It is opera at it's best. Why was it not that successfull across the Atlantic? They like musicals in which each sings a tune twirling or standing longing, in between bad acting but all packaged for the audience expecting. 'Once' has an overture of 11min, a storyline revealing in hmmm let's write dripping and an ending happy, dramatic and real while taking expectations apart.
No disrespect to Leone, but much of his work was borrowed from Toshiro Mifune. I happen to enjoy both, I just wish Leone would have given credit where it was due. So sorry I conflated the actor Toshiro Mifune with the director Akiro Kurosawa.
@@fredbock6570 no only fistfull of dollars the first in the dollar triolegy. they went to court over it and kurosawa won, so sergio had to give credit to and pay kurosawa.
Bill Burr is on point with the mention of "how to write a screenplay" going out the window. This movie is made as a vision and does not adhere to strict rules set by statistics meant to generate cash. This movie was made a long time before I was born and has had an impact on me ever since I saw it the first time.
I saw this as a kid, and after that almost all US westerns felt too sweet, too same, too clean. The influence it had on US Westerns was immense. From good heroes we went to ugly dirty heroes, with Clint as front man. This had best soundtrack, best build up, best dirty west, best ugly faces. Also watch Leone's other legend: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, one of the best ever made.
these kind of movies with less dialogue and lot of scenery works so good in my brain.. like i know all the characters and their backgrounds. where as modern movies i can barely remember their names because it's like they all look similar and aren't interesting. too much filler and not enough art.
@@Writeous0ne I agree. They (new ones) also skimp on the time a good director and screenwriter can give the audience to get to know characters (in my view).
You can find interviews where Fonda, upon receiving the role, showed up wearing brown tinted contacts. Fonda didn't want too spoil the bad guy look with his baby blues. The director said, in essence, what the hell are you doing?! Where are those amazing blue eyes I wanted for my villain!" The director knew the value of having the bad guy with amazing blue eyes. Simply... awesome. 😋
The fly was, painfully obviously, not scripted. Just a moment that happened because there was time for that to happen and to let the actor play with it.
I'm 64 now and still remember my Dad taking me to see this movie one Saturday afternoon in the late 60s. Another classic western by Leone that he took me to see as a kid was The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Thanks Dad you were the best.
This is the Western my dad forgot to tell me about, or didn't even know about himself. If you're watching this clip of Bill rambling, but unable to describe it, just trust us and throw this on when you have some spare time. It's one of the all-time greats.
Driving across country last year, I went out of my way to visit Tucumcari. Cheers, to those who know why - "You see... the train... doesn't stop at Tucumcari..." "This train'll stop at Tucumcari."
Bill Burr is right. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST by Sergio Leone is one of, if not the greatest western. It is ruthless, heart-breaking, heart-warming, dusty, and dangerous as anything in cinema. A masterpiece. And the music is on another level.
I think it's the greatest western EVER! I've probably seen it at least 20 times and try to watch it every time I can! It's a true masterpiece, in every way!
Sergio Leone is the only director I've ever known that has multiple films that many consider "the best ever". I like Good, Bad, Ugly the best but that doesn't mean I don't fucking LOVE the hell out of this movie. Cheers!
Hands down the best western ever made, I watched it first in my teens, I’ve seen it a million times since, I was full grown adult in my 50’s before I fully understood the plot.
Maybe not THE greatest movie ever but certainly ONE OFF the greatest movies ever, and certainly THE greatest Western ever. Legendary movie from wait from........wait for it........1968, and even after 56 years it still rocks!!!!
The reason ( as I understand it) the scene in the beginning is so long and drawn out is that Leone wants to lull you to sleep, feel the heat of the sunlight, boredom , the waiting, the sand, the dirt. And then bamm, mr Bronson appears, out of nowhere like a ghost. It is mirrored by Henry Fonda’s appearance a scene later. Also note , this is a movie from the 60’s , the violence in it is quite harsh, for that time imho. Sergio doesn’t muck around😁
Great comment. It's fascinating when you go back and discover movies from before when you were born and realize movie making by decades isn't exactly some evolution that slowly changes and (i'm finding it hard to find the words to describe what I am trying to say, lol)... It's like I grew up in the 70's and 80's and in the late 70's early 80's we got some serious sci-fi like Alien and Blade Runner but then in mid to late 80's we got a lot of camp and silly kinda shit (not all of it of course), but then nowadays we've been getting some hardcore shit that is rediculous and one might think (depending on the decade they were born and introduced to movies) that it might feel to some people that things are just now getting hardcore. But like you said, Leone made many movies in the 60's and IMO they are as hardcore as movies get. Real and nasty.
editing was just different back then. In addition to Sergio's very intentional approach that you reference. I look at a film like Dr. No also in this decade. There is a scene with Bond in his hotel room, he sets up all these little traps to protect against a break-in. The camera doesn't cut from him once, it literally shows him doing all of those things. Nowadays it would be three quick cuts. Because its not just this scene, as you note the next scene is fairly slow. In fact the scene after that when Mrs. McBain arrives into town is also very slowly paced. And of course the scene after that where we are introduced to Cheyenne is also pretty slow paced and drawn out. I really like this film, and honestly the plot picks up speed and momentum in a huge way after we meet cheyenne and learn Mrs. McBain's backstory. But the first hour or 50 minutes or so is fairly slow paced, even for films of the time.
