Gents,
Some of you guys are stealing my best suggestions. "Casablanca", "On The Waterfront"...but I've written before about "Once Upon A Time In The West" on this board long ago. It's often ranked as one of the best Western of all time and it's considered a masterpiece by Sergio Leone. There are long stretches of hauntingly moving music and very minimal use of dialogue relying on extreme closeups. The opening itself uses only simple sounds to strong moving effect. Henry Fonda is brutal against type, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, and Claudia Cardinale will have your heart racing in many directions. I remember seeing it in a drive-in when it came out. The cinematography is fabulous.
The film features leitmotifs that relate to each of the main characters (each with their own theme music) as well as to the spirit of the American West. Especially compelling are the wordless vocals by Italian singer Edda Dell'Orso during the theme music for the Claudia Cardinale character. It was Leone's desire to have the music available and played during filming. Leone had Morricone compose the score before shooting started and would play the music in the background for the actors on set.
Once Upon a Time in the West, itself, is referenced in The Quick and the Dead, with Gene Hackman's character, John Herod, facing Ellen, a.k.a. "Lady" (Sharon Stone) in the final gunfight. Her identity is a mystery until the end, when the audience sees Ellen's flashback to Herod lynching her father, a sheriff, and giving her a chance to save her father by shooting the rope and severing it, but it goes wrong. As with Frank, Herod yells, "Who are you?" and the only response he receives is an artifact from the earlier lynching, in this case the sheriff's badge that Ellen has kept all these years. The Quick and the Dead has another connection to Once Upon a Time in the West: It was the final film for Woody Strode, who died before it could be released.
Once Upon a Time in the West has gained an ardent cult following around the world, particularly among cineastes and filmmakers. In the late 1960s and 1970s, it was re-evaluated by young filmmakers and critics, many of whom called it a masterpiece. Directors including Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, John Carpenter, John Milius, John Boorman, and Baz Luhrmann have spoken about the influence that the film had on them. It is now considered one of the greatest films ever made and some critics consider it to be the finest Western and Sergio Leone's finest accomplishment as a director.[citation needed] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected reviews from 52 critics and gave the film a score of 98%.[8] Once Upon a Time in the West can be found on numerous film polls and 'best of' lists.
Current rankings
Time named Once Upon a Time in the West as one of the 100 greatest films of the 20th century.
In They Shoot Pictures, Don't They's list of the 1000 Greatest Films, Once Upon a Time in the West is placed at number 62.
Total Film magazine placed Once Upon a Time in the West in their special edition issue of the 100 Greatest Movies.
In 2008, Empire held a poll of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time", taking votes from 10,000 readers, 150 filmmakers and 50 film critics. "Once Upon a Time in the West" was voted in at number 14, the highest Western on the list.
If you haven't seen it you've missed something unforgettable.
:thumb:,
Merlot
