Serendipity has always played a big part in life as well as the movies, perhaps nowhere more obviously than in Sergio Leone's seminal Once Upon A Time In The West (1968). After The Good The Bad and The Ugly Leone, a man of few words potently placed (often with glib satire) elsewhere in the genre, publicly announced his retirement from making spaghetti westerns. Offers came and went but Leone remained staunch and determined in his refusal until Paramount offered the director a substantial budget and access to Henry Fonda, Leone's all time favourite star whom he had never worked with before.
At Leone's request Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento were brought in to develop the property in 1966, spending almost a year watching and deconstructing classic Hollywood westerns for their inspiration. Conscious of the fact that his lengthy run times were often severely paired down for general release in America, Leone commissioned Sergio Donati to help refine and edit the screenplay.
For Once Upon A Time in the West Leone broke many of his own traditions, including allowing his characters to evolve on screen. As his major motif of the railroad (aka civilization and culture) dismantles the mythic west, the characters left standing after all the gun fighting is over represent transformative figures reshaped by the hand of progress. Running parallel to this motif is Leone's last stand for mythical heroes, villains and legends of that mythology. With his curious appraisal of their legacy, part glowing tribute/part deconstructive, Once Upon A Time in the West stands at a crossroads bridging the ancient Hollywood tradition of gallant western heroes with the more contemporary strain of the anti-hero.
Always more interested in the rituals preceding violence than the act of violence itself, Donati and Leone's screenplay for Once Upon A Time in the West features sparse dialogue and lengthy sequences of very little action, though hardly little story development. The narrative centers primarily on two epic conflicts taking place in the fictional town of Flagstone (actually an amalgam of location work shot in Spain and Utah); the first, the deed of cold blooded murder, the second a transgression that leads to revenge.
The impetus for all the carnage is a parcel of land known as Sweetwater bought by Brett McBain (Frank Wolff); a lonely settler who foresaw a way to capitalize on the railroad coming through. Desiring Sweetwater for himself, the railroad's crippled baron, Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) sends his hired gun, Frank (Henry Fonda) and his men to intimidate McBain and lay claim to the property.
Instead, Frank takes considerable pleasure in murdering the entire McBain family (father, and three young children) while planting evidence to suggest that the bandit Cheyenne (Richard Robards) is responsible for the slaughter. Earlier, Frank also sent three of his best men to the station to meet Harmonica (Charles Bronson); a mystery man and the only gun who could challenge him.
Dispatching Frank's men in short order, Harmonica eventually meets up with Cheyenne in a cantina and informs him that he is being set up by Frank. Meanwhile, McBain's new bride, Jill (Claudia Cardinale) arrives too late in Flagstone from New Orleans and is met by the town's folk already preparing for their funerals.
Harmonica and Cheyenne become smitten with Jill. Harmonica explains to Cheyenne that unless the station is built by the time the tracks reach the McBain property she will lose Sweetwater. Cheyenne puts his men to work to build Jill her station. Outraged at Frank for having defied him, Morton offers Jill a deal for her property. This betrayal turns mate against master and the die is cast for a showdown.
Frank rapes Jill, then forces her to sell the property in an auction, believing that he will be its only bidder. Instead, Harmonica holds Cheyenne at gunpoint to make his own bid for Sweetwater, using the money acquired for turning Cheyenne in to pay for the land himself. Harmonica then sells Sweetwater back to Jill. Having been paid by Morton, Frank's men attempt to kill him but Harmonica now rises to Frank's defence so that he may have the privilege of killing Frank himself.
During their final showdown Frank demands that Harmonica identify himself. In a flashback it is revealed that Frank killed Harmonica's older brother by tying a noose around his neck and forcing Harmonica - then a mere boy - to support him on his shoulders, knowing that the child would be unable to do this indefinitely. Harmonica shoots Frank dead and places a harmonica in his mouth to make his own revenge complete.
Her arch nemesis gone, Jill supervises construction of the train depot near her property. Cheyenne reveals to Harmonica that during his earlier confrontation with Morton's men he had been mortally wounded. He collapses and dies in Harmonica's arms and is carried off into the sunset by Harmonica as the railroad - the symbol of a new world burgeoning forth from the desert - looms large in the foreground.
From a narrative perspective Once Upon A Time In the West is an imperfect film. Having the bandit Cheyenne become the film's heroic figure is problematic to say the least. If he's a bandit, we never really see him at his most ruthless. If anything, he's an over the hill nobleman sheathed in the aura of his own pretend. It's also rather unlikely, having seen the cold-bloodedness of Frank firsthand, that his men would suddenly forget themselves for a few pieces of gold and turn against him for Morton or anyone else. But there is so much style and superb characterizations in abundance throughout that one can easily forget shortcomings in story development and still have a relatively coherent experience.
Casting the film proved a challenge. Initially, Henry Fonda turned down Leone presumably because he did not want to be cast against type and play the heavy. This decision Fonda regretted, then reconsidered only after friend and spaghetti western veteran Eli Wallach advised him to do the film. Charles Bronson was hired for Harmonica, but only after Clint Eastwood refused to do the film and James Coburn demanded too much money to play the part. Robert Ryan backed out of playing the Sheriff for a bigger part in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch.
Two notes of tragedy marred the production. The first involved actor Al Mulock who played a supporting role as Knuckles in the film's opening confrontation between Harmonica and Frank's men. The actor committed suicide in full costume shortly after his scenes had been shot in Spain by leaping from his hotel room. Two years later Frank Wolff (McBain) followed Mulock's lead by jumping from his hotel suite in Rome.
As Leone suspected his 165 minute international cut of the film was butchered for the American release. As a result it did poorly at the box office. Viewed today in its restored cut one can not only see but also admire the brilliant light touches in Leone's sustained pacing. Performances throughout are powerful, haunting and peerless. For a film so generous in its scope and size, Once Upon A Time in the West seems remarkably concise and effortlessly unfolds with ever more compelling detail once one settles into the methodical cadence of the scenes and tempo in the editing.
Paramount Home Video's Blu-ray is not quite as impressive as expected. Sourced from restored elements the image exhibits fine detail throughout. However, colours seem to lack in the bold richness we've come to expect from the Blu-ray format. Comparing the Blu-ray image with Paramount's stellar 2 disc DVD reveals that the Blu-ray's colour palette is less warm and favours more of a blue/brown schematic rather than the DVD's more ruddy brown/gold hues. Contrast levels remain nicely realized. Blacks are deep and velvety smooth. Whites are pristine.
Sonically, the DTS soundtrack fairs only marginally better on Blu-ray than the Dolby Digital track of the DVD. Ennio Morricone's magnificent score is the true benefactor here. But dialogue continues to sound strident, thin and frontal. Extras are all direct imports from the DVD and include a litany of short featurettes that cumulatively assemble as one lengthy and thorough documentary on the making of the film. Bottom line: recommended!
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4
EXTRAS
3
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