Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)

One of my buddies gave me Once Upon a Time in The West as a reference to some Tarantino influence as he saw it. For me it was a Western and I love Westerns so it didn’t take any kind of urging for me to see it. What a gem this movie is, the cast is flawless, the acting is out of this world and you get all the ingredients that makes Western movies what they are, all within a couple of hours. Lovers of Eastwood brand of Spaghetti Westerns that haven’t seen Once Upon a Time in The West can blind buy it and be assured that you will not be disappointed.

The lead in Once Upon a Time in The West is the macho man of all action movie macho men, Charles Bronson as Harmonica (he plays one throughout the movie). You may remember him from his Death Wish series of kickass 70s era movies but in this one he is all cowboy. Silent, mysterious, chivalrous with a deadly edge… his aim is on the level of dead-eye, a true legend of the West. I don’t know what it is about Western protagonists keeping their names a secret but Harmonica is no different.

Partnered up with Harmonica is the charismatic Cheyenne (Jason Robards), a lovable rogue who always means well but plays things his way. Robards mannerisms and gestures are enough to sell the character to you and my favorite scenes throughout had to be when he and the beautiful Claudia Cardinale were sharing the lens. Cardinale as Jill McBain is the classic Western woman, she is strong and complicated, being hard when she needs to be and delicate when she is relaxed. With the dust, grime and hard lined faces of the men in the West, her scenes are a welcome break as she is not only attractive but strikingly beautiful. Her role is not a forced, ridiculous excuse to show a softer side of the West but more of an important accent to a movie that has several plots going on.

Then of course we have the bad guy, he’s dressed in black, he kills women and children and his ice blue eyes are like chilly lakes amidst a brown tan of man crevices. This is the man known simply as Frank (Henry Fonda) and the fact that he is played by one of our greatest actors is not forgotten as he scares the living hell out of you whenever he is on screen. Very much the intelligent savage, Frank seems to be a step ahead of the game at all times and exacts his punishment in the most ruthless ways. It doesn’t help that he too, like Harmonica has a dead-eye aim with a six shooter.

The thing I love the most about Once Upon a Time in The West is the way that it makes you feel like a fly on the wall during a period of someone’s life. Director Sergio Leone doesn’t bring you a movie but more of a window into this world of horses, railroads and development. There’s a solid mix of Mexicans, black people, Asians and Native Americans inside towns, working the railroad etc.; reflecting the true West in its growth as opposed to the fairy tale whitewash that the standard Western would present.

The gunfights are exciting, the sounds keep you alert and the best part of the entire movie has got to be the hypnotic soundtrack. While my buddy wanted me to see this for the story-telling influence that it may have had on Quentin Tarantino. The music reminded me very much of the way Kill Bill was treated, only this Western does it so much better.

If you are a fan of the Western genre and you have not seen Once Upon a Time in The West, please do yourself a favor and pick it up. This is the influence that has effected many of the current movies that you love so much and when you see how well it was done in 1968 you will genuflect to mr. Sergio Leone and his cast of characters.