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Summary: Leone's best! A film classic.
Review: This is Leone's best film and one of the best westerns ever made and, well, a film classic. Leone has run with the idea that the western is myth. If it wasn't this way, well, maybe it should have been. Leone is a brilliant story-teller. The cast and crew of this film have augmented his vision tremendously. All production values are top notch.Charles Bronson IS excellent in this film. Jason Robards is his foil. Henry Fonda is downright creepy. This is an excellent remastering. I've never seen this film look so good. The aspect ratio is indeed 2.35:1. In addition to the original mono their is a 5.1 remix. This release is loaded, and I mean loaded, with extras. In Germany only (they are BIG on westerns there), there is a deluxe wood box set with the addition of a harmonica and a CD of Ennio Morricone's most achingly beautiful and remarkable film score. Why this wasn't a US option, who knows. A 20 track CD if the score is available separately. You'll have to track down a harmonica on your own. Others have described the story aspects. I'll just say it's rather reminescent of John Ford reinterpreting Homer with an infusion of Shakepearean pathos. Nah. Let's just say -- this is a great film, a classic.
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Summary: This is a wild west you'll never forget
Review: "Once Upon A Time In The West" is probably the one of the better spaghetti westerns. It's a standard plot of a railroad baron and his out of control henchman (atypicly cast Henry Fonda) trying to buy land cheap by murdering the landowner. But they run into problems when two strangers (quiet harmonica playing Charles Bronson in one of his better roles, and the very chatty Sam Robards). There is a mopre to it than that, and the high light of the movie is the train ride in the middle, it was my favorite sequence. I generally don't like westerns, but this is a good one.
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Summary: PLEASE NOTE - ASPECT RATIO
Review: Dear fans of Once Upon A Time In The West, I spoke to Paramount Home Video and they assured me that this DVD will offer the film in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, as it should be seen. The aspect ratio Amazon.com lists (1.77:1) as of today (10/17/03) IS INCORRECT. I asked Paramount to inform Amazon and fix the error but it is not corrected at the time I am writing this. Really, Paramount has done a great job of releasing films in their original aspect ratio, other than a few titles that came out at the birth of DVD (e.g. Jade) and when they offer both WS and P&S versions. Paramount is sometimes light on supplements, but they deserve kudos for the aspect ratios. It's really Artisan and Warner Brothers that you have to watch out for in terms of aspect ratio. I really don't think Artisan gets it at all - you would think as a film company they would care about the quality of their DVD releases. In my opinion, Artisan hasn't grasped the idea that DVD is not simply an extension of VHS and that DVD has the capability to offer so much more than VHS; they seem to be of the mindset that they are producing DVDs for a renters market, one where the renters of a film are not keeping it and therefore won't care about preserving the integrity of the filmmakers' vision. Now, if we can just get MGM to release A Fistful of Dynamite on DVD, and a proper domestic release of My Name Is Nobody, all of our Leone dreams will be fulfilled. Enjoy Once Upon A Time In The West! If it's not the best film ever, it's certainly the best western in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: as qouted from dvdfile.com
Review: Not a review really, but anyone having concerns about the aspect ratio should read the following from dvdfile.com: "Rounding out today's news are the full specs for Paramount Home Entertainment's highly anticipated new special edition of the Sergio Leone classic Once Upon a Time in the West, due to hit stores on November 18th. NEWLY RESTORED IN 2.35:1 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN and Dolby Digital 5.1" I've personally never known DVDfile.com to be wrong about this sort of thing, so anyone worried
should relax.
Rating:
Summary: Correct aspect ratio!
Review: Don't worry. This DVD is great.It had an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen tv's. At least the region 2 edition is but I'm sure that Paramount wil release an indentically same edition in the USA. The picture is of amazing good quality, as is the 5.1 remastered sound. A complete version also and including a second disc with many extra's.One of the best dvd re-releases of all times!
