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''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) the West") is a 1968 epic
Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
film directed by
Sergio Leone Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...
, who co-wrote it with
Sergio Donati Sergio Donati (born 13 April 1933) is an Italian screenwriter. He has written for more than 70 films since 1952. He was born in Rome, Italy. He started as a writer and had some of his books optioned for film. He is well known for his collaborati ...
based on a story by
Dario Argento Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and critic. His influential work in the horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as ''giallo'', has led him ...
,
Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...
, and Leone. It stars
Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...
, cast against type as the villain,
Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and wa ...
as his nemesis,
Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...
as a bandit, and
Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938) is an Italian actress. She has starred in some of the most iconic European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English. Born and raised in La Goulette, a ...
as a newly widowed homesteader. The widescreen cinematography was by
Tonino Delli Colli Tonino Delli Colli (20 November 1923 – 16 August 2005) was an Italian cinematographer. Biography Cousin of Franco Delli Colli, Antonio (Tonino) Delli Colli was born in Rome, and began work at Rome's Cinecittà studio in 1938, at the age of ...
, and the acclaimed
film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
was by
Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...
. After directing ''
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...
'', Leone decided to retire from
Westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
and aimed to produce his film based on the novel '' The Hoods'', which eventually became ''
Once Upon a Time in America ''Once Upon a Time in America'' ( it, C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produ ...
''. However, Leone accepted an offer from
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
providing Henry Fonda and a budget to produce another Western. He recruited Bertolucci and Argento to devise the plot of the film in 1966, researching other Western films in the process. After
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...
turned down an offer to play the movie's protagonist, Bronson was offered the role. During production, Leone recruited Donati to rewrite the script due to concerns over time limitations. The original version by the director was 166 minutes when it was first released on 21 December 1968. This version was shown in European cinemas, and was a box-office success. For the US release on 28 May 1969, ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' was edited down to 145 minutes by Paramount and was a financial flop. The film is the first installment in Leone's ''Once Upon a Time'' trilogy, followed by ''
Duck, You Sucker! ''Duck, You Sucker!'' ( it, Giù la testa, lit. "Duck Your Head", "Get Down"), also known as ''A Fistful of Dynamite'' and ''Once Upon a Time ... the Revolution'', is a 1971 epic Zapata Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Leone and ...
'' and ''Once Upon a Time in America'', though the films do not share any characters in common. In 2009, the film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


Plot

The story develops around two plot lines set in the
Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
town of "Flagstone." First, a man dubbed "Harmonica" seeks revenge against the outlaw, Frank. Second, Frank works as a hired gun for railroad tycoon, Morton, who is trying to acquire certain land owned by the Brett McBain family. A second outlaw, Cheyenne, also figures into the story. Harmonica kills three men who ambush him on his arrival at the train station. The dusters they wear lead him to believe they are Cheyenne's men. Meanwhile, Frank and his henchmen kill Brett McBain and his three children at their ranch, which they call "Sweetwater." Frank leaves behind evidence to frame Cheyenne for the murders. A woman named Jill arrives in Flagstone, en route to Sweetwater, for what is assumed to be her upcoming marriage to McBain. However, Jill, a New Orleans prostitute, actually married McBain when he was there, thus making her the sole heir to Sweetwater. McBain knew the railroad would pass through Sweetwater one day, and he planned to build a watering station on his property, subject to a reverter that McBain would forfeit Sweetwater if the station was not built by the time the railroad reached that point. Morton sent Frank to intimidate McBain, but McBain's murder and Jill's inheritance put Morton and Frank at odds. Morton wants to make a deal with Jill, but Frank wants the land for himself. Cheyenne denies his men tried to ambush Harmonica, and the two realize Frank is behind both the ambush and framing Cheyenne for the McBain murders. Harmonica discovers the connection between Frank and Morton, but is captured by Frank's men. When Frank asks Harmonica's identity, he replies with names of men Frank has killed. Cheyenne rescues Harmonica, and the two collaborate to help Jill save Sweetwater. Jill decides to auction the land and return to New Orleans; however, Frank's henchmen intimidate the bidders in order to purchase the land at low value. Harmonica appears with Cheyenne in tow and bids $5,000, which is the price on Cheyenne's head as a wanted fugitive. Morton hires Frank's own men to kill him, but Harmonica intervenes to save Frank's demise for himself. Meanwhile, Cheyenne escapes custody, and he and his gang engage Frank's remaining gang in a gunfight at Morton's train. Except for Cheyenne, who heads to Sweetwater, all are killed, including Morton. Frank sees the aftermath of the gunfight and rides to Sweetwater where he finds Harmonica waiting. Cheyenne has arrived, too, but remains in the ranch house with Jill. Harmonica beats Frank to the draw. As Frank lies dying, he again asks Harmonica's identity. Through a flashback, it is revealed Frank shoved a harmonica in a boy's mouth just before the boy collapsed under the weight of his older brother, whom Frank was hanging. In the present, Harmonica returns the instrument to Frank by placing it in ''his'' mouth. Frank realizes who shot him and dies. Harmonica and Cheyenne leave Sweetwater, but Cheyenne collapses and dies from a gut wound he received by Morton in the gunfight. As Harmonica departs, Jill serves water to the railroad workers.


