| | Once Upon A Time In The West VHS (10 Customer Reviews)
| Category | Action DVDs, Box Sets Movies, Adventure Videos, Recommended, Murder, Classic, Westerns, Essential Cinema, Revenge, Epic, Assassins, Old West, Railroads, Spaghetti Western | | Starring | Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale, Keenan Wynn, Woody Strode, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lionel Stander, Frank Wolff, Paolo Stoppa, Jack Elam | | Director | Sergio Leone | | Composer | Ennio Morricone | | Director of Photography | Tonino Delli Colli | | Editor | Nino Baragli | | Executive Producer | Fulvio Morsella | | Producer | Bino Cicogna | | Production Designer | Carlo Simi | | Screenwriter | Sergio Leone, Sergio Donati | | Story | Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, Sergio Leone |
Sergio Leone's epic homage to the Hollywood western has become a cinematic classic. Leone plays with the genre's conventions primarily through evocative camerawork and music, and with a minimum of dialogue.
The film follows several stories, all centering on greed, murder and revenge. In one, gunmen slaughter an entire family who are awaiting the arrival of their father's new bride. The wife valiantly attempts to hold on to the land she has inherited. But the cold-blooded outlaws who committed the massacre want to complete the job by killing her.
There's also a mysterious "Nameless Man" who has his own reasons for hunting down these bandits... and he has murder on his mind. Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti), the power-hungry owner of a railroad company, hires Frank (Henry Fonda, playing against type), a gunfighter without a conscience, to kill anyone who stands in the way of the completion of the railroad. After Frank murders land owner Brett McBain (Frank Wolff), McBain's widow (Claudia Cardinale) hires two killers of her own to protect her and gain revenge: a mysterious, harmonica-playing desperado (Charles Bronson) and his rogue sidekick (Jason Robards). Using techniques previously unseen in the genre, Sergio Leone utilizes close-ups, color, and Ennio Morricone's trademark score to create a tense and somber meditation on death which is widely considered to be one of the best westerns in cinematic history. Soon-to-be legendary Italian directors Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA) and Bernardo Bertolucci (THE LAST EMPEROR) collaborated with Leone on the screenplay. According to Dario Argento, who is credited with co-writing the film's original story, he and Bernardo Bertolucci were on the set during the filming, and both constantly rewrote the script.
Co-produced by Safran and San Marco.
Color by Technicolor; shot in TechniScope on location in Monument Valley, also Spain and Cinecitta Studio in Rome, Italy.
The film has been shown on the AMC Cable Network in Letterbox format, in its original uncut version.
When Henry Fonda first received the script from Leone, he was not impressed with it. But close friend Eli Wallach, who had been in Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," convinced him to take the part. Wallach told Fonda that Leone used the script only as an outline for the film, which was improvised as the production went on and strengthened by the addition of evocative music and stylized action. Fonda got hold of the scripts of other Leone films, and then watched the finished products; he quickly realized that what Wallach had told him was true.
Original distributor United Artists refused to release the film with Henry Fonda cast as the cold-hearted, sadistic killer in the lead role, so Leone took the deal to Paramount, who ultimately distributed the film.
The music, composed by Ennio Morricone, is broken up into the following themes and sections:
1. Once Upon a Time in the West
2. As a Judgment
3. Farewell to Cheyenne
4. The Transgression
5. The First Tavern
6. The Second Tavern
7. Man with a Harmonica
8. A Dimly Lit Room
9. Bad Orchestra
10. The Man
11. Jill's America
12. Death's Rattle
13. Finale
Music published by Famous Music. Corp (ASCAP), distributed by BMG Music. Once Upon A Time In The West Reviews: "...One beautiful image follows another....Throughout, Leone is a master of the expressive gesture in celebration of an Old West that exists more in our imaginations than it ever did in reality..."-- Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times "...Director Sergio Leone's 'spaghetti' masterpiece'..."
-- Mike Clark, USA Today "...Brilliant....Brutal, bloody and poetic, this is, without hyperbole, one of the greatest Westerns ever made..."
-- Jamie Russell, Total Film "...Bronson and Fonda never looked better..."
-- Daniel Davis, Movieline's Hollywood Life Ranked #18 in Uncut's Best DVDs Of 2005 -- "[I]t's simultaneously an elegy, a critique and a fairytale of the cowboy myth."
-- Uncut Staff, Uncut
This is the only Jack Elam video. Once Upon A Time In The West Once Upon A Time In The West Video Once Upon A Time In The West Movie Review Average Rating: (4.8 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Must see western!
Simply put, one of the best westerns ever made.
Submitted by a reviewer (Hockley, Tx, USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No This film is Cinema
For me, this film is the truest example of cinematic art. Leone, an immigrant, in love with the myth that is America. Once Upon A Time In The West simply towers over any other western ever made and stands shoulder to shoulder with the finest images ever committed to film. Because of this film I have stood in the heart of Monument Valley, used Morricone's beautiful main theme on my wedding day and come to understand and love all that is to be treasured in true cinema. To those who have yet to commit this Masterpiece to DVD, you should be ashamed, and to those of you who will not allow yourselves to see, feel and hear the majesty of Leone's work, Back to the Future is out on DVD with deleted scenes.
Submitted by a reviewer (Placentia, CA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No King of Western
Far away from the white-hat wearing Hollywood cowboys, four fates cross in the height of the western conquest. With an unforgiving, sweaty, dusty realism you're being told a tale tale of the West like it must have been.
This is the King of all Western, and probably among the finest 3 hours of motion picture and soundtrack ever released.
Submitted by a reviewer (Paris, Tx)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Best Damn Western Made
I've watched it 5 times over many years and each time it gets better. Fonda and Bronson were ready for this role.
If you want to see a real western without hollywood hype, see this one. You won't be disappointed.
Submitted by edbayes (San Diego CA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No A Thride, no less
Bring Once Upon A Time in the West to DVD. It is thrill ride caliber, well, a little slow--but it needs to be for what the movie is, Sergio's finest hour in a career chock full of fine hours.
Submitted by bafflegaddy (Lancaster, PA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No List All Reviews | Have you seen this movie? |  |
Once Upon A Time In The West DVD VHS Features:
Full Frame -
1.33
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