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Summary: Leone At His Peak
Review: Leone redefined the Western with his Eastwood films, then he re-defined his own retooling with this film. A film that had only a 70 page script has some of the most potent Western images in the history of the genre -- out Fording John Ford's best work. The cast -- no one you would expect to be in a Western -- give the film the dramatic gravitas that would usually be lacking in a film like this. Claudia Cardinale steers this film with her great beauty and pwerful, aggressive performance as the homesteader not to be duped or bullied. Seeing Henry Fonda's stark blue eyes meet out sadistic slayings is a sight to see, and Robards' wily fugitive is comic genius. Bronson fills Eastwood's shoes well, in fact I don't know if Eastwood would have been good for the film, but Harmonica isn't as pivotal as Eastwood's Man With No Name. Sam Raimi poorly ripped the film off in QUICK & THE DEAD, and that's a quick example of the far-reaching influence this film has. John Milius (who does commentary) perhaps best appropriated from this film when he directed CONAN. Too bad Leone never reached this level again, the gangster film that shares much of the same title isn't as sharp and iconic in redesigning the mythos of the ancient West, and the follow-up Western is gem, but an odd and little seen gem. Maybe the unrealized Stalingrad project could have been the rival.
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Summary: A Spectacle of Style
Review: We watched this movie in cinema and i loved it right off the bat. The soundtrack is marvelous and almost makes the movie. A definite classic of all time.
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Summary: This is the way to do it!
Review: I was more than pleasantly surprised with the overall quality of this DVD. I'm not going to say much about the movie: if you haven't seen one of the best movies (and arguably the best in the genre) ever made, you've missed a classic, so go see it. The DVD offers superb image quality. The colors and sharpness are excellent, the image pristine, like it was shot yesterday instead of some 35 years ago. These days too many DVD's contain a simple copy of whatever master the producers happened to have lying around, with faded colors, grain, noise, scratches and everything. This DVD is an example of how it should be done: apparently starting with a good vault copy, the producers have removed dust, scratches and noise, and not just with an automatic filter that blurs all details. The colors have apparently been restored, being very close to what they originally were. Just don't expect too much of the 5.1 surround sound, but there are limites to what remixing can do. The extra's are well worth watching, too, for a change. Normally I'm very much underwhelmed by the shovelware most producers fill up their empty disk space with. The first DVD contains the movie with additional commentaries, the second DVD contains documentaries about the film and the history against which the story is set, and these actually add something worthwhile to the experience of watching and re-watching the movie. A refreshing change after too many DVD's with so-called extra's that consist of a "making of" that's little less than a promo, and a theater trailer. And the extra's are in widescreen format too, something that is also sadly lacking from most other DVDs. Generally the feature movie is in widescreen format, but the extra are invariably either in 4x3 format or, if you're lucky, letterboxed. Heaven knows why... but on this DVD the producers haven't made the same mistake. It's quite good to see a properly mastered and produced DVD for a change. This is the way it should be done! (Oh, and if you haven't seen the movie... really, you've missed something important. Enough said.)
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Summary: 2.35:1 it is!
Review: There seems to be a misconception that the U.S. (region 1) release will be in 1.77:1. This is simply not true. From dvdbreakdown (the first English-language DVD site to post a full review of this release): This long-awaited title is finally to be released as a two-disc collector's set by Paramount, first in early October 2003 for Region 2, and then on November 18, 2003 for Region 1. The only notable difference between the two versions is the absence of the original mono soundtrack on the Region 2 release, which contains only the Dolby Digital 5.1 remix. The Region 2 release served as the basis for this review. The anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx. 2.35:1. For this impatiently awaited DVD release, Paramount has clearly taken every effort to restore Leone's masterpiece, and the result is nothing short of breathtaking. The Techniscope process that was used for this film is notorious for its faded colors and lack of detail in blurred, aging prints. But this new transfer not only boasts rich, vibrant colors, terrific sharpness and impressive detail, it is also absolutely spotless, without a single spot, scratch or blip in the image throughout its extended running time. Astonishingly, film grain is hardly ever visible at all, and blacks are deep, with excellent contrast. Hope this clears things up.
Rating: 
Summary: Is This New DVD in the Original Aspect Ratio?!?!?!
Review: The technical information for this release says the aspect ratio is 1.77:1. If that is the case, I give it 1 (one) star. And no buy. If it is in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, I will buy it and if it is a good transfer give it 5 (five) stars. However, I need to know what the actual ratio of this new DVD is--2.35:1 or (blech) 1.77:1. I once attended a screening of this which turned out to be 16 mm 1.33:1 and I and almost all the audience demanded and got our money back. Amazon would do well to clarify this. They are going to lose a lot of potential customers or have tons of returns if this DVD is 1.77:1. And Paramount will be rightly pilloried for releasing such a misleading con. I'm assuming it is an error and it is 2.35:1, but no purchase until I know for sure. Caveat emptor.
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