One of the greatest westerns ever filmed, a masterpiece both musically and visually! It never gets old watching this, especially with a whiskey in hand!
The dolly/crane shot when Jill arrives at the station is probably one of the best orchestrations of camera movement, blocking, depth of scenery, and music in movie history. Especially considering that they didn't have computer controlled cranes and cameras.
The early setpiece with the murder of the redhead family is easily one of the greatest scenes in movie history. How the score builds once the desperados walk into the scene, then that epic dolly track from behind that reveals Fonda just as the music swells. Gives me goosebumps every time. Also how the gunshot transitions to the oncoming train! Goddamn!
And then imagine an audience used to Fona playing good guys. "Wait! That's Fonda! Did he just murder... No way! No way he's going to shoot an innocent kid! No..."
@@ohauss 100%!!! Especially the preface of it, his look at the cohort & response ‘Now that you’ve called me by name…’ then pulling out the gun, so chilling! And again that genius transition from the firing of the gun smashing into that de-blurring shot of the entering train, wow! And this is right after the equally genius dialogueless opening of all the goons waiting at the station that ought to be boring as hell but is riveting.
Yes and no. The telephone in OUATIA is primarily intended to connect the opening scenes through time and make a little mystery, but the sounds in OUATITW is actually inspired by "musique concrète", which was trending a bit at the time. I believe Morricone was heavily involved in putting the sounds of the windmill, the telegraph, the fly and so on into a musical, almost rhythmic pattern. But of course, Leone may still have intended to echo this in his gangster epic 15 years later.
Huh? What trilogy? There's the Dollars trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly). This was SUPPOSED to be the fourth movie in the series, but neither Clint Eastwood nor Eli Wallach wanted to reprise their roles.
@mournblade1066 The trilogy is Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time..... The Revolution (also called Duck You Sucker), and Once Upon a Time in America. I highly recommend all three, but Once Upon a Time in America is like four hours long if you get the director's cut.
@mournblade1066 Yeah, so I'm not an audiologist, so I don't really care what you've heard. Among many Leone's fans, those movies are known collectively as the "Once Upon a Time Trilogy." Take that for what you will. I've already stopped giving a shit.
Raise your hand if you perked up in the theater when Harmonica's theme appeared in one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. This one also has (IMHO) one of Edda Dell'Orso's best performances, on the title music. For my money, this is Leone's greatest work, and it's not uncommon to hear "How did I not know about this?" One of his lesser-known movies, "Duck, You Sucker!", is also worth a look and James Coburn and Rod Steiger really made an amazing pair.
It's a film that you have to watch countless times. I've seen maybe 10 times. Then I come across a TH-cam vid of it and someone mentions something I hadn't noticed before and have to go and watch it again to see for myself. This film has no weaknesses.
Any great movie leaves you with sights and sounds that you still remember years later; Once upon a Time In The West is like a trip back in time. You forget it's just a movie and he shows and tells you much just to recreate that time. It's magnificent.
i saw it at the sackville drive in in nova scotia not sure if it was late sixties or early 70s with my family in the summer we would go on weekends to the drive in quite often i think us kids got in free i think this movie was released in the late 60s and then again in the early 70s
Glad to hear such aggressive appreciation of this film so many years after its release. It was misunderstood and cut to pieces in 1969 by US and UK distribution with smartass critics saying "Tedium in the tumbleweed" and "This is a long slow horse opera in which the arias are not sung but stared". At the time, only France cottoned on to how brilliant it was, and showed it uncut for 2 years at a Paris cinema. My apologies to anyone who already knew this info.
I find it incomprehensible neither of these guys had heard of this movie, I know people born in the 90's and the 00's who know all about it and have since they were little kids, how the heck they avoid it for this long? insane.
Can confirm. I was born in '91 and my dad always had Westerns on. So I was introduced to Leone from a very young age. I feel like you would have had to actively avoid movies to not know about OUATITW.
crazy he says ' yeah, this guy Sergio Leone' LOL. baffling this guy works as an actor and comedian in Hollywood and hadn't seen this until recently. this is one of my favorite movies.
@@alexchernandez88 yeah it’s weird how people can be so in love with some of these modern movies, and be completely oblivious of the classics that they are so derivative of. I love Tarantino but it would be idle to deny that so much of his shit is just really well done homages.
@@voiceover2191 Once upon a Time in America is also a Serge Leone movie - it was a follow up to Once upon a Time in the West (although not a direct sequel).
Masterpiece of a movie! Bronson and Fonda were absolute legends. It's long but doesn't feel it because you get totally immersed in the story and epic scenes.
This is my favorite Western and therefore pretty close to my favorite movie! Leone directed some classic films and the best always have the amazing Morricone scores.
