Once Upon a Time in The West

Directors: Sergio Leone
Release Date: 28 May 1969

 

Cast:
Harmonica: Charles Bronson
Frank: Henry Fonda
Jill McBain: Claudia Cardinale
Cheyenne: Jason Robards
Sam: Paolo Stoppa
Morton (railroad baron): Gabriele Ferzetti
Stony – Member of Frank’s Gang: Woody Strode
Snaky – Member of Frank’s Gang: Jack Elam

 

Epic story of a mysterious stranger with a harmonica who joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Leone initially planned to cast Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach as the three hired assassins in the opening scene. Clint didn’t like the idea and refused.
• The first draft of the film’s script was over 400 pages long
• At the end of the movie when Cheyenne is shaving, while Harmonica and Frank are having their shoot-out, he cuts himself at the sound of the gunshots. When Jill tells him that he is a handsome man the cut is gone.
• Killing counter: Harmonica kills 7 men, Frank kills 5 people, Cheyenne kills 3 men
• Composer Ennio Morricone wrote the score before Leone began filming, forcing the movie to conform to the music.
• This was Henry Fonda’s first role as a bad guy. So he went to see director Leone with dark contact lenses and a moustache. Leone wanted the blue eyes and the Fonda babyface.