Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 123movies

Watch: C’era una volta il West 1968 123movies, Full Movie Online – Jill McBain travels to the wild frontier, Utah, where she and her new husband planned to settle down, but upon arrival, she finds him and his children dead. There’s a lot of land, and potential, but there are also those who want to take it–at any cost. Even if it means killing a man and his kids..
Plot: As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.
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Ratings:

	8.5/10 Votes: 328,568
	95% | RottenTomatoes
	80/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 3575 Popularity: 32.357 | TMDB

Reviews:

With apologies (not really) to fans who disagree, this is truly a classic western. I read a criticism that some scenes run long with agonizingly lengthy close-ups, but I found the cinematography intriguing. Those shots divulge nearly as much into the characters’ personalities as a wad of dialogue from older traditional westerns.

Sometimes in a spaghetti western I find myself thinking, aw, why did that innocent person have to die, but innocents did die in the old west, I imagine. I am sure there was a lot of senseless violence then, just as there is now. And Bronson seemed like an odd choice as hero to me, though who can question a director who had the instinct to make perennial good guy Henry Fonda the ultimate villain? He didn’t suck in this role, did he? And at least we get some back story with the harmonica playing Bronson character, unlike with old Blondie from Leone’s The Good The Bad and the Ugly.

And if you like the soundtrack, check out a YouTube video by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra And watch how they recreated the various parts of the music. It is pretty neat and just eight minutes long.

So yeah, I think Once Upon a Time in the West is a western classic, a Greek tragedy with spurs. So shoot me (at ten paces).

I can’t say that this script doesn’t play on Clint Eastwood’s “Man with No Name” (which Sergio Leone also directed), but it’s not important. If you’re a spaghetti western fan, this film is a step up. The idea of putting Fonda in a bad guy role, and casting Bronson as anti-hero was a little shocking at first. At the end, I see how it worked to film’s advantage by making all the characters more complex, ambiguous and real. If you were a Clint Eastwood, you’ll love this film.

More Western than ‘The Western’ itself
In full silence, three mysterious men in long trench coats wait in a remote train station. Their faces have anticipation written all over them, even while the most interesting things they can find to do are toying with a fly, drinking water from a hat and cracking their fingers. A dog runs past. The windmill squeaks. The ticket vendor is locked away. The heath bounces off the wooden platform. The men sweat.

Are you bored yet? Then this movie is probably not for you.

But are you dying to know what the three men are waiting for? Does a light anxiety creep onto you whilst reading that description? Can’t you wait for the tension to resolve? Then this movie is all you ever wanted.

The almost lawless world where outlaws and bandits roam the country with ease that is the setting of the story, is shown by Tonino Delli Colli (director of photography) in all its splendorous grandeur and it’s uncountable little details. The set pieces, the costumes and the real life locations in Arizona and Utah make everything believable. And together with the characters and figurants, everything creates a vibrant and utterly believable Western civilisation.

Charles Bronson plays the man with the harmonica: a lone wolf looking for something that he chooses not to reveal to anyone until he gets it. A character with no name roaming the endless fields under the sun, announcing his presence at all times with the same melody he plays on his harmonica that echo’s in an unsettling way. Bronson does this brilliantly, with a face that overflows with held back emotions and a determination that is downright scary.

In a tavern the man meets Manuel ‘Cheyenne’ Gutiérrez (Jason Robards), a bandit that recently escaped being hung by the neck, re-joining his band of outlaws. With already greying hair, he takes on the situation that arises in the area, trying his part to be the hero that saves the day. Robards portrays a character that, by only one look at him, we can see how the years have shaped him. His performance is outstanding; we want to grab a drink with Cheyenne, but we also get the feeling that being on your guard around him wouldn’t be an overrated luxury.

The ‘damsel in distress’ (although she isn’t in the original meaning of the word) Jill McBain (played by Claudia Cardinale) turns into a toy of Fate itself. Without any warning she gets involved in something quite over her head, but she handles it masterfully; she refuses to return to New Orleans with her tail between her legs and stays to face the difficulties put before her. Cardinale playing Jill is both an erotic marvel and a woman you wouldn’t want to cross.

They are all opposed by Frank (Henry Fonda): the local gang leader with a heart of stone and a business proposal at the ready at all times. With his ruthless blue eyes and his gun at the ready he keeps the town quiet. Fonda gives you the creeps with just one gaze at the camera and every sentence leaves the bitter taste of malfeasance.