Greatest movie ever made! Sergio Leone made the absolute gem. Bronson is the perfect hero, and how Fonda didn’t win the Academy Award for acting, it was an absolute crime.
I watched both of Leone's "Once Upon a Time" films in my early 20s, like 21-22. I knew they were good but didn't fully grasp *how* good. Time to rewatch. Both of em. Nice one JWBS. Love the channel.
@@LowPlainsDrifter60 Yes, but that was renamed to "Duck, You Sucker!" by the studio, if I recall. It's better than it's reputation, but not as strong as the two other ones.
On vaguely familiar with Westerns, I put this on 2-3 years ago and was absolutely transfixed. A wonderful movie and though long, Claudia is _so_ hypnotically beautiful that you don't care (for other reasons too). I started to watch other Westerns and started to really "get it" (esp. the soundtracks) in my mid-50s. I didn't know what I was missing, all these years.
In Europe this film has been regarded as the best western ever made since the 80s . It's amazing how little it is regarded in America . Henry Fondas best role and Bronsons
Don't forget the incredible score by the great Ennio Morricone, whose music Sergio Leone wanted to _write movies around,_ rather than vice versa. (btw, the short, recurring harmonica riff that Bronson keeps playing throughout the film was - in my opinion - appropriated by Hans Zimmer for the vocal motif in the recent 'Dune' soundtrack. But I digress...)
That scene where Henry Fonda and his gang murder the family and just emerged from the desert out of nowhere like ghosts was one of the most beautiful scenes in film. With Morricone’s music giving you goosebumps. 🎥❤️
Years ago, early days of Netflix streaming, heard this was a really good movie, so i added it to favorites, but i didn't watch it. Was sharing Netflix with my parents, went over to my parent's house one night, dad wanted to watch a Western, they had watched this movie because it was in my favorites and my dad was talking how great it was. Never heard my dad say he liked a movie. We watched fistful of dollars, i later watched this.
My grandparents had a program (a magazine like thing they used to give at the theater premiere) for this film. Never saw it...yet. Never came on TV like Bill Burr said. I've got to check it out. The program was very nice. It had a great quality to it.
Once Upon A Time In The West is Leone's magnum opus. It was supposed to be his final western so it's a.love letter to westerns. The film transcends the western genre it's that incredible. Basically it's the end of the wild West era and big business and corporations are taking over so Bronson and Fonda's characters are "An ancient race". The final reveal at the end with the flashback with Ennio Morricone's score blasting its absolute perfection and
Sergio Leone produced a 3-part opera in the Italian tradition. Each character (Bronson,Fonda & Robards) has their own theme music. One of the best westerns ever , some say #1.
Not only that, but Fonda's and Bronson's themes overlap (they have shared past and are somewhat alike), plus at the end Bronson's tune changes to upbeat Robard's theme.
1969, I was 12 years old and not allowed to watch this movie because I was to young, when it was shown in german cinema. But my oldest brother helped me to get in in some kind of sneaky way.😂 It was a once in a lifetime cinema experience. Epic. I've seen it multiple times again later but never on the big screen.
I was 19 when i first watched it knew nothing about it just picked up the dvd stuck it in and was absolutely mesmerized for the entirety of it one of my favourite films ever. The score is amazing i love homanicas theme.
Every now and then, stars align and magic happens, leaving everyone wondering where did that come from. Just like in music, paintings, architecture, fashion, sports etc.
yeah that stunt always seems like one of the most brutal I've ever seen. I first saw this movie on DVD like 20 years ago and I swear I watched that fall 15 times in disbelief. Haha, I'm not surprised that of ALL the clips in that epic, that one made the cut!
What makes it most impressive is that despite it going wrong and him ending up on his neck/head, he still stayed still at the end and waited for "cut".
I was a kid when I saw this movie. Claudia Cardinale was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Fonda scared the living shit out of me. This movie will forever be a monumental classic.
Bill Burr is only a few years younger than me, so I am SHOCKED that he had never seen this movie and had never even heard of it?? How is that even possible for someone like Bill who is usually great at old pop culture references. OMG this is my fave Western hands down.. and in my top 5 easily of greatest movies of any genre. I think it was the 1980s first time I saw it.. maybe I was in my late teens. Fonda as Frank is awesome... those cold - dead eyes!!
The Syd Field book is more about how to write a script that these film exsecs will accept. He uses Chinatown as an example of the perfect script and in my opinion, it's one of the best films ever made. Sergio Leone was on a different stratosphere. Once upon a time in the west is the best western of all time
It was shown on ABC one Sunday night in '69 or '70. (This was back when there were three networks.) The next day it's all the kids in school were talking about. This is why we have DVD players, guys.
I remember watch that night. 13 years old on a tiny black and white TV. I was mesmerized. The music gives me goose bumps. Bronson was amazing and Henry Fondas was evil incarnant. Those eyes!
Best opening scene, best gunfight, a complex plot, fabulous music, a stone cold killer, an astonishing surprise, a sweeping vision of the West, and...Claudia Cardinale.
