COWBOYS ---- an ancient race.
The epic discovered in retrospect. Not until many years after its theatrical release did 'Once Upon A Time In The West' become a "succes d'estime". In fact it failed horribly in 1969. The french and germans loved it under its name 'Play Me The Song Of Death'. But its birthland Italy and the US found it to be too slow and too long (originally 161 minutes). ....Filmed in Almeria and the USA it was Leone's homage to the art of the western cowboy genre. He included visual and verbal quotes from his favorite westerns, including High Noon, the Searchers and Shane. He honored John Ford by filming scenes in the iconic Monument Valley (reminicent of many a John Wayne movie). This was Leone's last real Western thus with it a parting and tribute. ....... . . .Seven years after 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' Sergio became more realistic in his approach. Leone, Corbucci ,Barboni, Petroni Spaghetti westerns followed fanciful plots with fauvist characters. Then Leone got serious, real serious in this authentic view of the west. And with this movie surpassed the westerns of Ford, Boettcher and Mann. Indeed he did paramount well in his hybrid hard hollywood/spaghetti western. ..... . . . Leone's cinematic geometry is poetic. Circularity and panoramic movement add titanic dimension to both the grandeur of the landscape and depth of character interaction.. ....... . . .The magic in this classic also lies in its risky casting. Gone are the angular italian machismos. The very jewish Jason Robarts as the noble bandit Cheyenne? The very poilish Charles Bronson (Buchinski) as our harmonica playing cowboy? And Henry Fonda (our socially just hero in dozens of classics) as an amoral childkilling villan? The casting bet payed off! The contrasts are perfect. The interchanges mythic. Each character carrying their personal sountrack. Unique. ...... . . . . I must diagree with the tongue in cheek amazon profile. This is one serious western. . . . . The last 20 minutes are the absolute best western drama on film. Harmonica's vengeance turns out to be a back-handed heroic act. Saving Jill and McBain's land. . . In truth there are no heros here. Just men -- "an ancient race".

The Epic Western Opera
Sergio Leone created one of the greatest western epics in " Once Upon A Time In The West " and uncut it did pretty well when released in Europe.When the film was released in the USA it was cut and the result was a poor box office, and as such it recieved no Academy or Golden Globes the year it released, too bad because we now know in it's complete uncut version it may be the greatest western ever. If you watch close you can see some scenes similar to other classic western of it's time but what makes this so watchable for me is the MUSIC! The great Ennio Morricone is responsible here for a soundtrack that is really a opera. The musical parts have chosen a character to represent and the music cues the action. it is at the same time heartbreaking, brutal and exciting. Henry Fonda is simply unforgettable, his blue eyes are almost unreal, able to portray menace and humanity in the same momment. In a twist that was controversial for it's time you will never look at a curly red haired child the same ever, Fonda sheds his good guy image with his portrayal of this hypnotic psychopath. The all star cast has stand out performances by Jason Robards and Charles Bronson, and though the Italian female lead was relatively unknow in the USA at the time she is spellbinding in her dignity and beauty. I notice this 2 disc set is currently selling for under 7 bucks, if you don't have this film and love westerns, well you really have no excuse to collect this, very highly recommended.

Once Upon a Time in the West
Looked many places and finally found on Amazon. It arrived here promptly and I have been enjoying it very much.

best western
despite being a huge john wayne fan, this is my favorite western of all time...setting style and the tone for the story with the opening train station scene written by dario argento (a master of italian horror) style and story come together in this masterpiece

shaka sez check it out!!!

A "Once Upon a Time in the West" review
I am a 61 year old avid horror movie fan, and the harder to find ones the better, however, I greatly enjoyed this classic western! My past away sister's husband (how shall I say this...) stuck to the ceiling when I informed him of my purchase of it. Alas, I couldn't dub it for him as it was copyprotected <<