And finally, Gabriele Ferzetti finishes the line of main characters with his deliciously sickening portrayal of the crippled railroad baron Morton. A character that you’d like to slap in the face, but one you feel pity for as well. Outstandingly brought!

The soundtrack is composed by the never beaten maestro of film scoring himself: Ennio Morricone. His genius lies in the creation of themes and melodies that will haunt your dreams forever for better or worse. The melancholic main theme that is brought with a heavenly choir draws tears from your eyes after hearing only a couple of chords. The theme of the man with the harmonica is as unsettling as it is epic and Cheyennes’ theme creates the lighter counter points in the movie. Morricone uses these motifs ingeniously, hinting at plot points, character motifs and feelings and giving you a sense of the world the movie takes place in. If I could give twelve out of ten stars for the score, I’d do it.

Sergio Leone was a masterful director, no need to prove that. He manages to turn even a scene of seven minutes, where three men are merely waiting for a train, into an epic storyline. Two hours and three quarters the tension builds and then resolves… partially, always building towards the end. And that finale! That finale! That finale chilled me to the bone! Throughout the film, question after question is raised, and when one question is answered, another one pops up. So when all pieces of the puzzle fall into place to the score of Ennio Morricone, how can one not be moved by it?

For Leone, there was no better way to reach the top of the Western genre.

And for us, there never will be a film that is more Western than ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’.

A film any actor would just die to be in.
The opening scene in this masterpiece from Sergio Leone is alone worth the 10 points. I would add another 10 if I could. To think that the three main actors from another work by the great master, “The Good And The Bad And The Ugly”, Clint Eastwood, Eddie Wallach and Lee Van Cleef, said NO to appear as the three bad guys in the film’s beginning, is just hilarious. Any actor would die just to be in this film. But these three guys were all thinking to highly of themselves, and didn’t consider such a “small role” to be a great honor. It’s not hard to understand Leone’s meta intention to ask the three heroes to appear like that, but perhaps we all should thank them for refusing, because how much more epic didn’t Jack Elam, Woody Strode and Al Mulock become after acting in this famous scene. They are simply perfect for it. Even more incredible is that Mulock committed suicide with his costume still on, and this way actually died, if not for playing a part in the film. His reason will forever be untold.

One person getting too little credit is Leone’s co-screenwriter, another Sergio by the surname Donati, who together with Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci really must have inspired Leone to get at top level. Every single actor in the film are at their top level too and make appearances so perfect that the audience forget that this is fiction. Personally I have seen it again and again only to see the beautiful and great acting Claudia Cardinale appear. But I believe Charles Bronson got the part mainly because he had the perfect looks and the most amazing eyes. Also, Bronson pretending to play the harmonica is THE ONLY just a little annoying thing about the film, even though the character’s name is Harmonica. I am certain that the master behind the fantastic music score, Ennio Morricone, had little or no saying in this, the one place where music and picture don’t fit together. There are so many to mention and give the very best credits. Tonino Delli Colli, director of photography, has caught the actor’s faces, in particular Henry Fonda’s and Charles Bronson’s, but also the grand landscape and every important and non important detail in such an amazing way, it’s totally stunning, and all the way. Nino Baragli is the master of editing. The total is so well composed that it just can’t be made better. We can smell the air, taste the dust and feel every part of the setting. This is not Spaghetti Western, this is Italian epic film art at its very, very best!

Other Information:

Original Language it
Runtime 2 hr 45 min (165 min), 2 hr 57 min (177 min) (extended) (Italy), 2 hr 17 min (137 min) (1970) (Finland), 2 hr 25 min (145 min) (theatrical) (USA), 2 hr 25 min (145 min) (U.S. theatrical) (USA)
Budget 5000000
Revenue 5380118
Status Released
Rated PG-13
Genre Western
Director Sergio Leone
Writer Sergio Donati, Sergio Leone, Dario Argento
Actors Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale
Country Italy, United States
Awards 5 wins & 5 nominations
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Mono, Dolby Digital (2003 DVD release)
Aspect Ratio 2.35 : 1
Camera Mitchell BNC
Laboratory Technicolor, Hollywood (CA), USA
Film Length 3,750 m (1970) (Finland), 4,485 m (cut version) (1977) (Finland), 4,869 m
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Techniscope (2-perf)
Printed Film Format 16 mm, Super 8, 35 mm (anamorphic)