I've always loved and adored Sergio Leones Dollars Trilogy and Once Upon a Time in America and also loved Charles Bronson movies but i genuinely didn't even know Once Upon a Time in the West even existed until around xmas 2023. Now it's my favourite movie of all time. Seriously.
Sergio Leone and his spaghetti westerns were the best westerns bar none ! This movie and of course the good the bad and the ugly we’re just unreal…the tension in these films was so thick, you just could not look away for a minute…
The sound of the squeaking windmill in the opening scene was used by the Australian band Midnight Oil in their video for their big hit song "Beds Are Burning". Just a fun fact. Amazing movie, amazing director, amazing cast, amazing soundtrack. In a word, AMAZING!
Once upon a time in the West was shot on 35mm but with 2 perf pulldown (traditional 35mm is 4 perf. So 2 perf is 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The big advantage of using 2 perf is that it saves on the amount of film used, which is one of the reasons Leone use 2 perf on his Westerns.
Kudos to the makeup artists who made Fonda look like a lean mean convincing badass young buck in the flashback scene. That smile as he walks towards a young Charles Bronson. Haunting!
Charles Bronson - "you brought two too many". One of the greatest western movie lines
Charles Bronson "You wear a belt and suspenders. How can you trust a man who doesn't even trust his own pants?"
“My mistake. Four coffins.”
- “A Fistful of Dollars”
It's a line of Henry Fonda's character in this movie, not Bronson.
@@hinmatow its a Bronson line in the opening scene
You found out your not business man after all?
Once Upon a Time in the West is a work of art.
It is opera at it's best. Why was it not that successfull across the Atlantic? They like musicals in which each sings a tune twirling or standing longing, in between bad acting but all packaged for the audience expecting. 'Once' has an overture of 11min, a storyline revealing in hmmm let's write dripping and an ending happy, dramatic and real while taking expectations apart.
NO QUESTION. It is like a GRAND OPERA.
there will NEVER be another Sergio Leone...............incredible, original filmmaker!
Agreed, he was so influential despite making relatively few movies
Good.
No disrespect to Leone, but much of his work was borrowed from Toshiro Mifune. I happen to enjoy both, I just wish Leone would have given credit where it was due. So sorry I conflated the actor Toshiro Mifune with the director Akiro Kurosawa.
or another ernio morricone (who did the score to all sergios movies)
@@fredbock6570 no only fistfull of dollars the first in the dollar triolegy. they went to court over it and kurosawa won, so sergio had to give credit to and pay kurosawa.
Bill Burr is on point with the mention of "how to write a screenplay" going out the window. This movie is made as a vision and does not adhere to strict rules set by statistics meant to generate cash. This movie was made a long time before I was born and has had an impact on me ever since I saw it the first time.
I saw this as a kid, and after that almost all US westerns felt too sweet, too same, too clean. The influence it had on US Westerns was immense. From good heroes we went to ugly dirty heroes, with Clint as front man.
This had best soundtrack, best build up, best dirty west, best ugly faces. Also watch Leone's other legend: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, one of the best ever made.
I mean wasn't it made to appease the studio so he could get his passion project off the ground?
these kind of movies with less dialogue and lot of scenery works so good in my brain.. like i know all the characters and their backgrounds. where as modern movies i can barely remember their names because it's like they all look similar and aren't interesting. too much filler and not enough art.
@@Writeous0ne I agree. They (new ones) also skimp on the time a good director and screenwriter can give the audience to get to know characters (in my view).
@@KootFloris Ugly heroes? I get what you mean but Clint Eastwood is the hero in 3 of his movies and he was one of the best looking guys ever.
Henry Fonda was outstanding as the heavy. Those shots of his eyes. Like evil staring right at you.
So brave he dared to play against character and be the main villain and how!!! Like he always played the villain and was a bad ass at the same time.
Frank - "People scare better when they're dying". My favourite quote from my all time favourite villain.
You can find interviews where Fonda, upon receiving the role, showed up wearing brown tinted contacts. Fonda didn't want too spoil the bad guy look with his baby blues. The director said, in essence, what the hell are you doing?! Where are those amazing blue eyes I wanted for my villain!" The director knew the value of having the bad guy with amazing blue eyes. Simply... awesome. 😋
One of the best opening scenes ever. Eleven minutes of pure visual bliss.
The fly was, painfully obviously, not scripted. Just a moment that happened because there was time for that to happen and to let the actor play with it.
@@sanderwillems8603 Yeah yeah, that's why they put sugar on his face.
Henry Fonda gives one of the greatest villain performances.
Jane Fonda wrote a letter to her dad about this performance.
I'm 64 now and still remember my Dad taking me to see this movie one Saturday afternoon in the late 60s. Another classic western by Leone that he took me to see as a kid was The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Thanks Dad you were the best.
This is the Western my dad forgot to tell me about, or didn't even know about himself. If you're watching this clip of Bill rambling, but unable to describe it, just trust us and throw this on when you have some spare time. It's one of the all-time greats.
