479. C'era una volta il West/Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Running Time: 165 minutes
Directed By: Sergio Leone
Written By: Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, Sergio Donati, Mickey Knox, Sergio Leone
Main Cast: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Gabriele Ferzetti
Click here to view the trailer

SERGIO LEONE HAT TRICK: PART TWO OF THREE

Continuing on with my three film salute to Sergio Leone, we come to "Once Upon a Time in the West", a beautiful, intense epic that has played a huge role in recharging my zest for this journey through the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book.

Like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "Once Upon a Time in the West" focuses on three men, crossing paths and kicking up dust in the old west. Frank (Fonda) is the meanest of the mean and is hired by wealthy railroad tycoon Morton (Ferzetti) to "take care" of anyone who might have reason to stop his railroad from being built. When Brett McBain buys a piece of land that lies right in the path of the railroad track, Frank and his boys pay a visit to Mr. McBain and remove him from the equation. That day Mr. McBain's new wife, Jill (Cardinale), arrives from New Orleans, to meet her new family, but finds them all slaughtered. Wanting to make a go at a new life in Flagstone, she stays put and tries to establish herself. Meanwhile, a man dubbed Harmonica (Bronson) has recently strolled into town and while he keeps his words few, he speaks with his musical mouthpiece and his six-shooter and seems to have a score to settle with the vicious Frank. Also there's Cheyenne (Robards), a mild-mannered guy, who is being framed for the murder of Brett McBain and aims to find out why the McBain family was killed in the first place.

Despite the fact that it's a Western, I honestly believe that if "Once Upon a Time in the West" had been released in 2010, as opposed to 1968, it would still be received very well. It, in my opinion, is a film that was/is way ahead of it's time. The thing I'm already beginning to love about Sergio Leone is that he was a very confident filmmaker. It comes across in the two movies of his that I've watched in the past two days. You can see confidence shining through on the screen. Leone knew for a fact that he had something special with "Once Upon a Time in the West". It oozes through in the music, in the cinematography and in the way Leone treats his characters. The score of Ennio Morricone is an absolute classic and probably one of the best soundtracks that I've ever heard accompany a movie. The camerawork is also absolutely AWESOME, in every sense of the word.

SPOILER ALERT!

To be honest, the plot of "Once Upon a Time in America" leaves something to be desired. I'm big on plot in my movies and maybe as my cinematic tastes mature a little bit more, I'll be able to watch a visually striking, musically enhanced picture, like "Once Upon a Time in the West" and that will be enough to curb my appetite for a good picture. However, I haven't reached that point yet and I'm still someone who likes to have a good storyline accompany all of that other detailed greatness. For a nearly three hour film, not a whole lot is ever really going on and if you take the plot itself, it's one that could have easily been told in half the time that Leone took to tell it. Everything kind of centers around that one important scene where Brett McBain and his family are murdered and from there on, we have these three characters staring holes in one another, until finally we're brought to a major, epic duel at the end of the movie.

And speaking of the end of the movie, what was up with the end of this movie? The ending should have and easily could have been Harmonica and Frank's duel, but instead we carry the film out for another fifteen or so minutes, as Cheyenne and Harmonica ride off into the sunset together, only to discover that apparently Cheyenne has been shot, falling from his horse and dying. It was a very weak ending if you ask me, one that wasn't needed, as they had a perfectly brilliant ending in the Frank/Harmonica duel. That duel, by the way, is one that I rewound three times to rewatch, as it was really a PERFECT scene and one that I won't soon forget.

For all the nitpicking I'm doing, it's really hard to deny that "Once Upon a Time in the West" is really a MUST SEE movie. Even if the plot is a little stale and the ending is all wrong, the film is still absolutely brilliant and sometimes breathtaking. Seeing Henry Fonda play a bad guy is something else that must be seen to be believed. I wondered how they were going to get me to believe that my personal symbol of cinematic justice, Mr. Henry Fonda was an evil outlaw...and then he shoots a young child in the face and I knew he wasn't Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes anymore. Here's another little fun fact: I had never seen a Charles Bronson picture prior to this one. In my mind, he was always kind of lumped into the Steven Segal, Chuck Norris macho club, but I'll be damned if he wasn't a pretty good actor and a suitable successor to Eastwood's "Man with No Name" persona. And yes, Claudia Cardinale is still GORGEOUS!

RATING: 8.5/10 I'm sure this, along with "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" will see a change in their ratings come recap time, but for now an '8.5' seems suitable. Had there been a stronger plot and had they lopped off the Cheyenne dying ending, then it could have been an easy '10' and probably a shoo-in for the #1 spot of my next TOP 20.

MOVIES WATCHED: 346
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 655

November 8, 2011 12:52am