Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
(C'era una volta il West)
Country: IT/US
Technical: col/scope 165m
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast: Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson
Synopsis:
Various interests converge on an arid farmstead as the railroad forges its way west.
Review:
Leone's first American western carries the use of music and iconography the furthest yet, as each character is portentously introduced by its own peculiar theme and the merest incidental detail is elevated to the realm of poetry or bathos (a water droplet, a toilet chain). It is a film of long paragraphs (the first three scenes occupy about 45 minutes of screen time) and not for the fainthearted, but as gradually the jigsaw pieces fit together there are moments of genuine beauty, humour and pathos. Some critics claimed it was incomprehensible; whether or not they were viewing a truncated version, it is not, and its length belies its lack of ambition. Its main theme, the civilizing of the old West, is of the utmost simplicity, naïvety even, and its impact is poetic rather than epic. For Bronson it was a crucial step in his career; Fonda redefined himself, and Robards is magnificent. A landmark film in the genre, it ages well.
(C'era una volta il West)
Country: IT/US
Technical: col/scope 165m
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast: Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson
Synopsis:
Various interests converge on an arid farmstead as the railroad forges its way west.
Review:
Leone's first American western carries the use of music and iconography the furthest yet, as each character is portentously introduced by its own peculiar theme and the merest incidental detail is elevated to the realm of poetry or bathos (a water droplet, a toilet chain). It is a film of long paragraphs (the first three scenes occupy about 45 minutes of screen time) and not for the fainthearted, but as gradually the jigsaw pieces fit together there are moments of genuine beauty, humour and pathos. Some critics claimed it was incomprehensible; whether or not they were viewing a truncated version, it is not, and its length belies its lack of ambition. Its main theme, the civilizing of the old West, is of the utmost simplicity, naïvety even, and its impact is poetic rather than epic. For Bronson it was a crucial step in his career; Fonda redefined himself, and Robards is magnificent. A landmark film in the genre, it ages well.
(C'era una volta il West)
Country: IT/US
Technical: col/scope 165m
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast: Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson
Synopsis:
Various interests converge on an arid farmstead as the railroad forges its way west.
Review:
Leone's first American western carries the use of music and iconography the furthest yet, as each character is portentously introduced by its own peculiar theme and the merest incidental detail is elevated to the realm of poetry or bathos (a water droplet, a toilet chain). It is a film of long paragraphs (the first three scenes occupy about 45 minutes of screen time) and not for the fainthearted, but as gradually the jigsaw pieces fit together there are moments of genuine beauty, humour and pathos. Some critics claimed it was incomprehensible; whether or not they were viewing a truncated version, it is not, and its length belies its lack of ambition. Its main theme, the civilizing of the old West, is of the utmost simplicity, naïvety even, and its impact is poetic rather than epic. For Bronson it was a crucial step in his career; Fonda redefined himself, and Robards is magnificent. A landmark film in the genre, it ages well.