I heard Once Upon a Time in the West described as a movie that's very very long, but one you wouldn't want any shorter. I couldn't agree more.
I feel that way about Once Upon a Time in America. Even at over 4 hours long, it still feels like there’s so much more story to be told.
@@erakfishfishfish It was supposed to be 8 hours in 2 movies.
The best movies can be as long as they want and when they are finished you want even more.
I was in Spain and made a trip to the house used in the film. That´s how much I love that movie.
Driving across country last year, I went out of my way to visit Tucumcari. Cheers, to those who know why -
"You see... the train... doesn't stop at Tucumcari..."
"This train'll stop at Tucumcari."
Bill Burr is right. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST by Sergio Leone is one of, if not the greatest western. It is ruthless, heart-breaking, heart-warming, dusty, and dangerous as anything in cinema. A masterpiece. And the music is on another level.
I think it's the greatest western EVER! I've probably seen it at least 20 times and try to watch it every time I can! It's a true masterpiece, in every way!
Sergio Leone is the only director I've ever known that has multiple films that many consider "the best ever". I like Good, Bad, Ugly the best but that doesn't mean I don't fucking LOVE the hell out of this movie. Cheers!
How could one be even remotely interested in film and not have heard of Once Upon a Time in the West? Odd.
Well Burr isn't a professional film critic, and he explains why he had never heard of it in the video, which I found to be interesting.
It's a long movie so it wasn't replayed on tv and then it was difficult to get on vhs because it needed 2 tapes
I know it is weird -- knowing who Syd Field is but not Sergio Leone is like knowing who Donald Runsfeld is but not George Bush
Because it's not nearly as well known as The Good The Bad And The Ugly
Bert is a limited tool, that's how.
I thought Clint’s films with Leone were the best, until I saw this masterpiece. Really holds up after all those years.
If you haven't, Watch Once upon a Time in America (Take a look at the differnet montages, because in the US they FXXked up the movie).
This really is Leones best film ever!
Hands down the best western ever made, I watched it first in my teens, I’ve seen it a million times since, I was full grown adult in my 50’s before I fully understood the plot.
Maybe not THE greatest movie ever but certainly ONE OFF the greatest movies ever, and certainly THE greatest Western ever.
Legendary movie from wait from........wait for it........1968, and even after 56 years it still rocks!!!!
The reason ( as I understand it) the scene in the beginning is so long and drawn out is that Leone wants to lull you to sleep, feel the heat of the sunlight, boredom , the waiting, the sand, the dirt. And then bamm, mr Bronson appears, out of nowhere like a ghost. It is mirrored by Henry Fonda’s appearance a scene later.
Also note , this is a movie from the 60’s , the violence in it is quite harsh, for that time imho. Sergio doesn’t muck around😁
He failed to me then. That opening scene felt so tense, because of its drawn out pace. Great movie.
Great comment. It's fascinating when you go back and discover movies from before when you were born and realize movie making by decades isn't exactly some evolution that slowly changes and (i'm finding it hard to find the words to describe what I am trying to say, lol)... It's like I grew up in the 70's and 80's and in the late 70's early 80's we got some serious sci-fi like Alien and Blade Runner but then in mid to late 80's we got a lot of camp and silly kinda shit (not all of it of course), but then nowadays we've been getting some hardcore shit that is rediculous and one might think (depending on the decade they were born and introduced to movies) that it might feel to some people that things are just now getting hardcore. But like you said, Leone made many movies in the 60's and IMO they are as hardcore as movies get. Real and nasty.
editing was just different back then. In addition to Sergio's very intentional approach that you reference. I look at a film like Dr. No also in this decade. There is a scene with Bond in his hotel room, he sets up all these little traps to protect against a break-in. The camera doesn't cut from him once, it literally shows him doing all of those things. Nowadays it would be three quick cuts.
Because its not just this scene, as you note the next scene is fairly slow. In fact the scene after that when Mrs. McBain arrives into town is also very slowly paced. And of course the scene after that where we are introduced to Cheyenne is also pretty slow paced and drawn out.
I really like this film, and honestly the plot picks up speed and momentum in a huge way after we meet cheyenne and learn Mrs. McBain's backstory. But the first hour or 50 minutes or so is fairly slow paced, even for films of the time.
everyone gangsta until that harmonica hits and you see him as the train passes by
This movie is a masterpiece
One of the greatest westerns ever filmed, a masterpiece both musically and visually! It never gets old watching this, especially with a whiskey in hand!
Greatest motion picture ever made
The dolly/crane shot when Jill arrives at the station is probably one of the best orchestrations of camera movement, blocking, depth of scenery, and music in movie history. Especially considering that they didn't have computer controlled cranes and cameras.
The greatest western of all time
Nothing even comes close.
The early setpiece with the murder of the redhead family is easily one of the greatest scenes in movie history. How the score builds once the desperados walk into the scene, then that epic dolly track from behind that reveals Fonda just as the music swells. Gives me goosebumps every time. Also how the gunshot transitions to the oncoming train! Goddamn!
