Once Upon A Time In The West

Where do I really begin with this film? I've watched it now maybe three times, and loved it each and every time, for pretty much every second. I just can't really find anything wrong with it: it sums up perfectly the mood of the 'classic' western - slow-paced, bubbling with intensity, gritty, brutal - but it's also Leone's exploration, as he put it, of death. Cheyenne (Robbards), trying to explain Harmonica (Bronson) to Jill (Cardinale), says: "People like that have something inside... something to do with death". Leone conjured up not one but two characters completely intent on death, Frank (Fonda) and Harmonica, and some of the most memorable exchanges in the film are from when these two meet.

Frank, the ruthless gang-leader, is out to stop anyone in his way; Cheyenne works as a part-time lackey to him, but his heart isn't in the work; Harmonica is something of a mystery, but is intent on reaching Frank. So the plot plays out, step by step, frame by frame, as they pace towards a final confrontation.

It's something with everything being in its right place in this film that makes it all the more chilling: each element, each scene, slots together so neatly that there is a sense of inevitability, of destiny built into the film. And walking hand-in-hand with that, Morricone's score rivals The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It is absolutely haunting, and as a mood-influencer, used to perfection. Simple refrains, anchored to the characters, come back time and again, fluctuating and changing, signalling the mood and pace. In the second scene of the film, when Jill's stepson runs out of the farm door to find Frank (you'll know the scene I mean if you've seen the film; if you haven't, I'm trying not to spoil it), the explosion of sound that greets him enhances the ensuing action wondrously and chillingly.

I'm struggling with this because it is hard to write about something one loves without sound so overly enthused that it seems unbalanced. But in short, it's a wonderful film, because it tries to tackle a very complex question (death) and does so in a stripped-down, chilling manner, where mood is all. It drew me in so completely and provided me with something utterly involving and moving. Perfect cinema.

*****
1968

Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robbards, Charles Bronson
Dir. Sergio Leone

Music - Ennio Morricone