
Upon a Time in America” (1984). Leone though was offered only westerns by the
Hollywood studios. United Artists (who had produced the Dollars Trilogy)
offered him the opportunity to make a film starring Charlton Heston, Kirk
Douglas and Rock Hudson, but Leone refused. However, when Paramount offered
Leone a generous budget along with access to Henry Fonda — his favorite actor,
and one whom he had wanted to work with for virtually all of his career — Leone
accepted the offer.
*Sergio Leone
commissioned Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento — both of whom were film
critics before becoming directors — to help him develop the film in late 1966.
The men spent much of the following year watching and discussing numerous
classic Westerns such as “High Noon” (1952), “The Iron Horse” (1924), “The
Comancheros” (1961), and “The Searchers” (1956) at Leone’s house, and
constructed a story made up almost entirely of “references” to American
westerns.
*Ever since
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), which originally ran for three hours,
Sergio Leone’s films were usually cut (often quite dramatically) for box office
release. Leone was very conscious of the film’s length during filming and 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 adapter,
expatriate American actor Mickey Knox.
*For the film,
Sergio Leone changed his approach over his earlier westerns. Whereas the
“Dollars” films were quirky and up-tempo, a celebratory yet tongue-in-cheek
parody of the icons of the Wild West This film is much slower in pace and
sombre in theme. Leone’s distinctive style, which is very different from, but
very much influenced by, Akira Kurosawa’s “Sanshiro Sugata” (1943), is still
present but has been modified for the beginning of Leone’s second trilogy, the
so-called Once Upon a Time Trilogy. The characters in this film are also
beginning to change markedly over their predecessors in the Dollars Trilogy.
They are not quite as defined and, unusual for Leone’s characters up to this
point, they begin to change (or at least attempt to) over the course of the
story. This signals the start of the second phase of Leone’s style, which would
be further developed in “Duck, You Sucker!” (1971) and Once Upon a Time in
America (1984).
*Sergio Leone
liked to tell the story of cinema in Paris where the film ran uninterrupted for
2 years. When Leone visited this theatre, he was surrounded by fans who wanted
his autograph, as well as the projectionist, who was less than enthusiastic.
Leone claimed the projectionist told him “I kill you! The same movie over and
over again for two years! And it’s so SLOW!”
*Henry Fonda
did not accept Sergio Leone’s first offer to play the character of 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 and shooting a running
child. The camera tilts up to the gunman’s face and…it’s Henry Fonda.” After
meeting with Leone, Fonda called his friend Eli Wallach, who had co-starred in
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966). Wallach advised Fonda to do the film,
telling him “You will have the time of your life.”
*When he
accepted the role, Henry Fonda came to the set with brown contacts and facial
hair. Fonda felt having dark eyes and facial hair would blend well with his
character’s evil and also help the audience to accept this “new” Fonda as the
bad guy, but Sergio Leone immediately told him to remove the contacts and
facial hair. Leone felt that Fonda’s blue eyes best reflected the cold, icy
nature of the killer. It was one of the first times in a western film where the
villain would be played by the lead actor.
*Sergio Leone
originally offered the role of Harmonica to Clint Eastwood; but turned it down,
Leone then casted Charles Bronson who had originally been offered and turned
down the part of the Man with No Name in “A Fistful of Dollars”. James Coburn
was also approached for Harmonica, but demanded too much money.
*Robert Ryan
was offered the role of the Sheriff played by Keenan Wynn. Ryan initially
accepted, but backed out after being given a larger role in Sam Peckinpah’s
“The Wild Bunch” (1969).
*Al Mulock, who
played the role of Knuckles in the film, as well as had a part in Sergio
Leone’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966) committed suicide during
shooting of this film by leaping from his Guadix hotel room in full costume.
Frank Wolff, who plays the character of Brett McBain, also committed suicide in
a Rome hotel in 1971.
*The film
features leitmotifs that relate to each of the main characters (each with their
own theme music) as well as to the spirit of the American west. Especially
compelling is the wordless vocals by Italian singer Edda Dell’Orso during the
theme music for the Claudia Cardinale’s character. It was Sergio Leone’s desire
to have the music available and played during filming. Leone had Ennio
Morricone compose the score before shooting started and would play the music in
the background for the actors on set.
*Sergio Leone’s
intent was to take the stock conventions of the American westerns of John Ford,
Howard Hawks and others, and 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 film
good guy, Henry Fonda as the villainous Frank, but there are also many others,
more subtle reversals throughout the film. According to film critic and
historian Christopher Frayling, the film quotes from as many as 30 classic
American westerns. The major films referenced from include: “The Comancheros”
(1961), “Johnny Guitar” (1954), “The Iron Horse” (1924), “Shane” (1953), “The
Searchers” (1956), “Winchester ‘73” (1950), “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”
(1962), “The Last Sunset” (1961) and “Duel in the Sun” (1946)
To conclude, Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the
West” explores legends and entombs myths into a film that’s filled with
deep-focus panoramas, looming widescreen closeups, Ennio Morricone’s ritual
musical composition and illustrious sound design are as distinctive as the
ballistic signature of a bullet. Sergio Leone’s insistence on stylization
trumped the need for substance in this sprawling saga of vengeance and progress
of a mythic tale in folkloric proportions, with bigger-than-life, mythological
characters filled with moralities and passions that are anchored by a virtuoso
cast and bravado performances by Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
and Charles Bronson in this whole shooting match of heroes, villains and
desperados of a lush, sensuous, gunslinging, horse and buggies, elegiac
operatic yet, intimate scaled spaghetti western masterpiece.
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