And then imagine an audience used to Fona playing good guys. "Wait! That's Fonda! Did he just murder... No way! No way he's going to shoot an innocent kid! No..."
@@ohauss 100%!!! Especially the preface of it, his look at the cohort & response ‘Now that you’ve called me by name…’ then pulling out the gun, so chilling! And again that genius transition from the firing of the gun smashing into that de-blurring shot of the entering train, wow! And this is right after the equally genius dialogueless opening of all the goons waiting at the station that ought to be boring as hell but is riveting.
I love Sergio Leone and Bill Burr. Please keep these going!
Loving Leone and Burr is what makes this video a bit painful to listen to.
Wouldn't you all like to see it again for the first time? To have that bliss again..
One of thee best westerns ever made, hands down. From the score, to the acting and cinematic shots.
Great film. So is Once Upon A Time In America. They both begin with a repetitive sound, the windmill and the telephone.
Interesting observation. However the telephone in America might be a little more painful to listen to hahaha
Yes and no. The telephone in OUATIA is primarily intended to connect the opening scenes through time and make a little mystery, but the sounds in OUATITW is actually inspired by "musique concrète", which was trending a bit at the time. I believe Morricone was heavily involved in putting the sounds of the windmill, the telegraph, the fly and so on into a musical, almost rhythmic pattern. But of course, Leone may still have intended to echo this in his gangster epic 15 years later.
Upon A Time In America wasnt that great!
@@killerkraut9179hey, i agree. Noodles is a completely unlikeable character.
one of the top ten movies ever made . right up there with the good the bad and the ugly .
this is MILES better than the Good, The Bad and the Ugly - miles better....
The absolute best of the trilogy. A lot of people prefer Once Upon A Time in America, but I think this one blows that one away.
Huh? What trilogy? There's the Dollars trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly). This was SUPPOSED to be the fourth movie in the series, but neither Clint Eastwood nor Eli Wallach wanted to reprise their roles.
@mournblade1066 The trilogy is Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time..... The Revolution (also called Duck You Sucker), and Once Upon a Time in America.
I highly recommend all three, but Once Upon a Time in America is like four hours long if you get the director's cut.
@@kevinfelton689 I've never heard those three called a trilogy before. I've seen Once Upon a Time in America and Once Upon a Time in the West.
@mournblade1066 Yeah, so I'm not an audiologist, so I don't really care what you've heard. Among many Leone's fans, those movies are known collectively as the "Once Upon a Time Trilogy."
Take that for what you will. I've already stopped giving a shit.
Simply one of the most badass movies ever made. And, yeah, that opening scene when you first meet Bronson is legendary.
The film transcended cinematography. The music score, acting and camerawork are truly incredible. A masterpiece of work.
Raise your hand if you perked up in the theater when Harmonica's theme appeared in one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. This one also has (IMHO) one of Edda Dell'Orso's best performances, on the title music.
For my money, this is Leone's greatest work, and it's not uncommon to hear "How did I not know about this?" One of his lesser-known movies, "Duck, You Sucker!", is also worth a look and James Coburn and Rod Steiger really made an amazing pair.
It's a film that you have to watch countless times. I've seen maybe 10 times. Then I come across a TH-cam vid of it and someone mentions something I hadn't noticed before and have to go and watch it again to see for myself. This film has no weaknesses.
Greatest movie ever made... Perfection in every frame and getting some enthusiastic love from Bill there
The soundtrack is stunning, every character has their own and they are all epic. Magnificent movie.
Perhaps the greatest Western ever made and Bill's not seen it before? Shocking!
Not seen it would be fine, we all have our blind spots... but never even HEARD of it!?
@@johndoderino2609 Well, Bill's supposedly a movie buff and an actor too.
I feel like a proud dad listening to my kids discover something beautiful
Any great movie leaves you with sights and sounds that you still remember years later; Once upon a Time In The West is like a trip back in time. You forget it's just a movie and he shows and tells you much just to recreate that time. It's magnificent.
i got to see this at drive-in when i was 4 and it has been burned into my memory ever since... a masterpiece
i saw it at the sackville drive in in nova scotia not sure if it was late sixties or early 70s with my family in the summer we would go on weekends to the drive in quite often i think us kids got in free i think this movie was released in the late 60s and then again in the early 70s
the harmonica scenes really burned in my memory especially the hanging of his brother and then the revenge
Glad to hear such aggressive appreciation of this film so many years after its release. It was misunderstood and cut to pieces in 1969 by US and UK distribution with smartass critics saying "Tedium in the tumbleweed" and "This is a long slow horse opera in which the arias are not sung but stared". At the time, only France cottoned on to how brilliant it was, and showed it uncut for 2 years at a Paris cinema.
My apologies to anyone who already knew this info.
I find it incomprehensible neither of these guys had heard of this movie, I know people born in the 90's and the 00's who know all about it and have since they were little kids, how the heck they avoid it for this long? insane.
