Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Three men in her life..One to take her..
One to love her..and One to kill her

Whoa! We are almost at the top of our list of The Best Spaghetti movies from West. And writing about Once Upon a Time in the West gives me same sheer pleasure which I feel while watching it every time. Once Upon a Time in the West (originally released in Italy in 1968 under the title C'era una volta il West) and released in the United States on May of 1969, is an epic film directed by Sergio Leone and hold a high rank among classic western movies.

Initially this movie was not recognized by film critics, yet it has matured into an undeniable classic. All the magic cultivated by Sergio Leone is in the WAY this movie is made and the lively and fresh treatment of the story... Some the best camera experiments are seen in this great movie.

A Duel At Railway Station

As the movie opens, three men appear at an isolated train station in Arizona. Trains stops and descends a mysterious man playing a harmonica (Charles Bronson). We get to know that these three men are sent by a man named Frank who himself hasn't come to see the harmonica man. And their intentions are crystal clear through their words..

Three Men Three Motives

Serigo's close-up technique holds you by your heart as tension brews and hands sneak near holsters. A showdown ensues and we enter into this masterpiece from Sergio Leone named Once Upon a Time in the West.

On a harsh western background, story revolves around four characters : a young woman looking for a new life but first a revenge, a notorious outlaw on the run, a mercenary on the payroll of the railroad tycoon and a mysterious man with no name who plays a couple of sad chords on a harmonica.

The plot revolves around a family and its property in the middle of a western desert. They hope that one day this property will be a thriving town with a railway station. But they are not alone who have this vision. The family is murdered by a gang led by a hired killer Frank (Henry Fonda) who works for a crooked railway boss (Gabriele Ferzetti) who has his own plans for this future town. However the dead man's fiancée Jill (Claudia Cardinale) arrives in town to find out the tragedy and claims her property and therefore possesses a threat to the railway boss. Meanwhile a man, who always plays a Harmonica before a kill, has come to town looking for Frank to settle some old score. Charles Bronson plays this role with extreme dexterity. A fugitive Cheyenne (Jason Robards) assists him in his journey to prove his innocence regarding being the wrongly accused murderer. I won't be spoling your fun by telling you anymore folks! Just watch it for your own sake!

And if talk about western background score of this Soaghetti western classic, I will go praising it hysterically. Nothing gives my spine a chill as this sound of harmonica with eco effects composed by the master himself - Ennio Morricone. This cowboy film is not only remembered for its classic Sergio Leone touch but also for this western movie theme which intensifies the extreme close-ups used by Sergio Leone. This single track is the best western film score on our western mvie themes list.

• After The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Leone intended to withdraw from making westerns saying all what he wanted to say through westerns has been said. But then Leone sat down with film intellectuals Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento and watched dozens of Hollywood westerns. From this saturation-viewing emerged a 300-page treatment which was eventually distilled into the script, penned by Leone and Sergio Donati. After some time that project was accomplished as Once Upon a Time in the West.




• Henry 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." A great persuasion I must say!




• Those eyes stare deep into your soul

  After he accepted the role, Fonda ordered brown contacts to darken his naturally blue eyes. Fonda felt having dark eyes would blend well with his character's evil and also help the audience to accept this "new" Fonda as the bad guy. Leone immediately told him to remove them from his eyes upon viewing; Leone felt that Fonda's blue eyes best reflected the cold, icy nature of the killer. Till date, blue eyed Frank is seen as a legendary villain of western movies. (Facts from online resources )

Now don't resist that temptation folks...go and watch it if you haven't watched it yet.
Adios!

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