Day 43: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Movie #20 – Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) - 175 min, cert PG.

A mysterious stranger breezes into town and joins forces with a notorious outlaw to protect a local widow from a ruthless railway tycoon and his hired guns.

I can only assume that the people I rated this film so highly as to place it at #20 on the Top 250 have never seen The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The two films were both directed by Sergio Leone, scored by Ennio Morricone, set in the old West and are similarly long (in the two and a half to three hour bracket). It is therefore very difficult to analyse one without comparing it to the other, and that is the problem. This film is worse in every respect. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly had a glorious soundtrack, while this one is dreadful. It’s hard to believe they were both created by the same man. It is often jarring and detracts from the on-screen action rather than complementing it. The use of the harmonica is extremely confusing. Charles Bronson’s character plays the harmonica, and at several moments in the film the other characters become aware of his presence by the sound of his playing before he appears. But I found it impossible to tell whether the harmonica being heard was within the story, or just part of the soundtrack.

And then there’s the acting. I know I’m a Clint Eastwood fan, and no doubt there are Charles Bronson fans out there that would disagree with me, but I found Bronson wooden throughout. He just doesn’t have the charisma or on-screen presence that Eastwood has to carry this sort of strong, silent type role off. He so obviously makes no attempt to play the harmonica at any point in the film that it becomes painful to watch, he just holds it to his mouth and it comes through on the soundtrack. The rest of the cast is little better. Henry Fonda is OK, but the character is so one-dimensional that he’s given little chance to shine. Jason Robards provides probably the best performance of the film.

The plot was very hackneyed even in 1968, and the running time is way too long for what it is.

Score – 3/10, and I’m being generous.

1.       The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

2.       Pulp Fiction (1994)

3.       Fight Club (1999)

4.       The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

5.       Goodfellas (1990)

6.       Schindler’s List (1993)

7.       Inception (2010)

8.      Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

9.       The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

10.   The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

From now on, I shall only repeat my personal top ten every ten films or so, since it will change less and less as time goes on.

Next up is Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock’s first appearance in the list. I remember enjoying it when I saw it many years ago, but I’m a bit hazy on the details.