I just watched Once Upon A Time In The West for the first time ever and I have to say I'm impressed but I can see how it wasn't popular in the US when first released and how most kids today aren't going to be able to watch it. Why?
It moves too slow...
Is too thoughtful...
Is too quiet...
And it is actually is trying to say something rather then just be a shoot em up type western. I was doing some research on the movie and it seems a lot of people focus on the railway and water aspects of the movie, about how it reflects the West's changing nature from the Wild to the civilized and modernized. But I think it really reflects the nature of our dreams and ambitions. Frank, Jill, Morton all had a dream but they chose the shortcut to that dream and it ultimatly came to haunt them. It cost Jill got respectablity but at what cost, Morton got to see the water but not the Pacific before he died, Frank lost his life. The water and railroad, in my opinon, is only the macguffin, what propels these people to this moment in time but not the cause of their problems.
Technically, I loved the sound mix, I mean people talk about the performances and the writing and the direction and all those things are impressive, but I have to give it up to Leone and however did the sound mix for mixing the natural sounds on top of each other the cicadas, the creak of the windmills, the boots, etc and then you add Morricono's score over the top or not at all it really makes it feel natural
Acting wise, I have to give it up to Henry Fonda for taking the role of Frank, wow, what a turn from an already great actor, but to play a villian like Frank, wow and Frank isn't just some dyed in the wood villian, he's complex, he's scared, he wants more out of life then what he's got. I think this is really reflected in the custome designers choice of outfits...first half he's in mostly browns, and then in the 2nd half when he takes things into his own hands, yes he's wearing black, but it's a pinstriped black and I think that is a nice reflection of Frank's nature, yes he's bad but he's not totally bad. I think that nature is also reflected in the fact that he rides a white horse. This same costume reflecting nature can also be said of Harmonica, who yes wears the traditional white but it's not a clean white or a pure white, it's a cream, a dirty white aith the patchwork duster of white and brown. I think that reflects Harmonica's nature, he's good but he's not pure good, Harmonica ISN'T John Wayne. Actually he is John Wayne in the Searchers, but not the John Wayne archtype, good guy, etc. And what can I say about Jason Robards, probably the most "good" of the entire char. and ultimatly he suffers for it. Fate decided that Cheyenne would never be happy and he never did find that happiness.The action, when it occurs, is awesome, I loved Robards freeing Bronson in the train, with the boot in the gun trick a real standout.
Clint Eastwood's classic Unforgiven explores some of these same themes, but I think it's Leone, as an Italian, who after studing the classic Hawks, and Ford westerns brings an outsider's perspective to this classic American genre, showing us the death of the American west and the rise of the mob/gangster and buisnessman types. Having seen the Man with No Name trilogy and now this one, I believe that this is probably Leone's best and greatest western and one of the greatest westerns of all time
Anyways 5/5
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