Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Action | Drama | Western

Tagline: There were three men in her life. One to take her... one to love her... and one to kill her.

Acclaimed director Sergio Leone's monumental epic stars Henry Fonda, Jason Robards and Charles Bronson. Fonda, in an out-of-character, chilling performance, plays one of the meanest villains ever to ride the big country in this powerful, sweeping saga of blood and lust.

Plot Summary by Dale O'Connor -- Brett McBain is preparing a welcoming feast for the woman he married last month in New Orleans when he and his three children are gunned down by desperadoes. Frank, the most hardened villain, works for the railroad that will pass through the land Jill McBain has inherited. Will auctioning off the land quickly increase her odds of surviving? Harmonica gets the money for the high bid by turning in Cheyenne for the $5,000 award. And he keeps Jill, too, but seems more interested in settling an old score with Frank than either the land or the lovely widow.

Plot Summary by Keith Loh -- A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad in this long frontier epic. Mysterious pasts and the strength of loyalties is explored amid lightning fast gun battles and stylish vistas.

User Comment: Darth Sidious (darth_sidious@talk21.com) England • Leone is and always will be an incredible director. The film needs to be viewed a few times to understand the narrative and symbolisms that the widescreen vista conjures up.

The film is delibrately slow paced, the characters are building and changing before our very own eyes. Leone's masterful camera placement and shot selection is astounding, you are left in complete awe.

Henry Fonda is amazing, the evil in his eyes will pierce straight through you. Charles Brosnan proved what an actor he could've become.

The west is just a backdrop, it's the execution by Leone that makes everything work. The opening sequence is one of the best things I've ever seen on film, the sheer frustration it brings for both the characters and the viewer is immense.

The Morricone score is his best, it works perfectly with the characters and the vistas.

The sound effects are fantastic, you feel the sound hitting you very harshly

One of the best films to be shot in the west!

Remember, see it in widescreen.

Summary: Masterpiece

--- BAWB ---

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