Can confirm. I was born in '91 and my dad always had Westerns on. So I was introduced to Leone from a very young age. I feel like you would have had to actively avoid movies to not know about OUATITW.
It's almost like people have different life experiences or something hey
Dude right?!? I knew this movie as a kid(26). And it was on tv all the fucking time. I saw this before any of the Dollars trilogy.
crazy he says ' yeah, this guy Sergio Leone' LOL. baffling this guy works as an actor and comedian in Hollywood and hadn't seen this until recently. this is one of my favorite movies.
@@alexchernandez88 yeah it’s weird how people can be so in love with some of these modern movies, and be completely oblivious of the classics that they are so derivative of. I love Tarantino but it would be idle to deny that so much of his shit is just really well done homages.
Thank you Bill!!! This is the western GOAT!!!
"What's that film?" It's the reason Tarantino called his film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Well, you also have "Once Upon a Time in America", also a great movie and "Once Upon a time in Mexico", a bit less great movie.
@@voiceover2191 Once upon a Time in America is also a Serge Leone movie - it was a follow up to Once upon a Time in the West (although not a direct sequel).
And let’s not forget Inglourious Basterds opens with “Once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France”
So wrong.... so very very wrong.
A very serious contender for greatest film of all time. My personal favourite film. I've just never seen anything better, plain and simple.
The opening scene is a masterwork of sound editing directing…
It’s calzó just plain awesome!!!
Masterpiece of a movie! Bronson and Fonda were absolute legends. It's long but doesn't feel it because you get totally immersed in the story and epic scenes.
The opening scenes are the best ever made. I love Westerns and this is in my top 5.
This is my favorite Western and therefore pretty close to my favorite movie! Leone directed some classic films and the best always have the amazing Morricone scores.
This movie, Silverado, and Josey Wales are my favorite classic westerns
Greatest movie ever made! Sergio Leone made the absolute gem. Bronson is the perfect hero, and how Fonda didn’t win the Academy Award for acting, it was an absolute crime.
I watched both of Leone's "Once Upon a Time" films in my early 20s, like 21-22. I knew they were good but didn't fully grasp *how* good. Time to rewatch. Both of em.
Nice one JWBS. Love the channel.
Actually there are 3 "once upon a time" leone movies, In the West, a Revolution & In America.
@@LowPlainsDrifter60 Yes, but that was renamed to "Duck, You Sucker!" by the studio, if I recall. It's better than it's reputation, but not as strong as the two other ones.
One of the BEST westerns ever made!
On vaguely familiar with Westerns, I put this on 2-3 years ago and was absolutely transfixed. A wonderful movie and though long, Claudia is _so_ hypnotically beautiful that you don't care (for other reasons too). I started to watch other Westerns and started to really "get it" (esp. the soundtracks) in my mid-50s. I didn't know what I was missing, all these years.
In Europe this film has been regarded as the best western ever made since the 80s . It's amazing how little it is regarded in America . Henry Fondas best role and Bronsons
Don't forget the incredible score by the great Ennio Morricone, whose music Sergio Leone wanted to _write movies around,_ rather than vice versa. (btw, the short, recurring harmonica riff that Bronson keeps playing throughout the film was - in my opinion - appropriated by Hans Zimmer for the vocal motif in the recent 'Dune' soundtrack. But I digress...)
Without a doubt this is the best Western ever made
Best movie ever. A work of art. A masterpiece. PURE GENIUS.
That scene where Henry Fonda and his gang murder the family and just emerged from the desert out of nowhere like ghosts was one of the most beautiful scenes in film. With Morricone’s music giving you goosebumps. 🎥❤️
I’ve never watched it. I just bought it at Good Will for 4.00. It’s still sealed with a lot of extras.
Years ago, early days of Netflix streaming, heard this was a really good movie, so i added it to favorites, but i didn't watch it.
Was sharing Netflix with my parents, went over to my parent's house one night, dad wanted to watch a Western, they had watched this movie because it was in my favorites and my dad was talking how great it was. Never heard my dad say he liked a movie.
We watched fistful of dollars, i later watched this.
Jason Robards is the best in it
Yes
Cheyenne
*Grabs Claudia Cardinale's butt *
*dies *
He is fantastic. When he calls the businessman a snail you laugh and feel all the menace at the same time
I liked it. Every time it's on I try and watch it.
When I was a teenager, I was captivated by the style. The third time I watched it, the bulb went off and I understood the story.
I watched it first as a kid. I have seen it many times since. It's amazing. In the car driving, I listen to the soundtrack :) Recommended.
My grandparents had a program (a magazine like thing they used to give at the theater premiere) for this film. Never saw it...yet. Never came on TV like Bill Burr said. I've got to check it out. The program was very nice. It had a great quality to it.
A masterpiece. My favorite western hands down.
Once Upon A Time In The West is Leone's magnum opus. It was supposed to be his final western so it's a.love letter to westerns. The film transcends the western genre it's that incredible. Basically it's the end of the wild West era and big business and corporations are taking over so Bronson and Fonda's characters are "An ancient race". The final reveal at the end with the flashback with Ennio Morricone's score blasting its absolute perfection and
Greatest Western Ever.
on 4k very soon can't wait
Is it really?
