Dell's Classics Presents:
Once Upon a Time in the West
AKA C'era una volta il West
Directed by Sergio Leone.
1969. Rated R, 165 minutes.
Cast:
Charles Bronson
Henry Fonda
Claudia Cardinale
Jason Robards
Frank Wolff
Gabriele Ferzetti

Once Upon a Time in the West
AKA C'era una volta il West
Directed by Sergio Leone.
1969. Rated R, 165 minutes.
Cast:
Charles Bronson
Henry Fonda
Claudia Cardinale
Jason Robards
Frank Wolff
Gabriele Ferzetti
Director Sergio Leone gives us another man with no name. This time that man is played by Charles Bronson instead of Clint Eastwood. “The Man” as he’s listed in the credits, shows up in town to settle a score with the local bad guy played excellently by the normally heroic Henry Fonda. Fonda's Frank is truly one of great film villains. Oh, there’s also the little matter of Frank’s gang gunning down what they believe is the entire McBain family only to find out the wife of the family’s patriarch, who they believed to be single, has gotten into town just in time to bury the bodies left behind. She is played by Claudia Cardinale, stunning both in her portrayal and her look. There is a specific reason the family was killed but to say why would be giving things away. It’s not as fun-loving or over-the-top as the Eastwood trilogy but it’s no less masterful in its execution. It’s figuratively dark, literally dusty and as we find out early, indiscriminately violent. It does drag a tad in places. That partly stems from how serious it takes itself and partly from Leone’s style which typically leans toward creating epics. That said we get what is arguably the greatest Western ever made and it came out at a time when the genre as a whole didn’t have much life left.
MY SCORE: 10/10