Member review

As well as being a personal favourite of mine Sergio Leone constructs perhaps the greatest western of all time, If not the best then it can defiantly stand shoulder to shoulder with his earlier work The good, the bad and the ugly. (and even classics such as the searches, My Darling Celementine, High noon and Rio bravo) The film centres around four characters and how they interact.

Jason Robards plays Cheyenne a anti-hero who although is bad you can always tell there is a under lying pocket of goodness which is vivified by Claudia Cardinale performance as Jill McBain a wife who has lost her family to a cowardly gun totting brute (Frank) and although at first she is apprehensive of Cheyenne she comes to rely on him perhaps even fall for him where at this point transforming Cheyenne character from anti-hero to full blown hero when he selflessly turns down here offer to be his wife remarking although loving her "you deserve better" in an almost humphrey bogart in Casablanca way.... If that's a thing.

But this isn't to forget the magnificent Henry Fonda(Best known for 12 angry men) in his first and only role as a "bad guy" Frank to give the protagonist Charles Bronson Harmonica (Called he is called this as through out the film he plays the Harmonica. Sergio Leone obviously continuing his man with no name gimmick) a goal of revenge causing this film to be generally classified as a revenge piece however Once upon a time the west is much more than that from the brooding mystery of Harmonica to a fabulous score everything about this film screams classic and makes me wonder why don't they make them like they use to.