Genre Gems: Once Upon a Time in the West

Though many genre’s find themselves as hotbeds for cliche’s and crap no genre exemplifies all that is wonderful and all that is stupid with cinema better than westerns. When thinking of westerns many find themselves thinking immediately of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. I myself find myself turning to Sergio Leone, an old western name if ever if heard one. Leone pretty much invented the spaghetti western and in his career as a lead director for an international audience did not make a single film that didn’t come to the party without a class act. His most acclaimed and recognized work is the ‘Man with No Name’ Trilogy or the ‘Dollars’ Trilogy. These are the films that launched Eastwood to international glory and are seen as the best examples of western movie making ever made. These where however not Leone’s last forays into westerns and one of the two that followed was Once Upon a Time in the West, which is my favorite western of all time.

Each of Leone’s westerns have something new they bring to the table, be it a social commentary, a taught network of betrayals (ripped of from samurai movies) or in this particular case a truly engaging set of character connections. The film is set as a duel between good and evil by four great powers clashing over a land dispute, yet all in some way connected or affected by the lovely but rough Mrs. McBain. I will not try to describe the plot in much greater detail as it is surprisingly intricate and worth being experienced first hand. The characters however deserve mention due to their intricacies and interestingly opposed personalities. The films morals are typically western with the clearly defined good and bad guys all lined on the different sides of the court. The bad, is here represented by genre old timer Henry Fonda as the ever efficient and slightly psychotic Frank. He and his band of ruffians are in the employ of Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti), a rich train tycoon who is slowly dying from tuberculosis of the bones which has rendered him severely crippled and with but a few years of life with which to complete his mighty railroad. The two men are opposed in all things but their love of power and money. Morton absorbed in his own corruption is both unable and unwilling to do what is needed for his railroad to progress and so it falls to Frank to clear the way. Though Frank is the main villain of the piece both men are despicable in their own way, and Morton many times comes across as the worse of the two as his lack of morals is hidden under the veils of luxury, class and hypocrisy with which he surrounds himself.  Frank however, by the far the more sadistic of the two, is under no illusions as to his nature and his methods and embraces them wholly. These men battle the hero’s but also among themselves as each wrestles to control the other in an effort to come out on top so as break their dependancy on the other.

The good they are set against is the duel threat of Charles Bronson and Jayson Robards each embracing and transcending their own stereotype. Bronson plays the unknown stranger who arrives on a train with a quick gun and vaguely defined vendetta. For lack of his name he becomes known as Harmonica as he plays one throughout the film as both a calling card and general expression. His simple repeated riff stands as the reason I am today a decent harmonica player who rarely leaves the house without one in his pocket. In direct contrast to Bronson’s quiet and cold protagonist we find Robards kicking up a storm as the witty and lovable outlaw Cheyenne whose quick humor and charismatic delivery is sure to win over any audience. These men form a strange bond of respect one might call beyond mere friendship which leads to a truly emotional yet restrained scene between the two which is the films closing note. Filling the positions of ‘most definitely not ugly’ is Claudia Cardinale as Jill McBain the widowed owner of the aforementioned land. Cardinale lends the role a true strength and holds her own against the great performances of the men who step into her destiny even backing some of them down when needed. Forming a bond with both Cheyenne and Harmonica and tasked with great responsibilities of her deceased husband Mrs. McBain is much more than a role to be filled and Cardinale carries this with a performance which may even exceed her stunning looks.

With five top performances and under Leone’s direction the film takes the western stories of old and injects them with fresh passion and intelligence, never allowing itself to fall into the pitfalls of irony or cheap plot tie ups. The action is here relatively sparse compared to other Leone films allowing for solid character development and several scenes carrying true dramatic weight. For as much as I do love Eastwood and his collaborations with Leone which came to embody the western genre, I find in Once Upon a Time a film which embraces and exceeds the genre they established making a true epic. For as much as I have written here I assure that nothing but the film itself can do these characters or this story justice and so I give Once Upon a Time in the West my fullest recommendation and my definite classification as a Genre Gem.

Tales of west as written in red