‘How can you trust a man that wears both a belt and suspenders? Man can’t even trust his own pants...’
Sergio Leone and his oeuvre of spaghetti westerns have long cemented their place in cinematic history. Any top 100 film list worth its salt will contain a few Leone’s in there, and Once Upon a Time in the West is one of his most celebrated works. The paradox for me is that I don’t really care for westerns but I love Leone’s work. This is because the setting is almost incidental. Leone’s work has endured because it is visually stunning, utterly compelling and boasts some of the greatest soundtrack work in the history of cinema. Quite simply one of the greatest filmmakers to ever hold a camera…
When an Irish American ranch owner with big dreams is murdered, his widow Jill (Claudia Cardinale) becomes embroiled in a dispute for the land her husband left behind. Dastardly gunslinger Frank (Henry Fonda) shoots and smiles his way through the town to try and claim McBain’s land, but a mysterious man with a harmonica (Charles Bronson) has designs on it too. As does Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) – a wealthy railroad baron.
Another sweeping, majestic film from Leone then, and one that is visually his finest work. The concluding scenes here feature some of the most jaw-dropping shots in cinematic history with Leone making full use of his various locations (Spain, Italy, USA and Mexico), as well as ensuring that his incredible cast do justice to the scenery around them. I’d never heard of Cardinale before this film, but she is simply revelatory here, and both Fonda and Bronson can play a grizzled cowboy better than pretty much anyone.
It might not be quite as impactful as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but Once Upon a Time in the West is still undoubtedly a masterpiece. The score alone is a work of utter genius. Forget the ‘western’ tag, this is cinema – pure and simple. And it’s almost as good as it gets.