Morton sent Frank to intimidate McBain, but McBain's murder and Jill's inheritance put Morton and Frank at odds. McBain knew the railroad would pass through Sweetwater one day, and he planned to build a watering station on his property, subject to a reverter that McBain would forfeit Sweetwater if the station was not built by the time the railroad reached that point. However, Jill, a New Orleans prostitute, actually married McBain when he was there, thus making her the sole heir to Sweetwater. Meanwhile, Frank and his henchmen kill Brett McBain and his three children at their ranch, which they call 'Sweetwater.' Frank leaves behind evidence to frame Cheyenne for the murders.Ī woman named Jill arrives in Flagstone, en route to Sweetwater, for what is assumed to be her upcoming marriage to McBain. The dusters they wear lead him to believe they are Cheyenne's men.

Harmonica kills three men who ambush him on his arrival at the train station. A second outlaw, Cheyenne, also figures into the story. Second, Frank works as a hired gun for railroad tycoon, Morton, who is trying to acquire certain land owned by the Brett McBain family. The story develops around two plot lines set in the Old West town of 'Flagstone.' First, a man dubbed 'Harmonica' seeks revenge against the outlaw, Frank. In 2009, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'. The film is the first installment in Leone's Once Upon a Time trilogy, followed by Duck, You Sucker! and Once Upon a Time in America, though the films do not share any characters in common. For the US release on, Once Upon a Time in the West was edited down to 145 minutes by Paramount and was a financial flop. This version was shown in European cinemas, and was a box-office success. The original version by the director was 166 minutes when it was first released on 21 December 1968.

During production, Leone recruited Donati to rewrite the script due to concerns over time limitations. After Clint Eastwood turned down an offer to play the movie's protagonist, Bronson was offered the role.

He recruited Bertolucci and Argento to devise the plot of the film in 1966, researching other Western films in the process. However, Leone accepted an offer from Paramount Pictures providing Henry Fonda and a budget to produce another Western. The widescreen cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the acclaimed film score was by Ennio Morricone.Īfter directing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Leone decided to retire from Westerns and aimed to produce his film based on The Hoods, which eventually became Once Upon a Time in America. It stars Henry Fonda, cast against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit, and Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader. Once Upon a Time in the West ( Italian: C'era una volta il West, 'Once upon a time (there was) the West') is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone.

Once upon a time in the weird west