Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

In class we discussed the classic Western versus the revisionist Western and ultimately decided that Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West" fell in the middle. The mysterious Harmonica serves as the cowboy hero, but many of his behaviors make him a much more psychologically complicated character than most Western heroes. Instead of focusing on what I thought of the film, I wanted to discover what the film originally set out to be. Sergio Leone had great success with the Clint Eastwood starring "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." This made him a household name in Hollywood and afterwards he vowed never to make another Western, for he thought there was nothing more he could bring to the genre. Hollywood studios thought otherwise. He refused many offers but soon enough Paramount Studios offered Leone a big budget and the opportunity to work with Henry Fonda (Frank), someone who just happened to be one of Leone's favorite actors. He took the offer, enlisted Sergio Donati to make the screen play, cast the actors and set off to Spain and Italy to film. Claudia Cardinale (Jill) was Leone's vision of the character, but Cardinale said she was not confident enough her English or Italian to speak the dialogue so Leone had her lines dubbed. The film and all its characters were initially tributes to other great Westerns, so the story was completely original to the film. Like most Westerns, Leone presents the contrast and arrival of civilization to the Old West. Many of Leone's other films have proven that he likes to exemplify specific sequences with little to no dialogue and focus on the settings or actions. This, in turn, causes the film to flow slowly and allows the viewer to absorb the scene. The film was originally released in Italy and then a year later released in the US, but the critical acclaim did not come at first glance. Although, as we all know now, the film is today regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and I can see why.
Fun Fact: There is a deleted scene from the beginning of the film where Harmonica gets beaten by a sherriff and his crew at a hotel after arriving in Flagstone. Although this scene does not appear in the final product, Harmonica carries scars on his face from the fight throughout the entire film.