Once Upon a Time is the West is a 1968 “spaghetti western” made by Sergio Leone and Sergio Donati. The film is recognized as one of the major influences for the biggest directors of the past 40 years, from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino. In this film, Leone managed to create a new, revolutionary perception of the Wild West, scrupulously building the script, editing, locations, musical accompaniment and scenery. Every part of the movie plays on the overall feeling and creates a holistic image of a mundane and quiet but violent place at the same time.
First of all, it is hard not to notice the script, the interpersonal chemistry between the main heroes and the choice of actors. The storyline slowly evolves around two conflicts – a land battle and a mission of retribution and allows the director to show every main hero and gradually build character and motivation. The choice of Henry Fonda as the main villain was non-trivial and shocking for an audience that got used to seeing Fonda as a good guy. However, Fonda became one of the best villains in the history of cinema, acting in a very calm demeanor, looking cold-blooded, precise, and absolutely ruthless. The protagonist’s line, played by Charles Bronson, follows the opposite direction to the villain’s – Harmonica’s motives, past and full story are hidden from the audience until the final scene.
Another essential point is how sound effects and music, used in a novel way, revolutionize and rebuild the understanding of the West as a quiet and dull place, bringing attention to mundane things. The opening scene has no heroic music and is filled with pronounced sounds of the natural environment – the windmill, droplets of water, the buzzing of a fly. As a result, it builds suspense and tension, especially aligned with a soundtrack written by Ennio Morricone, which gives us more information about the main characters. For example, from the music, we hear that Harmonica is suffering even before we are able to find out why. Every character has a theme song that provides a glance into their souls, telling invisible parts of their stories.
Equally important is the fact that the film is referred to as a visual masterpiece filmed by cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli with his long, beautiful shots of a desert and soulful close-ups of the actors. The atmosphere of the West is achieved by a sharp separation of shadow and light, a sense of high temperatures, and the bright boiling Sun. Delli Colli used an old Technicolor system; therefore, the image was amazingly sharp and crispy, bringing out the definition even in a flat and soft Spanish landscape. As a consequence, during the film, viewers experience a parched feel from the very realistic and dry atmosphere of the desert views and almost waterless town.
To summarize, Once Upon a Time is the West brought a novel revisioning of the old West as dark, harsh, and full of tension. Every part of the filmmaking process played into creating this image in the minds of the audience with the full spectrum of visual and audio effects. Even the pace of storytelling and montage with slow and long shoots were used to create a mundane feel of realistic but still epic Western history. Subsequently, the audience loved this disturbing but thrilling sensation of a dusty world dominated by the right of the strong.