Once Upon a Time in the West | Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson

Once Upon a Time in the West | Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson | Without words

DVDs:

Once Upon a Time i...

	Once Upon a Time in the West Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson Paramount, 2003 average customer review:based on 343 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Celluloid Art

The Dollar trilogy could be considered the preliminary sketches for this Sergio Leone masterpiece. This is a great movie and the Special Collector's Edition includes a terrific set of Special Features. (Actually, I liked the theatrical release better, but it's interesting to see how Leone cut the film.)

If you like analysis and explanations of artistic works, you won't be disappointed in the commentaries included with this set. The commentaries, along with the three documentaries, leave you with the sense that you have participated in a film seminar conducted by industry insiders. Well ... maybe that's going a bit far, but they're still fun.

Watching this movie in 2008 raised a question in my mind. Did Leone irreparably harm the Western Genre by encouraging others to imitate his art? Ever since the Dollar trilogy and Once Upon A Time In The West, Hollywood has been besotted with the antihero.

Nowadays, if a traditional western hero is portrayed, he's old and the storyline laments the modern world obsolescence of this rugged individualist. (Even in 3:10 to Yuma, the traditional heroic figure is killed and it's the antihero that rules the unruly West.)

Sergio Leone made the "Westerns-as-art" high fashion. Maybe someday Hollywood will again just give us great stories populated with interesting characters and real heroes.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

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Without words

It is hard to image, but Sergio Leone saw this movie in his mind and played out ever scene to his colleges before any work started. It was storyboarded with no dialog. If you notice, in the very beginning, someone else is credited with writing the dialog, almost as a after thought.

OK, you don't have to like the dialog, or the actors, heck, you don't even have to like me! This movie laid the foundation for a whole new style of communicating with an audience. It shortens our aesthetic distance, our comfort zone, with the actor. It makes us intensely uncomfortable. This new style had direct influences on directors like Quentin Tarantino. The Kill Bill series displays this style. It is even used in the nightly news and all of the hour long news specials. Want to make someone out as the villain? Make it a tight shot with high contrast lighting. Case in point, O. J. Simpson. Good guys? Flat lit, soft focus and pull back.

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Leone's under rated masterpiece

This movie should be rated in the top 5 westerns of all time. Its unfortunate that many movie buffs have no idea about this movie. Reason: Its not from your Hollywood director, but from a guy in Italy who I think is the best when it came to the westerns. Sergio Leone may have been labeled making 'Spagetti Westerns', but in my opinion he made the 'real westerns'. Without indulging too much into the story, I would ask the viewer to enjoy the locations, the great camera work and quirky/wonderful score by Ennio marricone, great story and great direction by Sergeo Leone.
The DVD does total justice. Own it if can.

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Once Upon an Opera in the West

This is an opera more than a spaghetti Western. Not only did Leone outdo himself on this one, he outdid Kubrick in many ways. If you've never seen it before, you're in for a sensual treat; just don't be expecting a cowboy film in the usual sense. The long opening shots alone are worth the cost of the DVD.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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