C'era una volta il West (1968)

Director:

Sergio Leone

Writers:

Dario Argento (story) &
Bernardo Bertolucci (story) ...

Release Date:

21 December 1968 (Italy)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Epic story of a mysterious stranger with a harmonica who joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Widow | Epic | Railway | Man With No Name

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 17

8:00 PM

TCM

Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Frank
Claudia Cardinale	...	Jill McBain
Jason Robards	...	Cheyenne
Charles Bronson	...	Harmonica
Gabriele Ferzetti	...	Morton (railroad baron)
Paolo Stoppa	...	Sam
Woody Strode	...	Stony - Member of Frank's Gang
Jack Elam	...	Snaky - Member of Frank's Gang
Keenan Wynn	...	Sheriff (auctioneer)
Frank Wolff	...	Brett McBain
Lionel Stander	...	Barman

Also Known As:

Once Upon a Time in the West (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (Australia)
There Was Once the West (USA) (literal English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for western violence and brief sensuality. (re-rated; rated M/PG in 1969)

Runtime:

Italy:175 min | 165 min (international version) | Finland:137 min (1970)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) (re-rating) (2004) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1970) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (re-rating) (1977) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (re-rating) (2000) | UK:15 (video rating) (1989) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (2003) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1969) | West Germany:16 (w)

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Finanzia San Marco

Trivia:

Henry Fonda prepared for his role as the villain "Frank" by arriving in Italy with a pair of brown colored contact lenses. When Sergio Leone saw them, he ordered them removed. Leone had planned an important close-up shot of Fonda and wanted those blue eyes.

Goofs:

Continuity: During Harmonica's confrontation with Frank towards the end of the movie, his hair appears to have grown significantly from earlier in the film. However, when he enters the house to talk to Jill, his hair is short again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Station agent: Hey - hey hey hey hey, if you want any tickets, you'll have to go around to, eh, to, eh, the front of the, eh... oooh, well, I s'pose it'll be all right.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dip huet seung hung (1989)

One for all time !!!

I thought I knew westerns, I'd seen John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Glen Ford, Audie Murphy, Richard Widmark, Alan Ladd, all of them save the day many times. I was wrong, I was 14 yrs old when I went to the local movie house to see this movie in 1969. My grandmother took me, she had always been a huge fan of Henry Fonda's, and even though she didn't care for western's, she dragged me to this one. I'll never forget how engrossed I was from beginning to end. And this one movie was the basis for all my future wish's to have been born a cowboy. Everything about this movie impressed me one way or the other.

Simply put, this movie is the most visually stimulating and engrossing movie I have ever watched.

I have seen plenty of great movies in my in my fifty years of life, but this one, is in my opinion more than a movie, it's a piece of history unfolding in front of your eyes with no censorship or BS added for flavor. True, the movie has been chopped up some for TV and other forms of presentation, but when I was in that theater in 1969, the movie was, to use a semi modern term "AWESOME".

No one, not even if you dislike westerns, should pass on this one.