Mind you, it's perfect already.
I have seen the movie on big screen when I was young, it is still fascinating 50 years later..
Sergio Leone produced a 3-part opera in the Italian tradition. Each character (Bronson,Fonda & Robards) has their own theme music. One of the best westerns ever , some say #1.
So did Jill
Not only that, but Fonda's and Bronson's themes overlap (they have shared past and are somewhat alike), plus at the end Bronson's tune changes to upbeat Robard's theme.
1969, I was 12 years old and not allowed to watch this movie because I was to young, when it was shown in german cinema. But my oldest brother helped me to get in in some kind of sneaky way.😂
It was a once in a lifetime cinema experience. Epic. I've seen it multiple times again later but never on the big screen.
I was 19 when i first watched it knew nothing about it just picked up the dvd stuck it in and was absolutely mesmerized for the entirety of it one of my favourite films ever. The score is amazing i love homanicas theme.
Agreed. Just saw it the first time this year. Wow!!!
Every now and then, stars align and magic happens, leaving everyone wondering where did that come from. Just like in music, paintings, architecture, fashion, sports etc.
1:29 holy shit! That was a real guy, wasn't it?
Yep, no CGI or crap like that back then, just real pain.
The kind of job the Brad Pitt character would do in Once upon a time in Hollywood.
A hundred years ago back when I was a kid they called people who fell off buildings if films...now, get this...stuntmen.
yeah that stunt always seems like one of the most brutal I've ever seen. I first saw this movie on DVD like 20 years ago and I swear I watched that fall 15 times in disbelief. Haha, I'm not surprised that of ALL the clips in that epic, that one made the cut!
What makes it most impressive is that despite it going wrong and him ending up on his neck/head, he still stayed still at the end and waited for "cut".
I was a kid when I saw this movie. Claudia Cardinale was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Fonda scared the living shit out of me. This movie will forever be a monumental classic.
same for me
I'm glad Bill likes the film. It's one of the best films full stop, not just western.
The best western of all time!
Bill Burr is only a few years younger than me, so I am SHOCKED that he had never seen this movie and had never even heard of it?? How is that even possible for someone like Bill who is usually great at old pop culture references. OMG this is my fave Western hands down.. and in my top 5 easily of greatest movies of any genre. I think it was the 1980s first time I saw it.. maybe I was in my late teens. Fonda as Frank is awesome... those cold - dead eyes!!
The Syd Field book is more about how to write a script that these film exsecs will accept. He uses Chinatown as an example of the perfect script and in my opinion, it's one of the best films ever made. Sergio Leone was on a different stratosphere. Once upon a time in the west is the best western of all time
Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the greatest movies EVER MADE!
It was shown on ABC one Sunday night in '69 or '70. (This was back when there were three networks.) The next day it's all the kids in school were talking about.
This is why we have DVD players, guys.
I remember watch that night. 13 years old on a tiny black and white TV. I was mesmerized. The music gives me goose bumps. Bronson was amazing and Henry Fondas was evil incarnant. Those eyes!
One of the greatest films ever made
gosh darn mother funkin' masterpiece... fax!!!
It’s the first “Once Upon a Time “ movie. Also it’s the best of them.
Best opening scene, best gunfight, a complex plot, fabulous music, a stone cold killer, an astonishing surprise, a sweeping vision of the West, and...Claudia Cardinale.
I've always loved and adored Sergio Leones Dollars Trilogy and Once Upon a Time in America and also loved Charles Bronson movies but i genuinely didn't even know Once Upon a Time in the West even existed until around xmas 2023. Now it's my favourite movie of all time. Seriously.
Jack Elam vs. a fly took about 3 minutes.
And in our next episode of Greatest Movie Moments...
I was lucky enough to have met Woody. A real gentleman and great actor.
Sergio Leone and his spaghetti westerns were the best westerns bar none ! This movie and of course the good the bad and the ugly we’re just unreal…the tension in these films was so thick, you just could not look away for a minute…
That film and the music was awesome. It had an atmosphere you could cut with a knife.
The sound of the squeaking windmill in the opening scene was used by the Australian band Midnight Oil in their video for their big hit song "Beds Are Burning". Just a fun fact. Amazing movie, amazing director, amazing cast, amazing soundtrack. In a word, AMAZING!
As a lifetime Western fan, this movie is certainly a top ten western of all times.
"Once Upon a Time"
"What's that"
Saddest thing I've ever heard.
This movie IS a work of art.
Once upon a time in the West was shot on 35mm but with 2 perf pulldown (traditional 35mm is 4 perf. So 2 perf is 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The big advantage of using 2 perf is that it saves on the amount of film used, which is one of the reasons Leone use 2 perf on his Westerns.
Kudos to the makeup artists who made Fonda look like a lean mean convincing badass young buck in the flashback scene. That smile as he walks towards a young Charles Bronson. Haunting!
Once upon a Time in the West and America are incredible movies.