DVD REVIEW

Once Upon a Time in the West - Special Collector's Edition  (1969)

Starring: Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Gabriele Ferzetti

Director: Sergio Leone

Rating: PG-13

Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

Release Date: November 18, 2003
Review posted: December 2, 2003

Spoilers: Minor to Major

Reviewed by Dennis Landmann

A mysterious stranger (Bronson) with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado (Robards) to protect a beautiful widow (Cardinale) from a ruthless assassin (Fonda) 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. Thanks to the IMDB.

"People scare better when they're dyin'." - Frank

Once Upon a Time in the West ranks somewhere on the top 10 list of the all-time best westerns, and not just in my opinion. However, it is my opinion OUATITW is the ultimate and best western picture. It has earned its place on the top 10 list for several reasons. Let me count the ways.

Sergio Leone directs his films with his patented style of extreme close-ups, beautiful scenery and glorious cinematography. His eye for detail and grace is incredible. Every shot in OUATITW is a treasure to behold. He moves the camera in an opera kind of way, usually guided by Ennio Morricone's wonderful score. This film seems especially opera-like as Leone uses Morricone's score, which had been written and conducted before filming began, in every other scene. It is the music that drives the images. And the resulting film is like a stream of water flowing down a river. However, a few rocky passages get in the way, yet they never disturb the flow.

Every film has at least a flaw or two. Some may be more obvious than others. In the case of OUATITW, the flaws are somewhat apparent, but never too distracting. First of all I should acknowledge the monstrous length of the film at 165 minutes. For a western epic, I think such length is not too problematic. However, a film's running time can sometimes be increased by a slow pace. Granted, OUATITW is pretty much a slow film, but nothing ever bored me. Leone's longest film is Once Upon a Time in America (my review here) at over 200 minutes. That film could've used some serious editing, but when the drama sustains throughout all that time. Not too long ago, MGM released Dances With Wolves (my review here) on DVD with almost an hour of footage edited back into the film, accumulating to nearly four hours. Despite its length, OUATITW sustains its drama and turns into an epic western.

Something else can be said about the film as a coherent whole. A few plot holes and some continuity errors that occur are duly noted, and surely OUATITW would've done better without them, yet in the general sense these flaws do not cause the film any big problems. I do not hold any grudges against the film as a whole, neither do I dismiss the flaws on purpose or glean over them. I acknowledge their existence, but they do not interfere with my viewing experience. It could be argued that some areas of the film are a bit disjointed, especially during a few scene transitions. It seems some information is missing to connect the progression of scenes. Again, these are minor flaws compared to the big picture.

The story of OUATITW is not as fleshed out as it should be, yet it is both emotionally involving and cathartic. The character of Jill McBain (Cardinale) is the emotional center of the story. Around her exists the story. One man is trying to protect her, the other to pursue her, and the third to rape her. Well, that is more or less the way the three male characters are connected to Jill McBain. What is more, however, is the impact Jill has on the three men. Claudia Cardinale wears quite a bit of make-up and appears exotic, not to mention looking beautiful. Her performance is right on the money. She displays all the right emotions when applicable. The actress was recently seen in the film And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen.

Henry Fonda plays Frank, a ruthless killer. He is in cohorts Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti), a railroad baron, and together they try to epitomize what we now know as a monopoly. Later in the story, Frank tries to force Jill to sell her property. Both of these men are disgusting villains, but Frank is much more callous. The role of Frank is certainly a large step in the other direction for Henry Fonda. However, he's got the malice down to his bones. His eyes really sell it, too, which is just what Leone wanted. Fonda makes Frank a great villain. The actor made his last impression on the big screen with the 1981 drama On Golden Pond. Among many other films, he was great in 12 Angry Men.

