``Once Upon a Time in the West'' is a tribute to the epic Western film created by three great talents.

“Once Upon a Time in the West” Synopsis

The period of Western exploration was a time when a new wave of civilization was surging through the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Jill, a former high-class prostitute who moved to the West from New Orleans, has her entire family killed by someone and becomes the heir to a vast wasteland. She becomes embroiled in a bloody conflict between a ruthless assassin, the boss of a band of robbers, and a harmonica-playing gunman over a plot of land with enormous value.

Index

• Bertolucci and Argento. Young talent discovered by Leone
• Cinephile style dramatization full of references to American movies
• Actor Henry Fonda plays the role of the ruthless villain Frank.
• Dry realism and strong stylistic beauty

Bertolucci and Argento. Young talent discovered by Leone

" A Fistful of Dollars " (1964), " For a Few Dollars More " (1965), " The Good, the Bad and the Ugly " (1966). After his "Dollars Trilogy" with Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone was thinking of retiring from westerns. Inspired by Harry Gray's semi-autobiographical novel "The Hoods," he wanted to tell a story about Jewish gangsters.

Leone began working on the script as soon as he finished "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," but the project progressed slowly. This was because all the film studios were hesitant to see the man known as the father of the Spaghetti Western suddenly make a gangster movie. In the end, Leone decided to shelve his long-cherished project and turn his attention back to making westerns (about 20 years later, his dream came true with " Once Upon a Time in America " ​​(1984)).

"Once Upon a Time in America" ​​trailer

Leone, who had no desire to create a rehash of the ``Dollar Trilogy,'' decided to bring in new talent to develop the story. One of them is Bernardo Bertolucci. He is a world-famous master who would later win an Academy Award for `` The Last Emperor '' (1987). He made his debut as a film director with The Murder (1962), based on the original story by Pier Paolo Pasolini, and his second film, The Eve of the Revolution (1964), won the Emerging Critics Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Although the film received high praise from critics, it was not a hit at all, and the film was in bad luck at the time. At that time, Bertolucci has a fateful encounter with Leone.

"One day, I went to see ' The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.' It was the first day, and there were about ten people in the audience. Sergio Leone was in the projection room with a technician, and he recognized me. The next day, he called me to ask if I liked it. I told him I liked it a lot, and he asked me why. I told him that I liked the shot of the horse's buttocks. I explained to him that I was the only European director who shot horses not only from the front and side, but also from behind. He was silent for a while, and then he said, 'We should do a movie together.'" (Quoted from an interview with Bernardo Bertolucci*)

The other was Dario Argento, the king of Italian horror, known for " Suspiria " (1977) and " Phenomena " (1985). At the time, he was writing film reviews for newspapers, and he became acquainted with Leone after writing rave reviews for "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For For a Few Dollars More More."

"We talked about a lot of things. He was surprised to learn that I love movies to death...Leone wanted to talk about movies with me, and of course I did too. I couldn't help but enjoy it.'' (Quoted from an interview with Dario Argento*)

Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento. Together with young talents from the Italian film industry, Sergio Leone sets out to create a new Western. That work was ``Once Upon a Time in the West'' (formerly known as ``Western'' when released in theaters).

Cinephile style dramatization full of references to American movies