Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

I started off the year having seen very few westerns in my life. One title that kept surfacing or being recommended to me was Once Upon a Time in the West. Directed by Sergio Leone, the same director of The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and Fistful of Dollars, I was expecting to really like this western. How could I not, I've mostly liked all the films I've seen of his, only having overall minor complaints, like the casting of one role in The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. At any rate, I had high hopes and expectations. While that can lead to some big disappointments, it can also be amazing when they're met, or even surpassed! So which was the case here for me? Hit the jump to find out if it was the former or the latter!


Alright, I'm not sure I can easily relate the story without going on forever here. The initial premise, however, is that an Irish family in the wild west is preparing to welcome a new bride/mother into their home. The original mother of the family passed away years before, and the father has recently remarried. Today is the day the new Mrs. McBain (Claudia Cardinale) will arrive. Before her train even gets into the nearby town, the whole family is gunned down by bandits. Thus when she finally arrives, she is now the sole owner, and lone resident of the massive ranch house on a patch of property in the middle of nowhere. On top of that, there are a few other mysterious characters running around, including an escaped criminal, Cheyenne (Jason Robards), and an outlaw with a harmonica, known only by the name of his instrument (Charles Bronson). Then you have a wealthy, but very ill businessman, traveling around on a luxurious personal train with the devious hired gun Frank by his side (Henry Fonda). The story of this movie is all about finding out what they all have to do with each other, and how their paths will cross because of all of their independent goals.

The gorgeous Claudia Cardinale is the widow Jill McBane. She has some strange motives.

I have to admit, for a long time while watching this movie I was quite bored. I'd say that by the time you're half way through the movie, you're still getting some initial character development. At least, that's what it seemed like. I'm so used to having the characters introduced and knowing their motives and personalities almost right out of the gate that this film's incredibly slow pacing threw me right off. The thing of it is that you almost never fully know these characters and all their motives. You're constantly learning new things about them for the entire movie! In fact, you don't learn 'Harmonica's motives until the very end. What you learn about one character, may never happen for another. What I mean is that you learn back story for some characters like Jill and Harmonica, but you never learn much about the escaped prisoner known as Cheyenne.

That isn't to say that there is nothing going on except for character development. There seem to be several story lines all running parallel to each other, and then they suddenly cross or intersect for a while before breaking off again. But to reveal much of the subplots would reveal too much about the story and key things that happen I believe. So for that reason, I'll have to leave this very vague. But you can be sure that greed and hatred fuel most of the character's ambitions and goals of the film.

You can expect some traditional standoffs and shoot outs

My next point brings me simultaneously to what I most liked about the movie and what I least liked about it: the characters. Now the acting was good all around here, but I just couldn't stand some of the characters. The biggest problem for me here though, is that I absolutely hated the character I believe they are holding up as their hero. That would be the man known as Harmonica. He's dressed mostly in white, or at least pale colours; a traditional way in westerns to identify the main character. I don't know if I'd call him the main character here though, because almost all the characters get equal screen time. It also didn't help that I cringed every time that dreadful, ear-splitting harmonica tune noise was played. And it happens a lot! Make it stop!

The thing I liked most about the movie, however, was the character Cheyenne. He starts off seemingly as the would-be villain of the movie, when he storms into a trading post after what sounds like a gunfight outside that we don't see. It's then revealed that he has handcuffs on, and he scares and threatens everyone inside, getting one timid man to help him remove the cuffs. By the end of the movie though, he seems to have gone through quite a change of heart, now helping out the good people and generally acting much nicer, even though he's an admitted murderer. I just really liked that guy the most of everyone on screen, and thought he was cool, even though he was the character I knew the least about in terms of background.

The scruffy Cheyenne turned out to be my favorite character when it seemed like he would be the bad guy

Once Upon a Time in the West was a very traditional western. It wasn't as cool as the films with Clint Eastwood starring, but the complex story lines ended up saving it in the end. If you're going to watch it, be fore warned, it's a very slow, deliberately paced 2 1/2 hour film. Filled with amazing scenery, cinematography, and some rich characters, it was pretty darn good. Most of my complaints are just personal preference, I'm sure plenty of people will think Harmonica is cool, but not me. As for the slow pacing that bored me so much, I think if I had been better prepared, and known about it ahead of time, it wouldn't have bothered me so much.

So to answer my own question at the start, it was a little of both. At first, and while still watching the movie, I was really getting disappointed because I was so unaccustomed to the style of the story telling. By the end, and upon reflecting back on it though, I'd have to say I'm fairly pleased with the whole thing. I'd say check it out for yourself. If you like westerns, and now that you know kind of what to expect, you'll probably like it.