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Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

ENNIO MORRICONE AND THE SCORING OF “ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST”

On set, Leone relied for atmosphere upon tapes of Ennio Morricone’s main musical themes, which, this time, had all been written, performed and recorded in advance: ‘Everyone acted with the music, followed its rhythm, and suffered with its “aggravating” qualities, which grind the nerves.’

Once Upon a Time in the West – Review by Wim Wenders

I don’t want to see any more Westerns. This one is the very end, the end of a craft. This one is deadly . . . Leone’s film is completely indifferent towards itself. All it shows the unconcerned viewer is the luxury that enabled it to be made

Once upon a Time in the West (1969) – Review by Dave Kehr

In Leone’s hands, capitalism itself becomes a mythic force, as much a part of the landscape (it’s embodied here by the building of a railroad across the desert) as the horses or mountain ranges. In criticizing the myth — in filling in the economic relationships American westerns have skipped over —Leone expands and enriches it, which is what the best criticism does.

Sergio Leone directing the hanging scene of 'Once Upon a Time in the West'

THE MAKING OF ‘ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST’

Sergio Leone’s film Once Upon a Time in the West set out to be the ultimate Western―a celebration of the power of classic Hollywood cinema, a meditation on the making of America and a lament for the decline of one of the most cherished film genres in the form of a “dance of death.”

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