~ The 30 Greatest Westerns In Cinema History ~

[MysteRy]

1. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)



Leone’s epic is an explicit homage to the America Western. It was written in conjunction with two Italian greats, Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, who compiled the story out of elements lifted from the hundreds of Westerns they watched as research. The film has one of the longest opening titles scenes in film history; where three gunmen wait for Charles Bronson’s character of Harmonica to show.

Leone originally wanted the good, bad, ugly trio of Eastwood, Van Cleef, and Wallach to play the gunmen, so that he could kill them off and draw a line between this and the Dollars trilogy. Apparently only Eastwood declined. Henry Fonda plays the main villain, a blue eyed child killer; and the film has several incredible crane shots, none more impressive than in the moment when the fate of Harmonica’s brother is revealed. Once again, Ennio Morricone provides the score, proving he is as much a presence in the history of the Western as any director or star. This is the perfect Western; epic in scale, romantic, dark, elegiac, with some exciting action, and in places very, very funny.