Cast


Production


Origins

After making his American Civil War epic ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'', Leone had intended to make no more Westerns, believing he had said all he wanted to say. He had come across the novel ''The Hoods'' by the pseudonymous "
Harry Grey Herschel Goldberg (November 2, 1901 – October 1, 1980), better known as Harry Grey, was a Russian Jewish-American writer. His first book, ''The Hoods'' (1952), was the model for the 1984 film ''Once Upon a Time in America'' by Sergio Leone, ...
", a fictionalized book based on the author's own experiences as a Jewish hood during
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...
, and planned to adapt it into a film (17 years later, it would become his final film, ''
Once Upon a Time in America ''Once Upon a Time in America'' ( it, C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produ ...
''). Leone, though, was offered only Westerns by the Hollywood studios.
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...
(which had produced the ''
Dollars Trilogy ''Dollars Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia del dollaro), also known as the ''Man with No Name Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia dell'Uomo senza nome) or the ''Blood Money Trilogy'', is an Italian film series consisting of three Spaghetti Weste ...
'') offered him the opportunity to make a film starring
Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten ...
,
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. D ...
, and
Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Gold ...
, but Leone refused. When Paramount offered Leone a generous budget along with access to Henry Fonda—his favorite actor, and one with whom he had wanted to work for virtually all of his career—Leone accepted the offer. Leone commissioned Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento to help him devise a
film treatment A film treatment (or simply treatment) is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards (index cards) and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detaile ...
in late 1966. The men spent much of the following year watching and discussing numerous classic Westerns, such as ''
High Noon ''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense ...
'', '' The Iron Horse'', '' The Comancheros'', and ''
The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...
'' at Leone's house, and constructed a story made up almost entirely of "references" to American Westerns. Beginning with ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'', which originally ran for three hours, Leone's films had usually been cut (often quite considerably) for box-office release. Leone was very conscious of the length of ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' during filming, and subsequently 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 toward 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.


Style and pacing

For ''Once Upon a Time in the West'', 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 somber in theme. Leone's distinctive style, which is very different from, but very much influenced by,
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
'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 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 was further developed in ''Duck, You Sucker!'' and ''Once Upon a Time in America''. The film features long, slow scenes with very little dialogue and little happening, broken by brief and sudden violence. Leone was far more interested in the rituals preceding violence than in the violence itself. The tone of the film is consistent with the arid semidesert in which the story unfolds, and imbues it with a feeling of realism that contrasts with the elaborately choreographed gunplay. Leone liked to tell the story of a cinema in Paris where the film ran uninterrupted for two years. When he visited this theater, 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!"


Locations

Interiors for the film were shot in
Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studio ...
studios,
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
.The Wages of Sin (2003)
, part two of the making of Sergio Leone's ''Once Upon a Time in the West''
The opening sequence with the three gunmen meeting the train was one of the sequences filmed in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
. Shooting for scenes at Cattle Corner Station, as the location was called in the story, was scheduled for four days and was filmed at the "ghost" railway station in the municipality of La Calahorra, near
Guadix Guadix (; Local pronunciation: aˈðih is a city and municipality in southern Spain, in the province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, on the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a high plain at the northern foothills of the Sierr ...
, in the
Province of Granada Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea (along the Costa Tropical ...
, Spain, as were the scenes of Flagstone. Shooting for the scenes in the middle of the railway were filmed along the Guadix– railway line. Scenes at the Sweetwater Ranch were filmed in the
Tabernas Desert The Tabernas Desert ( es, Desierto de Tabernas) is one of Spain's semi-arid deserts, located within Spain's south-eastern province of Almería. It is in the interior, about north of the provincial capital Almería, in the Tabernas municipalit ...
, Spain; the ranch is still located at what is now called Western Leone. The brick arch, where Bronson's character flashes back to his youth and the original lynching incident, was built near a small airport 15 miles north of
Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona ...
, in Utah, and two miles from
U.S. Route 163 U.S. Route 163 (also U.S. Highway 163, US 163) is a U.S. Highway that runs from US 160 northward to US 191 in the U.S. states of Arizona and Utah. The southernmost of its length are within the Navajo Nation. The highway forms part of the Tr ...
(which links Gouldings Lodge and Mexican Hat). Monument Valley itself is used extensively for the route Jill travels towards her new family in Sweetwater.


