ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is, to me, the definitive Spaghetti Western. This movie incorporates all of the best elements of Italo-westerns and has the additional advantages of actual artistic merit and some location filming in the real American West. One of the most distracting elements of many Spaghetti oaters is the fact that the films were mostly shot in Spain’s Jarama Valley, which is great for a Spanish Civil War buff like myself, but that valley doesn’t really resemble the American west that the stories are set in. Sergio Leone got to shoot some scenes in Monument Valley and such authentic scenery definitely helps in a film that exploits visuals to a degree unseen since the age of silent movies. This is undeniably an action film, but Leone and his co-writers on the script ( Bernardo Bertollucci and Dario Argento. I’m serious!) intentionally used the framework of an archetypal western plot about the railroad, land-grabbing and westward expansion, yet made it all seem fresh.
I often jokingly call this movie Evil Is A Man Named Frank, because, in a masterpiece of reverse-casting Leone put Henry Fonda himself in the role of the conscienceless, sadistic and predatory Frank, the lead villain. Watching the black-clad Frank calmly blow away a defenseless child early in the film lets the audience know right away that this is NOT your father’s Henry Fonda movie. Like the heroes and villains of the number one Frontierado movie, Silverado, Frank and the good guys in OUATITW are the type of superhuman, pure fantasy gunslingers who are impossibly accurate and can sense adversaries pulling their guns from far away and with their backs turned. One of Frank’s signature moments of “Jedi-level” gunplay comes when he’s blowing away an inept underling. He draws and with three quick shots punctures the man’s left suspender, right suspender and his belt buckle, killing him while simultaneously following up an insult about the man’s odd fashion sense from a few minutes earlier. (The guy wore suspenders AND a belt)
The good guys include Claudia Cardinale, playing a former Madame named Jill McBain who has come west to live with her new husband’s family only to discover they’ve all been butchered by Frank and his boys. Jill is probably the strongest female character in Spaghetti Western history, which isn’t saying much, I’m afraid, but she comes across as world-wise and fully-realized as the male leads do. As Jill herself points out while slamming down some booze, “I don’t look like a poor, defenseless widow” and it isn’t until she makes that sardonic remark that you realize that her role COULD have been played in that outdated, sheepish and cliched way, but thankfully wasn’t.
Jason Robards plays Cheyenne, an outlaw leader who comes to Jill’s assistance because Frank framed Cheyenne and his gang for the slaughter of the McBain family. Our outlaw chief doesn’t like that and wants the man behind the frame-up. Cheyenne, like Jill and Frank, is a consummate survivor, hardened and, if need be, ruthless, and this essential cynicism to the lead characters is very well-handled. The effect is almost Western Film Noir.
Charles Bronson plays the lead hero, called Harmonica after the instrument he’s always playing a mournful tune on. Harmonica is a mysterious figure from Frank’s past, and has been stalking the cruel, heartless villain for years across the west. In his quest he’s unearthed a great deal about our lead heavy, and peppers enigmatic allusions to the many victims left in Frank’s villainous wake throughout his memorable exchanges with Fonda’s character. He knows all about Frank’s amoral services to the railroad and also knows why the McBain family was massacred. Harmonica teams up with Cheyenne to help Jill, and the audience doesn’t learn why he’s been after Frank all these years until the climactic showdown, in a scene that is savagely beautiful and searingly memorable.
Like Silverado, this is a good guys versus the bad guys actioner, but it’s nowhere near as light-hearted and sentimental as that film. OUATITW is definitely an “adult swim” movie. There are plenty of scenes with adult themes, many depictions of Frank’s sadism and plenty of subtext about the grey area where unscrupulous business practices and outright criminality mingle. That last is handled not only through wry dialogue between Frank and the crippled, terminally ill railroad baron he does the dirty work for, but also through a very uncomfortable sex scene between Fonda and Cardinale where Frank pithily draws parallels between modern business and Cardinale’s oldest form of it.
OUATITW is not an all-out action frenzy like Silverado, either. Some patience is required in those scenes where viewers get to soak in the visuals, like in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. And the music … the music in this film accentuates the story like music from those silent films I’m always droning on and on about, especially in the emotion-charged scene where we learn Harmonica’s secret. If you are someone who refuses to watch Spaghetti Westerns you need to make an exception for this one, which is the one and only film from that genre that will appeal to general film lovers.
Balladeer's Blog 
Ohhhhh…I LOVE Charles Bronson. 🙂
Great! If I had known I would have had Buckshot Bryant have a fling with Harmonica.
Pingback: THE TOP 4 FRONTIERADO MOVIES: NUMBER TWO – ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE … | Henry Fonda
Thanks for the pingback!
I’ve heard of this film but never saw it. There are a lot of good actors in this one. I’ll have to check it out.
I hope you like it if you do watch it!
Thanks for your review – I’ve only seen bits and pieces of this film, but now I’m off to find it! Am looking forward to Frontierado!
Thank you very much! And if you want a free customized Saga of your own you can contact me! Plus I’ve left a few comments on your blog but they seem to have gone to your spam folder.
Ohhhhh a movie I actually know!!!! YAY!!! Woman 1 Balladeer a zillion!!! LOL!!
Glad you know this one! I hope you liked it!
I never wanted to see this movie but my brother talked me into watching it. I cannot say I “enjoyed” the movie because some of is sad and ugly but it is a good solid movie and much much better than the few spaghetti westerns that I had seen previously. It is also worth seeing Fonda in an truly evil role.
Thank you very much for this thoughtful comment!
Pingback: Internet's Frank
Thanks for stopping by! Yes, I think OUATITW is better than TGTBATU. I even think For A Few Dollars More is better than TGTBATU.
Luv Bronson in this … this shit is da bomb.
I agree. Thanks for the comment, Lenny.
I watched this film because of ur review. It was sad but great and I can”t believe what a sensitive performance Bronson gave.
I’m glad you liked it! He was better than Clint Eastwood would have been that’s for sure!
I can’t stand spag westerns but you got me curious to watch this one now.
Thanks!! I am glad to hear that! I hope you enjoy it!
I wish Robards had lived at the end.
Trouble is, if he had we’d have been stuck with a bunch of sequels featuring Harmonica and Cheyenne being played by other actors, just like in all the pseudo-Django and Sartana movies.
Classic eurowestern! Glad to see it get more love!
Thanks! Happy to do it!
Love Charles Bronson so I am definitely checking that hot Pollack out in this movie!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
My parents named me after Charles Bronson and this is my favorite movie of his
Thaat is interesting! Thanks!
Bronson and Fonda made this film! Robards was the only weak one.
It’s interesting to speculate on actors who might have done better in that role.
I never realized what Fonda and the railroad baron were talking about in their conversations until I read ur review. I’ll enjoy those scenes more the next time I watch it.
Always glad to mention these things!
Bronson is the baddest of badasses in this film!
He sure is!
I’ll have to check this movie out.
I ope you enjoy it.
I got this web page from my buddy who informed me concerning this web site
and at the moment this time I am visiting this site and reading very informative articles or reviews at this
time.