Once Upon A Time In The West
Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review
By: Erik Swift
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To an impatient viewer, “Once Upon A Time In The West” could be an unbearably boring and tedious film. While watching Sergio Leone’s opus, my roommate wandered in during Charles Bronson’s and Henry Fonda’s climactic shootout. Complaining that it was too slow, he said nothing ever happens in westerns. “Cool ending, though,” he admitted.
In a world of fast-paced action flicks like “Bad Boys II” or “The Fast And The Furious,” it’s easy to dismiss the western as being out of touch or irrelevant. Fortunately, that’s not true. Need proof? Immerse yourself in Sergio Leone’s work, and you’ll find out how amazing it can be. An underrated giant of Italian cinema, Sergio Leone is never mentioned with the same reverence that Oscar winners Fellini, Coppola or Bertolucci often are. It’s true that these three are more internationally recognized, but none of them revolutionized a genre as grandly as Leone remade the western. Driven into the ground by porous star-studded big-budget extravaganzas like “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “The Alamo,” the western was becoming an empty well and running dry.
Then came “A Fistful Of Dollars.” Leone single-handedly knocked the Western film on its pompous bloated ass with 96 minutes of extreme violence, sonic boom gunshots, an enduring Ennio Morricone score and Clint Eastwood’s iconic star-making performance as The Man With No Name. The unbeatable combination became a worldwide smash that spawned two sequels, “For A Few Dollars More” and “The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.” By juxtaposing beautiful vistas with extreme close-ups of an actor’s face – often in the same shot – Leone created a style of film making that has been ripped off by film school students for years (myself being one of them).
The Dollars trilogy made Leone a very large figure in 1960s film. After deciding to move on to the American offers that were calling, he made arguably his finest work, “Once Upon A Time In The West.” A towering achievement that was tragically underestimated during its initial release, Paramount Pictures has finally released a 165-minute version on a double-disc collector’s edition DVD. It’s the best-known stateside version, although cuts exist as short as 144 minutes and as long as three hours. Does this mean another edition will soon appear? Who cares – it’s magnificent to watch.
The first two sequences are among the most powerful openings in any western. The third shot, an extreme close up that rises from a pair of dusty boots to a shotgun only to rest on the weathered face of black actor Woody Strode, immediately signal that this is no ordinary cowboy flick. The first fourteen minutes show a trio of bad guys descending on a train station, and it’s a skillful use of natural sound. Water drops, footsteps, squeaky door hinges and a buzzing fly underscore the tension as the three await their prey. A rickety windmill is heard the entire time, a tool utilized by Quentin Tarantino during the showdown between Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in “Kill Bill, Vol. 1.” The train’s screaming arrival is a jolt, drowning out everything in range, and music doesn’t appear until an echoing harmonica highlights Charles Bronson’s entrance. A brief conversation ensues, and so begins “Once Upon A Time In The West.”
Leone similarly uses the same techniques in the following sequence on the McBain farm. The first shot of Henry Fonda, known for his heroic performances as Lincoln, Wyatt Earp and Tom Joad, is brilliant, bold and ballsy, backed by more muscular Morricone music. Staring down an innocent child after slaughtering his siblings and father, Fonda’s role as Frank generates instant hatred as his monstrous gunshot coldly erupts and slides seamlessly into a train whistle. Rarely has evil been so well personified on film. It’s Fonda’s only villain in a decades-long career that spanned over 100 films, and Leone nails an untapped side of the actor that incredibly didn’t earn him an Oscar nomination.
The social pulse of the world and particularly the USA was in turmoil in 1968, and “Once Upon A Time In The West” reflects that in many ways. In a year that saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, Jason Robards’ half-breed Cheyenne is framed for the McBain slaughter in part because of his mixed blood. The film joins few other westerns that addressed race relations in the Midwest, and also takes on the snaky dealings behind railroad construction and land ownership. Gabriele Ferzetti, a year from wowing audiences as James Bond’s father-in-law in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” brings depth and emotion to Morton, the crippled railroad baron who only longs to see the Pacific. Claudia Cardinale’s first English-speaking performance as Jill McBain makes men’s hearts beat faster during the entire film while subtly illustrating the growing role of women in 1960s film and society. She looks radiant, whether being thrown around by Frank or encountering Cheyenne at the Posada rest stop. Surrounded by top-notch male actors in showy roles, her exquisite Jill anchors the film.
If you hate watching widescreen DVDs, convert yourself. “Once Upon A Time In The West” deserves to be viewed as large as its panoramic Monument Valley shots. The sound is crisp and clear, but as with any Leone film, the Italian cast members’ subpar dubbing is bluntly evident and could be a lot better. The three bonus documentaries should have been combined, but are very informative and include interviews with Cardinale, Ferzetti, the director’s peers and even his biographer, Sir Christopher Frayling. Leone would spend the last twenty years of his life trying to top this film but it unfortunately never happened. Its beauty and influence are evident in “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid,” “The Wild Bunch,” and Best Picture winners “Dances With Wolves” and Eastwood’s Leone-dedicated “Unforgiven.” Check out “Once Upon A Time In The West.” No other western looks this good.
Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!
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