Casting

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 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 Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
, who had co-starred in ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly''. Wallach advised Fonda to do the film, telling him "You will have the time of your life." When he accepted the role, Fonda came to the set with brown
contact lenses Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmeti ...
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 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. Following the film's completion, ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' was dubbed into several languages, including Italian, French, German, Spanish, and English. For the English dub, the voices of many of the American cast, including Fonda, Bronson, Robards, Wynn, Wolff, and
Lionel Stander Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television. He is best remembered for his role as majordomo Max on the 1980s mystery television series '' Hart to Hart''. Early ...
, were used. However, the rest of the cast had to be dubbed by other actors – including Claudia Cardinale, who was dubbed by actress
Joyce Gordon Joyce Gordon (March 25, 1929 – February 28, 2020) was an American actress. Early life Gordon was born on March 25, 1929, in Des Moines, Iowa, and grew up in Chicago. Her father was the founder of the National Barber and Beauty Manufacturers As ...
, Gabriele Ferzetti, who was voiced by Gordon's husband, Bernard Grant, and
Jack Elam William Scott "Jack" Elam (November 13, 1920 – October 20, 2003) was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villaino ...
.Howard Hughes (2007). Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Westerns. I.B. Tauris & Co. . p.166.


Music

The music was written by composer
Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...
, Leone's regular collaborator, who wrote the score under Leone's direction before filming began. As in ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'', the haunting music contributes to the film's grandeur and, like the music for ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,'' is considered one of Morricone's greatest compositions. The film features
leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglic ...
s that relate to each of the main characters (with their own theme music), as well as to the spirit of the American West. Especially compelling are the wordless vocals by Italian singer
Edda Dell'Orso Edda Dell'Orso (born Edda Sabatini; February 16, 1935) is an Italian singer known for her collaboration with composer Ennio Morricone, for whom she provided wordless vocals to a large number of his film scores. Dell'Orso also provided vocals to ...
during the theme music for Jill McBain. Leone's desire was to have the music available and played during filming. Leone had Morricone compose the score before shooting started and played the music in the background for the actors on set. Except for about a minute of the "Judgment" motif, before Harmonica kills the three outlaws, no soundtrack music is played until the end of the second scene, when Fonda makes his first entry. During the beginning of the film, Leone instead uses a number of ''natural sounds'', for instance, a turning wheel in the wind, sound of a train, grasshoppers, shotguns while hunting, wings of pigeons, etc., in addition to the
diegetic Diegesis (; from the Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which: # Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are revealed explicitly through narra ...
sound of the harmonica.


Release


European release

The movie was a massive hit in France, and was easily the most successful film released there in 1969, with 14.8 million admissions, ranking seventh of all time. It sparked a brief fashion trend for duster coats, which took such proportions that Parisian
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...
s such as Au Printemps had to affix signs on
escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...
s warning patrons to keep their "maxis", as they were called, clear from the edges of moving steps to prevent jamming. It was also the most popular film in Germany with admissions of 13 million, ranking third of all time.


American release

In the US, Paramount edited the film to about 145 minutes for the wide release, but the film underperformed at the box office, earning $2.1M in rentals in North America. These 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. Stander remained in the credits, though he did not appear in this version at all. * The scene in which Morton and Frank discuss what to do with Jill at the Navajo Cliffs * Morton's death scene was reduced considerably. * Cheyenne's death scene was completely excised. Otherwise, one scene was slightly longer in the US version than in the international film release:
Following the opening duel (where all four gunmen fire and fall), Charles Bronson's character stands up again, showing that he had only been shot in the arm. This part of the scene had been originally cut by director Sergio Leone for the worldwide theatrical release. It was added again for the U.S. market, because the American distributors feared American viewers would not understand the story otherwise, especially since Harmonica's arm wound is originally shown for the first time in the scene at the trading post, which was cut for the shorter U.S. version. The English-language version was restored to around 165 minutes for a re-release in 1984, and for its video release the following year.


