Once Upon A Time In The West

I spoke to Paramount Home Video and they assured me that this DVD will offer the film in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, as it should be seen. The aspect ratio Amazon.com lists (1.77:1) as of today (10/17/03) IS INCORRECT. I asked Paramount to inform Amazon and fix the error but it is not corrected at the time I am writing this.

Really, Paramount has done a great job of releasing films in their original aspect ratio, other than a few titles that came out at the birth of DVD (e.g. Jade) and when they offer both WS and P&S versions. Paramount is sometimes light on supplements, but they deserve kudos for the aspect ratios. It's really Artisan and Warner Brothers that you have to watch out for in terms of aspect ratio. I really don't think Artisan gets it at all - you would think as a film company they would care about the quality of their DVD releases. In my opinion, Artisan hasn't grasped the idea that DVD is not simply an extension of VHS and that DVD has the capability to offer so much more than VHS; they seem to be of the mindset that they are producing DVDs for a renters market, one where the renters of a film are not keeping it and therefore won't care about preserving the integrity of the filmmakers' vision.

Now, if we can just get MGM to release A Fistful of Dynamite on DVD, and a proper domestic release of My Name Is Nobody, all of our Leone dreams will be fulfilled.

Enjoy Once Upon A Time In The West! If it's not the best film ever, it's certainly the best western in my opinion.


"It doesn't get any better than this"   January 2, 2004
different drummer 63 (Lawrence, KS, USA)
93 out of 98 found this review helpful

My title is a cliche but in this case it's the only phrase to use. The version of this movie available now, with its extra disc full of great bonus material, is an example of how to bring DVD format to its highest potential. First of course there's the movie, and its director Sergio Leone. Every Leone movie I've seen--Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good Bad and Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America--is wonderful, but this tops them all. Imagine the year 1969: what a great time to be a western film lover. You had this, and Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch in the same year. Incredible. Anyway, it's impossible to list all the great scenes, so I'll stick with the first. If you love the credit sequence you'll love the movie; it's not for everybody, however. So those credits, mostly silent except for a windmill creaking, which Leone somehow makes sinister, and one of the minimal details he uses to establish authentic mood, are the litmus test. You'll either love the movie or hate it. The scene is built on a genius contradiction: it's so tense that you want it to end, but it's so beautifully done, so built on image and gesture and glance, that you also hope it never ends. The whole movie is that delicious. And the cast--wow. Everyone is at top form, but check out Henry Fonda as the leanest meanest bastard imaginable, but also someone you can't avoid enjoying because it is the GREAT Mr. Fonda, with Leone getting maximum mileage out of close ups of Fonda's ice-blue eyes, as unforgiving as a western sky, generally acting like the amiable stalwart figure he always plays, until he shoots little kids and fat lackeys whom he doesn't trust because they wear both suspenders and belts: and as Fonda says, how can you trust a man who can't even trust his own pants? As the heroine, Claudia Cardinale isn't just gorgeous she's luscious, lust-us. And tough. Watch for the scene where she looks at herself in the mirror when she's all alone in her house. whose previous residents, her family, have been killed by Fonda and his thugs. Charles Bronson--what an underrated actor. Dangerous yet entirely sympathetic here. He finds wit in his role, knows exactly what the unique Leone's up to and gets in sync with the vision. Jason Robards is incapable of giving a performance less than brilliant, and this is another highlight in the film. As Cheyenne he is funny and tough and smart, maybe the most complex performance in the movie. There's so much more, too--the finest Ennio Morricone soundtrack, killer dialogue, extraordinary cinematography. This DVD is put together so well it's even a pleasure to look at the menus--you'll see what I mean. And all this for under FIFTEEN U.S. DOLLARS. What are you waiting for?


