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Select media
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Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
Film details
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Featuring
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Director
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Countries
Italy USA
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Year
1968
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Genre
Western
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Alternative titles
- C'era una volta il west Original
Introduction
“Stunningly summarizing the formal and thematic preoccupations of his early work, Leone created a very personal fresco of surpassing scope and grandeur.”
Richard Corliss, Cinema: A Critical Dictionary, 1980
Sergio Leone brought international renown to Italian spaghetti westerns with his violent ‘Dollars’ trilogy. Written in collaboration with Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, his next film was an epic compendium of borrowed situations from the cowboy films he loved.
Beginning with a bravura, drawn-out prologue in which gunmen await the arrival of the noon train, Once upon a Time is a story of the ruthless advance of the railroad and of the dangerous men, including the mysterious Harmonica (Charles Bronson), caught up in the struggle for power.
Slow, tense showdown sequences are made electrifying by Leone’s distended widescreen compositions and Ennio Morricone’s score, which favours each of the protagonists with their own motif. Henry Fonda plays against type as the rail company’s sadistic gun-for-hire.
No less ambitious, Leone’s 1984 Once upon a Time in America is a decade-spanning gangster film beginning in the Jewish ghettoes of New York.
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Jill McBain
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Frank
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Cheyenne
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Harmonica
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Mr Morton
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Sam, Jill's driver
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Stony
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Snakey
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sheriff of the county
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Brett McBain
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tavern proprietor
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[Wobbles]
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[Frank gunman 2 sent to kill Jill]
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[Timmy McBain]
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[Harmonica as a boy]
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[Knuckles]
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[Frank's lieutenant]
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[Cheyenne man wearing duster]
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[Frank gunman playing poker]
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[Cheyenne man 2]
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[Cheyenne man 3]
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[Flagstone lumber salesman]
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[Maureen McBain]
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[Frank gang member at auction]
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[Frank gang member at auction]
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[Maureen McBain]
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[Frank man at auction]
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[Harmonica's elder brother]
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[first bidder at auction]
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[deputy escorting Cheyenne to station]
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[town official @ Brett McBain's funeral]
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[Frank gang member shot through foot]
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[pipe-smoking Frank gang member]
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[Indian woman at station]
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[Frank gunman 4]
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[construction yard owner]
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[voice of Jill McBain, English version]
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Credits
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Direction:
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Director
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Assistant Director (1st)
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[Assistant Director (2nd)]
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[Script Supervisor]
Production:
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Production Company
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Production Company
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Production Company
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Production Company
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Executive Producer
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Producer
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[Producer]
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Production Manager
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Production Supervisor
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[Administrator]
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[Production Inspector]
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[Production Inspector (2nd)]
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[Production Secretary]
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Studio
Writing:
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Screenplay
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Screenplay
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Dialogue
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Story
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Story
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Story
Photography:
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Director of Photography
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[Camera Operator]
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[Assistant Operator]
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[Gaffer]
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[Key Grip]
Stills:
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[Stills]
Special Effects:
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[Special Effects]
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Special Effects
Editing:
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Editor
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[Assistant Editor]
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[Assistant Editor]
Design:
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Sets/Costumes
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[Assistant Art Director]
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[Set Decorator]
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[Set Decorator]
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[Assistant Set Decorator]
Costumes:
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[Costume Collaborator]
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[Wardrobe]
Make-up:
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Make-up Supervisor
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Make-up
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[Assistant Make-up]
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Hairdresser
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[Assistant Hairdresser]
Music:
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Music composed and conducted
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[Soprano soloist]
Sound:
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Sound Recording
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Sound Recording
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Sound Recording
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Sound Effects
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Sound Effects
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Sound Effects
Consultant:
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[Weapons Master]
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The Greatest Films of All Time 2012
Ranked 78th in the critics’ poll