Director's cut

In Italy, a 175-minute director's cut features a yellow tint filter, and several scenes were augmented with additional material. This director's cut was available on home video until the early 2000s, and still airs on TV, but more recent home-video releases have used the international cut.


Home media

After years of public requests, Paramount released a two-disc "Special Collector's Edition" of ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' on 18 November 2003, with a running time of 165 minutes (158 minutes in some regions).The 7-minute regional variation in DVD running time is due to the 4% speed difference between the 24 fps NTSC and 25 fps PAL video formats. No content differs. This release is the color 2.35:1 aspect ratio version in
anamorphic Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted ...
widescreen,
closed captioned Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio port ...
, and
Dolby Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and HDR imaging. Dolby licenses its technologies to ...
. Commentary is also provided by film experts and historians, including
John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
,
John Milius John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. He was a writer for the first two '' Dirty Harry'' films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of '' Apocalypse Now'' (1979), ...
,
Alex Cox Alexander B. H. Cox (born 15 December 1954) is an English film director, screenwriter, actor, non-fiction author and broadcaster. Cox experienced success early in his career with '' Repo Man'' and '' Sid and Nancy'', but since the release and c ...
, film historian and Leone biographer Sir Christopher Frayling, Dr. Sheldon Hall, and actors Claudia Cardinale and Gabriele Ferzetti, and 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'' The film was released on Blu-ray on 31 May 2011.


Restored version

A restored 4K version has been published by Cineteca Bologna in 2018, with improved colors and image quality.


Reception


Box office

In Italy, the film sold 8,870,732 tickets. In the United States, it grossed $5,321,508, from ticket sales. It sold a further 14,873,804 admissions in FranceBox office information for film
at Box Office Story
and 13,018,414 admissions in Germany, for a total of tickets sold worldwide.


Critical response

''Once Upon a Time in the West'' was reviewed in 1969 in the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...
'' by
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
, who gave it two and a half stars out of four. He found the film "good fun" and "a painstaking distillation" of Leone's famous style, with intriguing performances by actors cast against their type and a richness of detail projecting "a sense of life of the West" made possible by Paramount's larger budget for this Leone film. Ebert complained, however, of the film's length and convoluted plot, which he said only becomes clear by the second hour. While viewing Cardinale as a good casting choice, he said she lacked the "blood-and-thunder abandon" of her performance in ''
Cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...
'' (1962), blaming Leone for directing her "too passively." In subsequent years, the film developed a greater standing among critics, as well as a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
. Directors such as
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...
,
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the '' Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as c ...
,
Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...
, and Vince Gilligan have cited the film as an influence on their work. It has also appeared on prominent all-time critics lists, including ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
''s 100 greatest films of the 20th century and ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
''s 500 greatest movies of all time, where it was the list's highest-ranking Western at number 14. Popular culture scholar
Christopher Frayling Sir Christopher John Frayling (born 25 December 1946) is a British educationalist and writer, known for his study of popular culture. Early life and education Christopher Frayling was born in Hampton, a suburb of London, in affluent circumstanc ...
regarded it as "one of the greatest films ever made". Review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
reports a 95% approval rating based on 66 reviews, with an average score of 9.20/10. The critical consensus reads: "A landmark Sergio Leone spaghetti Western masterpiece featuring a classic Morricone score."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gives the film a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 80 out of 100 based on reviews from 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


Accolades

* ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' named ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' as one of the 100 greatest films of all-time. * In ''They Shoot Pictures, Don't Theys list of the 1000 Greatest Films, ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' is placed at number 62. * ''
Total Film ''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched ...
'' placed ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' in their special edition issue of the 100 Greatest Movies. * In 2008, ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' held a poll of "the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time", taking votes from 10,000 readers, 150 filmmakers, and 50 film critics. "Once Upon a Time in the West" was voted in at number 14, the highest Western on the list. In 2017, it was then ranked at number 52 on ''Empires poll for "The 100 Greatest Movies" (the second-highest Western on the list). * In 2009, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". * In 2010, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' ranked it third in its "The 25 Best Action and War Films of All Time" list; and in 2013 the paper ranked it first in its "Top 10 Movie Westerns" list. * In the
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
''
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' polls, it was ranked the 78th-greatest film ever made in the critics' poll and 44th in the directors' poll. * In 2014, ''
Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...
'' polled several film critics, directors, actors, and stunt actors to list their top action films. ''Once Upon A Time In The West'' placed 30th on their list.


