Rating: 
Summary: Henry Ford in his nastiest role!
Review: Up until this movie, Henry Ford was relegated to playing All-American good guys. It would all change with this performance, which I found to be one of his better roles. One of the better westerns.
Rating: 
Summary: what a movie should be
Review: I first saw this movis in the 1970's on a TV in a college bar. As the story progressed, the entire bar quited down and watched the screen in complete silence. I've never seen that happen before or since. I've seen the movie several more times and still think it's the best movie-as-entertainment ever made.
Rating:
Summary: One Of My Favorites (Three)
Review: I saw this movie for the first time many years ago when I was a teenager, I thought then and I still think 33 years later, that is one of the greatest western of all time.
This is one of my three favorites western including The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and The Wild Bunch.
Too much has been said about this movie, I only want to add anything else: I think the movie would have been greatly improved with Ursula Andress instead of Claudia Cardinale in the role of Jill McBain.
Now, the amazing soundtrack, it is some of the most beautiful music IÂ've listened to. IÂ've the CD and play it frecuently.
I already have the VHS version. Please tell the movie producers or whoever from studios read this, get this out on DVD version
as soon as possible. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: One of the very finest Westerns ever made
Review: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is arguably Sergio Leone's greatest Western, although Clint Eastwood's three films with him remain among my favorites. Actually, Leone had hoped to have Eastwood in this film as Harmonica, but they were unable to work things out. As it is, I think having Charles Bronson in the role is more effective. It was central to Eastwood's persona in those three films that he be both a man with no name and with no past, but Harmonica's character is entirely driven by the past and his need for revenge.The beginning of this film are among my favorite in the history of film. Leone is arguably the most patient director in the history of film, and is willing to take fifteen minutes for something another director would be loathe to take two. The two great instances of Leone's patience are the scene in the uncut version of ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, where he allows a phone to ring thirty or forty times, and here at the beginning, where he takes fourteen minutes to show three men waiting to men a train. As a whole, this is a far more ambitious project than Leone's other Westerns. The plot is a bit more epic, the sweep of the film a bit grander, the relations between the characters more complex. Like most of his other films, it was filmed primarily in Europe, but unlike the others, a couple of scenes were actually shot in the United States, in particular in Monument Valley, the signature area of John Ford, the director most associated with Westerns. He handles characters a bit differently in this than in his earlier films. For instance, Leone ties a musical theme to each of the major characters in the film, much as did Prokofiev with "Peter and the Wolf." One aspect of the film that is simultaneously a strength and a weakness is the casting. Leone here works with a group of performers he had not worked with before. A couple of the performers are simply brilliant. Charles Bronson was brilliant, and his tiny, piercing blue eyes lend an eerie intensity to many of his screen moments. The casting of the equally blue-eyed Henry Fonda as a sadistic villain was a stroke of genius, and he manages to produce one of his most memorable roles. I have, however, trouble with the other two major performers. Claudia Cardinale was certainly beautiful, but she simply does not bring as much to her role that many other actresses would have. Women do not feature prominently in Leone's films, and that might be because he simply didn't relate to women as well as men. At any rate, I think the movie would have been greatly improved with someone else in her role. I had similar problems with Jason Robards. He just did not radiate the aura of danger that his character was supposed to, and the musical theme that was tied to his character sounded somewhat clownish. I found him to be the most poorly conceived and executed character in the film. Despite these two cavils, this is an incredible movie, and is by far one of the most thoughtful, unique Westerns ever made. The ending is perhaps the finest of his many Westerns, as well as one of the most surprising. It easily goes on any list of the greatest Westerns in the history of film.
Rating: 
Summary: One star is too much
Review: This is number 11 on my list of ten worst movies. Like Parsifal, the opera that starts at 8:30 p.m. and three hours later you look at your watch and it's only 8:45 p.m., there is a point at which you think this movie will never end. Though this over-bloated spaghetti western appears to have a lot going for it, especially cast-wise with Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Claudia Cardinale, it turns out to be a 165-minute Parsifallian test of your intestinal fortitude. It starts with Fonda's character leading a band of outlaws on an attack to kill a family of ranchers for no obvious reason. His cold-bloodedness is demonstrated when he shoots a 10-year old boy, who had been hiding during the attack, to prevent him from identifying them later. Your stomach is particularly tested later during one scene where the camera pans low over about ten bodies just blown to bits (and I mean BITS). For over two and a half hours, you keep asking yourself where this story and all its gore are going. It's finally revealed at the bitter end (Are you ready? How's this for an original plot?): the railroad hired the outlaws to drive out the ranchers to get their land. When it's finally over, you are still left with one last question: why couldn't the director have done this story in 90 minutes, or less (zero would have been even better)? Save your time and money (and stomach).
Rating:
Summary: One star is too much
Review: This is number 11 on my list of ten worst movies. Like Parsifal, the opera that starts at 8:30 p.m. and three hours later, you look at your watch and it's only 8:45 p.m., there is a point at which you think this movie will never end. Though this over-bloated spaghetti western appears to have a lot going for it, especially cast-wise with Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Claudia Cardinale, it turns out to be a 165-minute Parsifallian test of your intestinal fortitude. It starts with Fonda's character leading a band of outlaws on an attack to kill a family of ranchers for no obvious reason. His cold-bloodedness is demonstrated when he shoots a 10-year old boy, who had been hiding during the attack, to prevent him from identifying them later. Your stomach is particularly tested later during one scene where the camera pans low over about ten bodies just blown to bits (and I mean BITS). For over two and a half hours, you keep asking yourself where this story and all its gore are going. It's finally revealed at the bitter end (Are you ready? How's this for an original plot?): a rich guy hired the outlaws to drive out the ranchers to get their land cheap so he could later sell it to the railroad that only he knows is coming to town. When it's finally over, you are still left with one last question: why couldn't the director have done this story in 90 minutes, or less (zero would have been even better)? Save your time and money (and stomach).
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest westerns ever made . . .
Review: Why, oh why, is this not on DVD? The movie is first rate and the soundtrack is the greatest western soundtrack ever composed. Please put this film on DVD - widescreen with stereo sound as a minimum.
Rating:
Summary: Once upon a time in the west
Review: Extremly great music.It is relaxing and entense at the same time.Very subtle and you can always hear a differant note under the main music.Like a song within a song.It is the best I have bought.
Rating:
Summary: cinematic master-piece
Review: A must see. Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda. Currently voted as the number 2 western(of all time) on the international movie data base's website. The first 10 minutes sell it all, so rather than me give away the plot, watch it. Directed by Sergio Leone and composed by Ennio Morricone, it couldn't fail.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF BEST WESTERNS EVER
Review: THIS AND MONTE WALSH ARE MY TWO FAVORITE WESTERNS. TOO BAD NOT ON DVD AND TOO BAD MONTE WALSH IS OUT OF STOCK AND NOT AVAILAVLE. THIS IS ONE OF HENRY FONDA'S BEST ROLES(A MAN YOU LOVE TO HATE AND IS A DEPARTURE FROM HIS PREVIOUS WHITE HAT GOOD GUY).
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