Once Upon a Time In the West (1968)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST  (1968)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Sergio Leone
    Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale,
    Charles Bronson, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lionel Stander,
    Keenan Wynn, Jack Elam, Woody Strode
The most widely referenced line from a John Ford movie is in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962). A newspaper editor, faced with a choice between printing a true story, or a fabrication that everybody believes, chooses to go with the lie. "When the legend becomes fact," he says, "print the legend." Sergio Leone's movies go a step beyond that. Leone's philosophy is more like, "Start with the legend and twist it some more, till you make up a legend of your own." If Ford's movies are romanticized depictions of life on the frontier, Leone's movies exist in another world. "Once Upon a Time In the West" is Leone's long, slow, grand epic about the building of the transcontinental railroad. Henry Fonda plays Frank, a hired killer who announces his appearance early on by gunning down a little boy at point-blank range, after slaughtering the kid's entire family. Claudia Cardinale plays Jill, a New Orleans prostitute who has come out to the desert as the new wife of the little boy's now dead father. Jason Robards plays a rival outlaw leader named Cheyenne, who doesn't like being framed for Fonda's murders. Charles Bronson plays a stranger called Harmonica, who only knows a couple of notes, but turns deadly when he stops playing them. Their story plays out in the windswept vastness of Monument Valley, Ford's favorite shooting location. There's much stillness. A great score by Ennio Morricone that tells you as much about what's going on as anything the characters say. Amusing cameos by Jack Elam and Woody Strode. Many long, tight close-ups. And Fonda, smiling and spitting tobacco as he calmly blows away that little kid. This is not John Ford's legendary West. It's more like John Ford on a bottle of bad tequila. Absurd and deranged. A mirage formed out of the heat and dust. A comedy of death. A dream.