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DVD Once Upon a Time in the West
The so-called spaghetti Western achieved its apotheosis in Sergio Leone's magnificently mythic (and utterly outlandish) Once upon a Time in the West. After a series of international hits starring Clint Eastwood (from A Fistful of Dollars to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly), Leone outdid himself with this spectacular, larger-than-life, horse-operatic epic about how the West was won. (And make no mistake: this is the wide, wide West, folks--so the widescreen/letterboxed version is strongly recommended.) The unholy trinity of Italian cinema--Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Dario Argento--concocted the story about a woman (Claudia Cardinale) hanging onto her land in hopes that the transcontinental railroad would reach her before a steely-eyed, black-hearted killer (Fonda) does. (The film's advertising slogan was: "There were three men in her life. One to take her ... one to love her ... and one to kill her.") Meanwhile, Leone shoots his stars' faces as if they were expansive Western landscapes, and their towering bodies as if they were looming rock formations in John Ford's Monument Valley. --Jim Emerson
This is an overly sentimental film and the dialogue for the characters is excrutiatingly slow. Sergio really wanted this film to be a masterpiece, but he failed miserably. At some points in the movie, I couldn't tell if I was watching a comedy or what. Sergio took the plot entirely too seriously and the result is a failed attempt to be powerful. Sergio's A Fistful of Dollars had the grace of Hemingway's Pedro Romero, while this movie resembles the other bull fights that appeared fake and awkward. In fact, in some scenes such as when the woman is talking to the man about dreams of building a life with another man who died, the guy listening is so awkward and unconvincing that I thought I was watching an episode of curb your enthusiasm. Well, actually this could be because the girl was way out of his league.
But anyways, later on in the scene when the guy finishes having the deep and emotional conversation with the leading female, he leaves the room and says how his mom was a complete whore. He also says that his divorced dad would only see her once a month, but it was a 'great time'. Now, imagine this drawn out because he says this really dramatically and slowly. Now add a sad emotional song in the background. Blehhh! Terrible! Sergio my man, you tried to create a masterpiece and the end result is so bad it makes an episode of Laguna Beach look like the most enlightening and interesting thing one could ever experience (and I hate Laguna Beach!)
Perhaps because I am part of the MTV generation, I have been corrupted of the ability to apreciate true art, but the fact is that I found myself laughing at many times throughout this 'classic' movie. It is anything but classic, so don't listent to the five star reviews that the rest on this site.
The opera of stares
This movie is an absolute delight. The ultimate western after witch there is no need in doing any more westerns.
Very slow and operatic, this masterpiece is a mosaic of all essential westerns that we love.
Perfectly casted and masterfuly directed by one of the greatest directors.
After seeing this movie for the first time on a small 12volts TV I was absolutely stunned for days. It still remains my favourite movie of all times.
As if Sergio Leone wanted to show to all of his collegues how a movie should be done.
Thank you Sergio!
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) - Sergio Leone
Once Upon a Time in the West is Sergio Leone's epic masterpiece, and is one of the greatest westerns ever made. After honing his skills on The Man With No Name trilogy, Leone was given a huge budget from Paramount to create his ultimate vision of the mythical west. Along with noted Italian directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, Leone created an outlandish revenge and redemption story that fits his operatic style perfectly. Leone is one of the most patient filmmakers, and he shows it here with great style, especially in the beginning scene. Ennio Morriconne's haunting score is one of his best and most memorable, and the cinematography (as with any Leone film) is lush and exotic, creating landscapes that become characters themselves. The acting is really second hand to the nice visuals, but Henry Fonda steals the show as the notorious villian Frank. Once Upon a Time in the West is the pinnacle of the artistic western, and is the definitive film of Sergio Leone's career.
Clint Eastwood (the Man with No Name) is good, Lee Van Cleef (Angel Eyes Sentenza) is bad, and Eli Wallach (Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez) is ugly in the final chapter of Sergio Leone's trilogy of spaghetti westerns (the first two were A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More). In this sweeping film, the characters form treacherous alliances in a ruthless quest for Confederate gold. Leone is sometimes underrated as a director, but the excellent resolution on this digital video disc should enhance appreciation of his considerable photographic talent and gorgeous widescreen compositions. Ennio Morricone's jokey score is justifiably famous. The digital video disc includes about a quarter-hour of footage not seen in the original release. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Lee Van Cleef - Eli Wallach Director(s): Sergio Leone DVD Release Date: Released the 18 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Here's how director Sam Peckinpah described his motivation behind The Wild Bunch at the time of the film's 1969 release: "I was trying to tell a simple story about bad men in changing times. The Wild Bunch is simply what happens when killers go to Mexico. The strange thing is you feel a great sense of loss when these killers reach the end of the line." All of these statements are true, but they don't begin to cover the impact that Peckinpah's film had on the evolution of American movies. Now the film is most widely recognized as a milestone event in the escalation of screen violence, but that's a label of limited perspective. Of course, Peckinpah's bloody climactic gunfight became a masterfully directed, photographed, and edited ballet of graphic violence that transcended... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): William Holden - Ernest Borgnine - Robert Ryan Director(s): Sam Peckinpah DVD Release Date: Released the 27 August 1997 Usually ships in 6 to 8 days
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Akira Kurosawa's rousing Seven Samurai was a natural for an American remake--after all, the codes and conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least the mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. Thus The Magnificent Seven effortlessly turns samurai into cowboys (the same trick worked more than once: Kurosawa's Yojimbo became Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars). The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once and for all. The gunmen are cool and capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp of '60s stardom: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Yul Brynner - Steve McQueen - Charles Bronson Director(s): John Sturges DVD Release Date: Released the 08 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A Fistful of Dollars launched the spaghetti Western and catapulted Clint Eastwood to stardom. Based on Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai picture Yojimbo, it scored a resounding success (in Italy in 1964 and the U.S. in 1967), as did its sequels, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The advertising campaign promoted Eastwood's character--laconic, amoral, dangerous--as the Man with No Name (though in the film he's clearly referred to as Joe), and audiences loved the movie's refreshing new take on the Western genre. Gone are the pieties about making the streets safe for women and children. Instead it's every man for himself. Striking, too, was a new emphasis on violence, with stylized, almost balletic gunfights and baroque touches such as... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Gian Maria Volonté Director(s): Sergio Leone DVD Release Date: Released the 19 June 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A ringing instance of a sequel far outstripping its predecessor, Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More takes the lethal antihero from A Fistful of Dollars, gives him both a rival and an adversary worthy of sharing a gun-blazing corrida, and ratchets up the stylization to something approaching grandeur. This time the Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood) is a bounty hunter whose desert Southwest killing ground is suddenly crowded by the presence of an older, black-clad shootist (Lee Van Cleef). Individually and together, they terminate sundry grotesques while closing in on their biggest quarry, a memorably insane bandit called El Indio (Gian Maria Volonté is brilliant). There's just enough plot to imbue Van Cleef with genuine mystery, a dark avenging angel from a lost past... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Lee Van Cleef - Gian Maria Volonté Director(s): Sergio Leone DVD Release Date: Released the 19 June 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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