ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968) – The Making Of A Western Classic

Introduction

When Sergio Leone finished The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) he was done with Westerns. However, Hollywood had other ideas. Leone wanted to adapt the Prohibition-era gangster novel The Hoods. United Artists, who had worked with Leone previously, wanted him to make another Western. They attempted to entice him by offering him the big stars of the day – Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, and Charlton Heston. This did nothing to sway Leone to make what would eventually become Once Upon A Time In The West.

Enter Paramount Pictures. Paramount also wanted Leone to make a Western. Yet, they had something that United Artists did not: Henry Fonda. Fonda just happened to be Leone’s favorite actor. Leone had very much wanted to direct the stage and screen legend. When they proposed Fonda as the star for his next feature, as well as a $5,000,000 budget, Leone quickly accepted the offer.

Origins and Casting

However, things weren’t so cut and dry. Fonda didn’t want to make the movie, so Leone met with him in New York City to attempt to convince him to play the movie’s villain, Frank. After the meeting, Fonda’s interest was piqued. He gave Eli Wallach a call to talk about working with Leone. Wallach, who had worked with Leone on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly urged him to take the part saying “You will have the time of your life.” That was enough for Fonda, who then agreed to the role.

Leone had the idea to cast all three of the leads (Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef) from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in cameos at the beginning of the movie. They were to play the hired guns that are killed by the character “Harmonica” at the start of the movie. Eastwood wasn’t interested. Leone then offered him the role of Harmonica but Eastwood wasn’t interested in that role either because he didn’t want to make another Spaghetti Western.

Rounding Out The Cast

Eventually, that role would go to Charles Bronson. Bronson had previously turned down roles in the “Dollars Trilogy.” This included Eastwood’s role in A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Lee Van Cleef’s role in For a Few Dollars More (1965), and a starring role in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Kirk Douglas, who had been mentioned by United Artists in their pitch to Leone, was very interested in playing the part of Cheyenne. However, he was unsuccessful, as Jason Robards was cast instead.

Leone had wanted one of his favorite actors, Robert Ryan, to appear in the movie. However, Ryan turned it down to work with Sam Peckinpah in The Wild Bunch (1969). The role of Jill McBain was originally slated for Sophia Loren. Her husband, Carlo Ponti, was willing to provide substantial financial backing if she was cast in the movie.

However, Leone decided to cast Claudia Cardinale in the role. Cardinale was a close personal friend of Leone’s. Ultimately, the director decided not to cast Loren because he feared that she would cause trouble on the set. This was given her famously headstrong and temperamental personality, which had been well documented.

Script

Leone enlisted Italian cinema legends Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci to help him construct the story, and develop the script. Leone wanted Once Upon A Time In The West to contain homages to classic Westerns.

Some of the examples of this in the movie include the auction scene. This was a reference to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1961). Also, the gunfight scene at the end was a tribute to The Last Sunset (1961). Other movies that were referenced included Shane, High Noon, and The Iron Horse.

One of the aspects that was new to Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns was the inclusion of a strong female lead. Director and friend Bernardo Bertolucci had suggested the character of Jill McBain. Leone, at a point in the film, wanted to reveal that she did not wear underwear. Eventually, this idea was dropped from the shooting script.

Argento, Bertolucci, and Leone had spent the better part of the year watching old Westerns and devising the script. Said script would come in at a gargantuan 436 pages. The script was then trimmed down to a more suitable length. The goal of all parties involved was to make a movie under three hours in length.

While filming, writer/actor Mickey Knox rewrote much of the dialogue. This was done in coordination with Leone. Knox, who was an actor by trade, was blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy era/ He moved to Europe to work as a translator for French and Italian movies. This was in addition to his acting.

Filming

Like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, this movie utilized the use of Techniscope. This was done for two reasons. The first was the cost in savings from the in-camera negative. Secondly, was the ability to derive the 2.35:1 aspect ratio while shooting with spherical lenses. This avoided the distortion created by anamorphic lenses during certain camera moves, as well as extreme close-ups.

The film’s interiors were shot in Rome at the legendary Cinecitta Studios. The majority of the exteriors were filmed in Spain, in Almeria and Granada. The films involving the Sweetwater Ranch were primarily shot in the Tabernas Desert.

“In Almera, Sergio even had two kilometres of railway built and arranged for the locomotive and wagons to be transported to the canyon on the location. When he had made up his mind about something like that, it was impossible to change it.”

– Cinematographer Tonio Delli Colli

There was also some additional shooting that was done in the United States, a first for a Leone film. Monument Valley was used as the backdrop for some of Jill’s journey to Sweetwater. Also, Harmonica’s “origin story” flashback was filmed 15 miles north, in the remote Utah landscape.

Tragedy

While on location in Spain, Al Mulock, who played one of the three gunmen in the opening sequence, ended his life by jumping from his hotel window in full costume after a day’s shooting. While Claudio Mancini was desperate to get Mulock to a nearby hospital, Leone was more concerned about the costume the actor was wearing. This could be salvaged and reused by another actor later in the picture.

To make himself appear more villainous, Henry Fonda showed up to the set with a freshly grown beard, as well as wearing brown contact lenses. Leone had wanted him clean-shaven and with his real blue eyes. The director wanted the audience to recognize Fonda, who had never before played a villain.

“Picture this: the camera shows a gunman from the waist down pulling his gun and shooting a running child. The camera pans up to the gunman’s face and…it’s Henry Fonda”

– Sergio Leone

Score

Legendary composer Ennio Morricone began to compose the score from the script before the beginning of production. This is even though the script was drastically changed from the version Morricone was using and most of his music was integrated into the movie. One instance where that was not the case was the opening sequence where no music was used, with sound effects taking its place.

Release and Reception

Once Upon A Time In The West was released in Europe with a 166-minute cut. It was a huge hit in Germany, where it remains the third highest-grossing movie of all time (13 million tickets sold), adjusted for inflation. In France, the film is seventh all time (14.8 million tickets sold). The film was so popular in France that it played continuously in theatres for over 2 years.

Once Upon A Time In The West fared less well in the United States, where its run-time was cut to 145 minutes. The film had a disappointing box office of only $2.1 million on its $5 million production cost.

Critically, Once Upon A Time In The West did okay, with typical reviews giving it an average score. As the years have passed, the film has grown in stature with the critics.  The film is frequently placed in the top 100 on people’s “Best of” movie lists. This includes publications such as Time and Empire magazines.

Filmmakers including George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino all cite it as being a huge influence on their work as directors.

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