Once Upon A Time in the West...

Randall Floyd

is it the greatest western ever made? Watched it again recently and i reckon it may well be.

Mickeroo

It's a matter of opinion I suppose but I'm inclined to agree. Got it on bluray recently so I watched it again too.

jimmymal

yes, yes it is.

Bullseye1

For me it's either this or The Searchers.

krudler

Pretty much, The Searchers and Good Bad And The Ugly running close behind.

delbertgrady

Wah-wah-waaaaa-wah...
[lengthy pause]
Wah-wah-waaaaa-wah...
[lengthy pause]
Wah-wah-waaaaa-wah...

It's just sheer bloody genius. There's nothing quite like it.

krudler

The opening sequence is brilliant. and Claudia Cardinale is just ridiculously good looking in it

thorbarry

We watched the opening scene in collage one day for class. I went straight home and watched the full movie. Great great movie. Perfect pace, great score..

Cienciano

Opening scene is amazing. Frank (henry fonda) is one of the biggest scumbags on film. Love the film, great characters, Cheyenne is class too, so is Charles Bronson. And as krudler said, Claudia Cardinale is amazing looking.
But I'd still put The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ahead of it.

Psychedelic

I watched this on Blu-ray last night, only my second time watching it, looks absolutely stunning. Easily the best western and one of the best films ever.

My favourite scene is the showdown between Harmonica and Frank, that long camera zoom into Harmonica's eyes so they fill the screen and the reveal of his back story, with the massive score, just incredible, get goose bumps watching it.

Icaras

It is great, I prefer Unforgiven though.

Zeek12

This and Unforgiven are my no. 1 and 2. Can't quite decide which comes first though!!

Some fantastic dialogue in Once upon a time.... I love that Fonda line "How can you trust a man who wears a belt and suspenders"?

Mickeroo

Zeek12 wrote: »

This and Unforgiven are my no. 1 and 2. Can't quite decide which comes first though!!

Some fantastic dialogue in Once upon a time.... I love that Fonda line "How can you trust a man who wears a belt and suspenders"?

Harmonica has some great one-liners in it too. Love Bronson's dead pan delivery.

"You're friends have a high mortality rate."

Technocentral

Love it but I seem to be alone in favouring "High Noon", when I heard that the right wing nut John Wayne called "High Noon" "the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life" it made me love it even more!

omahaid

Not the best but definitely in my top 5

Alias G

In my mind it is most certainly up there but I have found that opinions are distinctly divided when it comes to Sergio's spagetti westerns. People either love em or hate em.

Zeek12

Alias G wrote: »

In my mind it is most certainly up there but I have found that opinions are distinctly divided when it comes to Sergio's spagetti westerns. People either love em or hate em.

Personally I think this one has to be viewed separately from the Dollars trilogy, which IMO are quite good, but are not even in the same league as Once upon a time.

I remember reading somewhere that Leone's plan was to do a trilogy, covering three really significant eras in the history of America. Once upon....in America was the second. Sadly he died just a few years after that.
I often wonder where part 3 would have gone?

Mickeroo

Zeek12 wrote: »

Personally I think this one has to be viewed separately from the Dollars trilogy, which IMO are quite good, but are not even in the same league as Once upon a time.

I remember reading somewhere that Leone's plan was to do a trilogy, covering three really significant eras in the history of America. Once upon....in America was the second. Sadly he died just a few years after that.
I often wonder where part 3 would have gone?

Wasn't A Fistful Of Dynamite/Once Upon a Time in the Revolution the second part of that trilogy and ......America the third?

Zeek12

Aah right, that would make sense. I'd forgotten that one actually.
Not one of my favourite Leone films, Steiger kinda ruined it for me.

Cienciano

Saw this was on sky movies today and watched it again after reading this thread! I still prefer the good the bad and the ugly, but thats my all time favourite film. Also still prefer For a Few Dollars More. The story isn't as indept as OUATITW, but I still love it, and amazing music. Although that's a given with a leone film with ennio morricone doing the score.
But still, an amazing film, such a pity that

cheyanne dies at the end

Just saw this on youtube, almost messed my pants

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPxMAhMRfk

Ormus

Leone was certainly the king of stylish westerns, in terms of cinematography, score and clever one liners.

For me his films were never really suspenseful though, they were always a bit too tongue in cheek, bit like Tarantino has gone in the last 10 years.

Randall Floyd

Mickeroo wrote: »

Harmonica has some great one-liners in it too. Love Bronson's dead pan delivery.

"You're friends have a high mortality rate."

Frank: "So you're the man that makes appointments."
Harmonica: "And you're the one that doesn't keep them."