Once Upon a Time in the West

Gunslingers fight to acquire possession of a tract of land containing a water source along the route of a new transcontinental railroad., Classic western with Henry Fonda ideally cast as a ruthless killer in the employ of a railway magnate. They eliminate a family whose farm is on the railroad route, planning to hijack their idea of building a station and a place to take on water, but a widow, an outlaw and a vengeful stranger have other ideas. Sergio Leone’s masterly follow-up to the ‘Dollars’ trilogy and one of the all-time great westerns., In Sergio Leone’s tribute to Hollywood Westerns, a desperate Mrs. McBain seeks help from a mysterious harmonica player after she finds her family brutally murdered. Luckily, he’s a talented gunslinger with reasons of his own for tracking down the killer., Sergio Leone’s tribute to Hollywood Westerns concerns a mysterious gunfighter out for vengeance., In the Films to See Before You Die strand, Paul Kaye introduces Sergio Leone’s epic spaghetti western, set in a boom town made big by the arrival of the railway. Claudia Cardinale plays Jill McBain, a widow with a past who owns some of the valuable land, with Gabriele Ferzetti as Morton, a land-grabbing railroad owner. Into the mix is thrown Cheyenne, who has designs on Jill, Harmonica, a mysterious taciturn gunslinger and Frank, a cold-blooded gun for hire working for Cheyenne. From its iconic, wordless ten minute opening at the railway station to the explosive denouement and shoot-out, this is a stunning, original film that stands alongside the great westerns of Howard Hawks and John Ford., A homesteader and his kids are killed by a railroad baron who wants his land. The homesteader’s widow then claims the land, and an outlaw seeks to protect her., Jill arrives in a western town to find her husband and his three children shot dead. She is stalked by the same gunman, but a mysterious stranger helps her defend her farmstead., Twenty minutes into Sergio Leone’s revisionist Western, a family of ranchers is ruthlessly slaughtered by a gang of hired killers. Only a small, tousle-haired, freckle-faced boy is left standing. As Ennio Morricone’s eerie musical score is heard in the background, the leader of the gang rides up. It’s…it’s….it’s Henry Fonda! “What do we do with this one, Frank?” asks one of the killers, gesturing to the boy. Fonda’s eyes narrow; he spits on the ground. Slowly, he replies “Well, now that you called me by name” — and with a slight smile, he shoots the kid right between the eyes! Believe it or not, this image-shattering scene is what sold Fonda on appearing in Once Upon a Time in the West. Now that the audience is thoroughly shocked and disoriented, the film settles into a traditional revenge tale. Claudia Cardinale plays Jill McBain, the prostitute who’d just married the slain rancher. Inheriting her late husband’s estate McBain butts heads with railroad baron Morton (Gabrielle Ferzetti), who’d hired Frank to kill the family so that he could claim the land without paying for it. McBain is protected by roguish bandit Cheyenne (Jason Robards) and gunslinger the Man “Harmonica” (Charles Bronson). Cheyenne’s motives are sexual; he’d like to get McBain in the sack. But “Harmonica’s” grudge against Morton and Frank is deeper, and, until the end of the film, an utter mystery. Despite its wanton bloodshed, Once Upon a Time in the West unfolds at a slow, leisurely pace, leavened by moments of unexpected humor.