Once Upon a Time in the West (Italian: C'era una volta il West) is a 1968 Italian/American epic Spaghetti Western film directed bySergio Leone for Paramount Pictures. It stars Henry Fonda cast against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit, and Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader with a past as a prostitute. The screenplay was written by Leone and Sergio Donati, from a story devised by Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Dario Argento. The widescreen cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and Ennio Morricone provided the film score. It is the first installment in Leone's "Once Upon a Time" trilogy, the other two are Once Upon a Time... the Revolution and Once Upon a Time in America.
After directing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Leone decided to retire from Westerns and desired to produce his film based on The Hoods, which eventually became Once Upon a Time in America. However, Leone accepted an offer from Paramount to provide access to Henry Fonda and to use a budget to produce another Western film. He recruited Bertolucci and Argento to devise the plot of the film in 1966, researching other Western films in the process. After Clint Eastwood turned down an offer to play the movie's protagonist, Bronson was offered the role. During production, Leone recruited Donati to rewrite the script due to concerns over time limitations.
The original version by the director was 166 minutes (2 hours and 46 minutes) when it was first released on December 21, 1968. This was the version that was to be shown in European cinemas and was a box office success. For the US release on May 28, 1969, Once Upon a Time in the West was edited down to 145 minutes (2 hours and 25 minutes) by Paramount and was a financial flop. The film is now generally acknowledged as a masterpiece and one of the greatest films ever made.
In 2009, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
| Directed by | Sergio Leone |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Fulvio Mosella Bino Cicogna |
| Screenplay by | Sergio Donati Sergio Leone Mickey Knox (English version) |
| Story by | Dario Argento Bernardo Bertolucci Sergio Leone |
| Starring | Claudia Cardinale Henry Fonda Jason Robards Charles Bronson |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Tonino Delli Colli |
| Edited by | Nino Baragli |
| Production company |
Finanzia San Marco
Rafran Cinematografica Paramount Pictures |
| Distributed by | Euro International Film(Italy) Paramount Pictures (United Sates) |
| Release dates |
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| Running time | 166 minutes |
| Country | United States Italy |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5 million |
| Box office | $5,321,508 |
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