Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
- Before Claudia Cardinale was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- Sergio Leone originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 Italian epic Spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Leone, widely regarded as the greatest Western ever made. Henry Fonda plays against type as Frank, a cold-blooded hired killer working for a railroad baron who murders a homesteading family to clear the path for the transcontinental railroad. Charles Bronson is Harmonica, a mysterious stranger seeking Frank for a deeply personal revenge; Claudia Cardinale is Jill McBain, the murdered homesteader's wife who inherits the land the railroad needs; and Jason Robards is Cheyenne, a bandit falsely accused of the massacre.
Sergio Leone created his magnum opus — a three-hour meditation on the death of the American frontier told through extreme close-ups, impossibly wide landscapes, and silence so sustained that the crack of a gunshot could make audiences flinch. Ennio Morricone's score, composed before filming began, is considered one of the greatest in cinema history — each main character has their own musical theme that functions as a leitmotif throughout. Henry Fonda's casting as the villain was deliberately shocking, his famous blue eyes — symbol of American heroism for three decades — now cold and merciless.