Confronting Frank is Charles Bronson as Harmonica, a character of morale and sincerity. When events require him to be abrasive, he will not take shit from anyone. His interrogation of a man inside a dark factory turns violent and bloody, but he doesn't go overboard. Harmonica enjoys an incredible and fantastic entrance in the film's first fifteen minutes. Three members of Frank's gang hang out at a railroad station, apparently waiting for nothing. Yet ten minutes later a train arrives. Only one passenger gets off, and he plays a harmonica. "Frank sent us," says one of the thugs. Harmonica asks, "Did you bring a horse for me?" No, "looks like we're shy one horse," replies the thug. To this Harmonica answers, "You brought two too many." Before the thugs realize what he means, Harmonica shoots them like one, two, three! In short, this is opening sequence is classic. Also, it seems Bronson was born to play this character. He's just terrific in this film. Sadly, Mr. Bronson passed away earlier this year on August 30. Interestingly, he was born on the same day as I, November 3.

Befriending Harmonica under the most trying of circumstances is Cheyenne, played by Jason Robards. The actor gives the character a mean-spirited demeanor that is enjoyable to watch. He's not a bad guy like Frank, far from it, although his intentions are sometimes a little obscure, which lends a certain mystery to his existence. Cheyenne has some good dialogue exchanges with Harmonica, plus he rescues him from captivity inside Morton's train. The scene is also kind of humorous, mainly because of Cheyenne and the way he goes about taking out Morton's bodyguards.

Mr. Robards passed away on December 26, 2000. His last memorable performance was in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia.

Aside from the beautiful cinematography and score by Morricone, plus incredible performances, OUATITW is also a film of great cinematic moments. One is the opening sequence as was discussed earlier, as well as Cheyenne's rescue. Other great moments include Frank's unforgettable family massacre, it is both powerful and shocking in the way it shapes Frank's character; the stand-off between Harmonica and Frank at the very end; the realization and flashback, coupled with Morricone's powerful theme, is enormously intense. I could list many more great moments, but these should be enough to give you a pretty good idea how great the film plays.

With OUATITW, Sergio Leone has crafted the ultimate western. It's a beautiful looking film. It sounds great, too. The performances are outstanding. I like the film's scope very much, especially because the story is so involving. Rivaling OUATITW as the ultimate western is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the third in the Dollars trilogy, but really a prequel, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach.

Sergio Leone directed his last official western in 1971 with A Fistful of Dynamite (or Duck, You Sucker), starring James Coburn and Rod Steiger, and taking place during in the Mexican revolution. However, in 1973 he worked with director Tonino Valerii on the comedy western My Name is Nobody, though he is listed as uncredited on the IMDB. I think he served as a supervisor on the film or something like that. The film is quite terrific as it teams up actors Terence Hill and Henry Fonda. Morricone's music is present in the film also. Nobody nicely showcases the humor in westerns and also in Leone himself. Hopefully Universal or whoever else owns the rights will release the film on DVD soon.

As a filmmaker, Leone is a genius. I can sense a little obsession in his approach to making films, but he creates with care and passion. He left behind an amazing body of work, although at only 60 he went too soon. A heart attack was the cause.

Once Upon a Time in the West comes very highly recommended. It is finally available on DVD. Enjoy!

"Your friends have a high mortality rate, Frank." - Harmonica

Paramount presents Once Upon a Time in the West in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Wow, seeing this film in widescreen is just glorious. In the past I've only seen it in fullscreen so you can imagine the joy I had watching it again in the proper format. Shots of the wide vistas look just great. Other scenery is also beautiful. It's no secret Sergio Leone used the widescreen format to great effect. He fit a lot of different things into the frame. The close-ups look awesome on my 60" screen. In fact, this is like a new experience for me, seeing all these great shots for the first time in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen.

But much more amazing is the clarity and appearance of the print image. Hardly any scratches or dirt spots appeared. Colors are vibrant and very well-saturated. They're not very sharp, but still have good depth. Color detail is pretty neat. A bit of softness appears from time to time, but it didn't cause me any problems. Daylight scenes are free of grain. They simply look great. Very clean. Some of the more dimly lit scenes look very good also. Blacks are quite solid, thought not always. Dark tones are consistent most of the time. I didn't really find any major faults in this presentation. Compression artifacts did not occur at all. In fact, it's the ultimate presentation for this classic Western epic. Widescreen rules!

>>Continued on Page 2 (Audio, Extras, Overall).

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