One of the very finest Westerns ever made   June 5, 2003
Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
64 out of 67 found this review helpful

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is arguably Sergio Leone's greatest Western, although Clint Eastwood's three films with him remain among my favorites. Actually, Leone had hoped to have Eastwood in this film as Harmonica, but they were unable to work things out. As it is, I think having Charles Bronson in the role is more effective. It was central to Eastwood's persona in those three films that he be both a man with no name and with no past, but Harmonica's character is entirely driven by the past and his need for revenge.

The beginning of this film are among my favorite in the history of film. Leone is arguably the most patient director in the history of film, and is willing to take fifteen minutes for something another director would be loathe to take two. The two great instances of Leone's patience are the scene in the uncut version of ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, where he allows a phone to ring thirty or forty times, and here at the beginning, where he takes fourteen minutes to show three men waiting to men a train.

As a whole, this is a far more ambitious project than Leone's other Westerns. The plot is a bit more epic, the sweep of the film a bit grander, the relations between the characters more complex. Like most of his other films, it was filmed primarily in Europe, but unlike the others, a couple of scenes were actually shot in the United States, in particular in Monument Valley, the signature area of John Ford, the director most associated with Westerns. He handles characters a bit differently in this than in his earlier films. For instance, Leone ties a musical theme to each of the major characters in the film, much as did Prokofiev with "Peter and the Wolf."

One aspect of the film that is simultaneously a strength and a weakness is the casting. Leone here works with a group of performers he had not worked with before. A couple of the performers are simply brilliant. Charles Bronson was brilliant, and his tiny, piercing blue eyes lend an eerie intensity to many of his screen moments. The casting of the equally blue-eyed Henry Fonda as a sadistic villain was a stroke of genius, and he manages to produce one of his most memorable roles. I have, however, trouble with the other two major performers. Claudia Cardinale was certainly beautiful, but she simply does not bring as much to her role that many other actresses would have. Women do not feature prominently in Leone's films, and that might be because he simply didn't relate to women as well as men. At any rate, I think the movie would have been greatly improved with someone else in her role. I had similar problems with Jason Robards. He just did not radiate the aura of danger that his character was supposed to, and the musical theme that was tied to his character sounded somewhat clownish. I found him to be the most poorly conceived and executed character in the film.

Despite these two cavils, this is an incredible movie, and is by far one of the most thoughtful, unique Westerns ever made. The ending is perhaps the finest of his many Westerns, as well as one of the most surprising. It easily goes on any list of the greatest Westerns in the history of film.


one of the greatest westerns of all time   June 23, 2003
Kimberley Wilson (VA USA)
39 out of 46 found this review helpful

I was going to say that this is the greatest of the spaghetti westerns but truthfully, this movie is bigger than that. Every single thing about is incredible. The theme, the filming and the music is almost operatic. The casting of Henry Fonda as one of the most vicious villains ever seen in a movie was brilliant. Fonda tears into the role. Claudia Cardinale never looked as gorgeous again and Jason Robards, as the movie's wise man takes what could've been just a supporting character and makes him a hero. Finally, there's Charles Bronson, playing a man with no name, a man with only one thing to live for. When the camera leans in for a close up of Bronson's eyes they are cold, empty and seemingly dead. The only time he allows them to light up is when he looks at Claudia and when he and Fonda finally have their little chat. Every time I watch this film I see something that I never noticed before. It's great.


Is This New DVD in the Original Aspect Ratio?!?!?!   September 25, 2003
31 out of 71 found this review helpful

The technical information for this release says the aspect ratio is 1.77:1. If that is the case, I give it 1 (one) star. And no buy.

If it is in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, I will buy it and if it is a good transfer give it 5 (five) stars. However, I need to know what the actual ratio of this new DVD is--2.35:1 or (blech) 1.77:1.

I once attended a screening of this which turned out to be 16 mm 1.33:1 and I and almost all the audience demanded and got our money back.

Amazon would do well to clarify this. They are going to lose a lot of potential customers or have tons of returns if this DVD is 1.77:1. And Paramount will be rightly pilloried for releasing such a misleading con.

I'm assuming it is an error and it is 2.35:1, but no purchase until I know for sure.

Caveat emptor.