Year-end lists

The film is recognized by
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...
in these lists: * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: ** Frank – Nominated Villain * 2005:
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005. John Williams has the most scores in the top 25, with three ...
– Nominated


Film references

Leone's intent was to take the stock conventions of the American Westerns of
John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
,
Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." A ...
, 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 many other, more subtle reversals occur throughout the film. According to film critic and historian
Christopher Frayling Sir Christopher John Frayling (born 25 December 1946) is a British educationalist and writer, known for his study of popular culture. Early life and education Christopher Frayling was born in Hampton, a suburb of London, in affluent circumstanc ...
, the film quotes from as many as 30 classic American Westerns. The major films referenced include: * '' The Comancheros'' (1961): The names "McBain" and "Sweetwater" may come from this film. Contrary to popular belief, the name of the town "Sweetwater" was not taken from
Victor Sjöström Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...
's silent epic drama '' The Wind''. Bernardo Bertolucci has stated that he looked at a map of the Southwestern United States, found the name of the town in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, and decided to incorporate it into the film. However, both "Sweetwater" and a character named "McBain" appeared in ''The Comancheros'', which Leone admired. * ''
Johnny Guitar ''Johnny Guitar'' is a 1954 American Western film directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Ernest Borgnine and Scott Brady. It was produced and distributed by Republic Pictures. The screen ...
'' (1954): Jill and Vienna have similar backstories (both are former prostitutes who become saloonkeepers), and both own land where a train station will be built because of access to water. Also, Harmonica, like
Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor and decorated Marine Corps officer and an Office of Strategic Services' agent during World War II. A leading man for mos ...
's title character, is a mysterious, gunslinging outsider known by his musical nickname. Some of ''Wests central plot (Western settlers vs. the railroad company) may be recycled from Nicholas Ray's film.Frayling * '' The Iron Horse'' (1924): ''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, and the shot of the train pulling into the Sweetwater station at the end. * ''
Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a su ...
'' (1953): The massacre scene in ''West'' features young Timmy McBain out hunting with his father, just as Joey does in this movie. The funeral of the McBains is borrowed almost shot-for-shot from ''Shane''. * ''
The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...
'' (1956): Leone admitted that the rustling bushes, the silencing of insect sounds, and the fluttering grouse that suggests menace is approaching the farmhouse when the McBain family is massacred were all taken from ''The Searchers''. The ending of the film—where Western nomads Harmonica and Cheyenne move on rather than join modern society—also echoes the famous ending of Ford's film. * ''
Winchester '73 ''Winchester '73'' is a 1950 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea and Stephen McNally. Written by Borden Chase and Robert L. Richards, the film is about the journey of a pr ...
'' (1950): The scenes in ''West'' at the trading post are claimed to be based on those in ''Winchester '73'', but the resemblance is slight. * ''
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' () is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and James Stewart. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a 1953 short story written by ...
'' (1962): The dusters (long coats) worn by Cheyenne and his gang (and by Frank and his men while impersonating them) resemble those worn by Liberty Valance (
Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alt ...
) and 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''. * '' The Last Sunset'' (1961): The final duel between Frank and Harmonica is shot almost identically to the duel between Kirk Douglas and Rock Hudson in this film. * '' Duel in the Sun'' (1946): The character of Morton, the crippled railroad baron in ''West'', was based on the character played by
Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931 ...
in this film.


See also

*
List of Italian films of 1968 __NOTOC__ A list of films produced in Italy in 1968 (see 1968 in film): References Footnotes Sources * * * * * * External linksItalian films of 1968at the Internet Movie Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Films Of 1968 Lists ...
*
List of highest-grossing films in France The following is a list of the films with the most cinema admissions in France, as of 31 July 2022. :''Background colour indicates films currently in cinemas The website for the above table lists ''La Grande Illusion'' (1937) with an estimated ...
* List of highest-grossing films in Germany


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

* * * * * * * {{Authority control 1968 films 1960s English-language films English-language Italian films 1960s Italian-language films 1968 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Italian epic films Spaghetti Western films American epic films Films directed by Sergio Leone Paramount Pictures films Rail transport films Films scored by Ennio Morricone United States National Film Registry films Films set in 1876 Films set in the United States Films set in Arizona Films shot at Cinecittà Studios Films shot in Utah Films with screenplays by Sergio Leone American films about revenge Italian films about revenge Films with screenplays by Dario Argento Films with screenplays by Sergio Donati Films shot in Almería Postmodern films American multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1960s multilingual films Revisionist Western (genre) films 1960s American films 1960s Italian films