Leone's now iconic film stands out for two very distinct things for me, personally. That is, number one: the brilliant, brilliant soundtrack that adds feeling; raw emotion and atmosphere as well as number two: editing and shot composition which differs between long, wide angled long shots to the gritty close up of the face for certain reactions and objects for certain atmosphere. Many things have been said about how brilliant the film is and in terms of the genre, this genre film is usually considered one of if not the pinnacle itself of the Western. But whereas the typical American western might include John Wayne or some other such hard bodied American taking on a role of 'honest as they come guy' who gets caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, Once Upon a Time in the West is a slower and less-obvious film that somewhat ignores these conventions. Therefore it is a shame that I liked it rather than loved it once it had ended.
The European influence grabs a hold of you right from the off in Once Upon a Time in the West. Afterwards I read a brief summary on the film stating it may well have the best opening to any film ever and that could well be the case. Leone's style here is to ignore the process of 'action, causes action, causes re-action, action, causes action...etc.' and show the guys who are a part of Frank's (Fonda) gang wait for a train to arrive rather than have the train arrive; have the gang arrive and then play out actions Leone pays attention to sound (windmill and the fly) and has tantalising long shots of the train track in the distance that announces to us that the train is not going to arrive anytime soon. Cut back to ground level and the guys are killing time before the train arrives we don't know why they're there and given it's a Western, they could be minutes away from death so the character's casualness and the build up through composition work really well.
Once Upon a Time in the West carries a certain elegance despite its dirty, gritty and slimy nature. Characters look rough, wear dirty clothes and spit more than they need to and the dusty desert locations in Spain and The States work so well that to see the film is to almost feel hot and bothered. From the opening, the film develops with the arrival of Harmonica (Bronson), a man with no name indeed bar the one he's given by a fellow character for spending so much time playing said instrument. As a character, Harmonica epitomises the strange, the mysterious - a man that does not, you feel, belong in the film but a man who has his reasons and a back-story but the European influence is there again in the sense Leone chooses not to show it until well into the film. As a character, Harmonica brings diegetic music to the film in the form of his harmonica, an object he will never forget the manner of which he came across it. When it is played, it echoes and sounds louder than usual giving the man a presence that is almost uncanny the music teeters on the brink of being within the film and not being within the film and certainly maintains a brooding and unnatural atmosphere.
But Leone does not limit his style to composition choice, locations and harmonica sounds. He broadens his arsenal so much so that at times, the objects are doing the speaking for the characters. Another character is introduced, she is Jill McBain (Cardinale) and she arrives, like Harmonica, into this town by train. The genius here is that a simple introduction of a character by train has been stretched out through having a prior tragic event happen in a preceding scene that will affect McBain how will she react? Then there is the brilliant cutting between her pocket watch and the station clock, creating a 'jump' in time between waiting there. Such a technique is rarely seen today and further acts as an example of Leone's ignoring of the 'action, causes action, etc.' method.
But even that is not the first time it happens since later on, a card game will happen in a train caboose which doubles up as the only urban inspired 'space' in the film amongst all the dusty and dirty rural settings. The game is accompanied by odd sounding train noises which could be read into as the noises going on inside the player's minds as the pot grows and the tension rises. Once Upon a Time in the West is a film that can bring pleasure to its viewer but it's really brining its director the most pleasure. At 165-odd minutes, Leone is clearly in love with his unfolding of a film rather than his telling of a story and his style does overtake a lot of what I would've liked to have seen, that is to say more of an interesting narrative and less of the style once it had been established he could do it. But it will remain a film studied and looked at for years to come. Like I said with the original Japanese Godzilla film, you get the impression if they'd known it was going to be looked at and studied so much in the future, they might've made sure it would have held up a little more.
The European influence grabs a hold of you right from the off in Once Upon a Time in the West. Afterwards I read a brief summary on the film stating it may well have the best opening to any film ever and that could well be the case. Leone's style here is to ignore the process of 'action, causes action, causes re-action, action, causes action...etc.' and show the guys who are a part of Frank's (Fonda) gang wait for a train to arrive rather than have the train arrive; have the gang arrive and then play out actions Leone pays attention to sound (windmill and the fly) and has tantalising long shots of the train track in the distance that announces to us that the train is not going to arrive anytime soon. Cut back to ground level and the guys are killing time before the train arrives we don't know why they're there and given it's a Western, they could be minutes away from death so the character's casualness and the build up through composition work really well.
Once Upon a Time in the West carries a certain elegance despite its dirty, gritty and slimy nature. Characters look rough, wear dirty clothes and spit more than they need to and the dusty desert locations in Spain and The States work so well that to see the film is to almost feel hot and bothered. From the opening, the film develops with the arrival of Harmonica (Bronson), a man with no name indeed bar the one he's given by a fellow character for spending so much time playing said instrument. As a character, Harmonica epitomises the strange, the mysterious - a man that does not, you feel, belong in the film but a man who has his reasons and a back-story but the European influence is there again in the sense Leone chooses not to show it until well into the film. As a character, Harmonica brings diegetic music to the film in the form of his harmonica, an object he will never forget the manner of which he came across it. When it is played, it echoes and sounds louder than usual giving the man a presence that is almost uncanny the music teeters on the brink of being within the film and not being within the film and certainly maintains a brooding and unnatural atmosphere.
But Leone does not limit his style to composition choice, locations and harmonica sounds. He broadens his arsenal so much so that at times, the objects are doing the speaking for the characters. Another character is introduced, she is Jill McBain (Cardinale) and she arrives, like Harmonica, into this town by train. The genius here is that a simple introduction of a character by train has been stretched out through having a prior tragic event happen in a preceding scene that will affect McBain how will she react? Then there is the brilliant cutting between her pocket watch and the station clock, creating a 'jump' in time between waiting there. Such a technique is rarely seen today and further acts as an example of Leone's ignoring of the 'action, causes action, etc.' method.
But even that is not the first time it happens since later on, a card game will happen in a train caboose which doubles up as the only urban inspired 'space' in the film amongst all the dusty and dirty rural settings. The game is accompanied by odd sounding train noises which could be read into as the noises going on inside the player's minds as the pot grows and the tension rises. Once Upon a Time in the West is a film that can bring pleasure to its viewer but it's really brining its director the most pleasure. At 165-odd minutes, Leone is clearly in love with his unfolding of a film rather than his telling of a story and his style does overtake a lot of what I would've liked to have seen, that is to say more of an interesting narrative and less of the style once it had been established he could do it. But it will remain a film studied and looked at for years to come. Like I said with the original Japanese Godzilla film, you get the impression if they'd known it was going to be looked at and studied so much in the future, they might've made sure it would have held up a little more.