Once Upon a Time in the West

One of the harder things for me to do when it comes to this blog (aside from actually remembering to update, of course) is to decide which movie I want to review. After all, at this point in time I've seen about 600 movies*, and I don't want to spoil all of the great ones out of the gate. On the other hand, I also can't review a bunch of shitty movies without coming off as some sort of angry RAAAH! INTERNETS! blogger that is associated with bitching. So what to do? What to do?

I said to myself, "Ah, fuck it." Then I chose to review one of the best damn movies I've ever seen: Once Upon a Time in the West.

This is, of course, another work from Sergio Leone (See: Fistful of Dollars), and unlike the original film of his that I reviewed, this is completely an original work. Oh, he also gets to work marquee names such as Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, and Jason Robards, plus a sweet budget! Is this formula going to work?

Well, no shit! I mean, I knew I was going to see a great movie from the director alone, and a solid cast like that? Pleeeaaaase. What I wasn't aware of, though, and what still kind of sits with me today, was that I was about to witness the greatest western I've ever seen... Just ahead of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (ANOTHER Leone flick - srsly). How is this? What is it that sets this apart from other movies? I'll try a piece-by-piece sort of motion here by hitting on the keypoints of story, character, and well... I guess I already mentioned the directing, but I'll break it down for you as I get into the other 2.

Story-wise: this bad boy is a bit complex. In a strange way, we have 4 main characters in Cheyenne, Frank, Harmonica, and Jill. Each one has their own story, which of course relates to the charcter chunk, but more that later. This isn't just a movie about the west, really. It is about the changing times of the west, when the old code of the gunfighter was starting to fade, and the business era was kicking in. A quick piece of dialogue:

Frank: Nope, just a man....
Harmonica: An ancient race....

Whoa! Two lines to get an entire idea across? That's so awesome! AND THAT'S JUST A SMALL CHUNK! There's also the pure tradition itself: Bronson as the mysterious protaginist, after the dark, dark character that is Frank, with Robards providing an odd sort of narration: Narration within the story itself. The way you find out just why Harmonica is after Frank is so well-executed, so poignant... If your jaw doesn't drop either from revelation or from execution, then you just aren't human (or hate movies and should leave my blog immediately... fucker!). It is that damn good.

Yes, Sergio Leone IS cooler than you, and a better director, too!

Which, of course, brings us to the characters. Let's get one thing straight: they all have depth. On the surface, you have Harmonica as the hero, Frank as the evil, Cheyenne as the commentator of things, and Jill as the damsel caught in the middle. And yet, there is more to each character. Frank's desire to grow as a business man is what gets mixed up with Jill, Harmonica sees her as his ticket to Frank, and Cheyenne is just pissed off for being framed (best character ever, by the way). Each of them transforms in some way. They have their successes and their failures, and each of them comes off as remarkably... well, remarkably human. It is just amazing.

Leone just knew how to direct a great movie: end of story. I don't have to elaborate on that. His use of cinematography is remarkable. The contrast between the broad, landscape shots and the up-close, zoom-into-their-damn-face shots works in such a way that everything is functioning in this movie. And its all changing. And it is all that fucking railroad's fault. Leone gets this point across simply by use of the camera. Everything else is just the whipped cream on top of the icing that is even still on top of the cake that is this movie.

Oh, and one last special nod to two of my favorite scenes of all-time: the 10-minute opening scene, which uses all ambient noise for the most part, and Frank and Harmonica's duel. They're two of the greatest, most intense scenes I've ever watched. The former is somewhat comical before the shit hits the fan, too.

All of that, and I didn't even get to talk about the station, or the debut of Cheyenne... Guess y'all suckas just need to watch the movies for yourselfs!

Overall: 10. No questions asked. One of the greatest stories meets some of the greatest characters, and all in the hands of Leone. Wow.

* - Bragginininin', no?