Film Analysis - Once Upon a Time in the West

Overview:

For my film analysis I have chosen to analyse Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon a Time in the West'. Released in 1968 and considered by some as the greatest western film ever made. The film is very different from Leone's previous western films A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. In the 'Dollar Trilogy' Leone made the films more quirky and up-beat whereas Once Upon a Time in the West features long, slow scenes with very little dialogue and little happening, broken by brief and sudden violence. A good example of this is the opening to the films. In the 'Dollar Trilogy' films, the opening credits are blasted on the screen by gun fire while up-beat and funky western music is played. Whereas, the opening to Once Upon a Time in the West is a lot slower and dull. It consists of 3 of Franks men waiting at a train station for Harmonica. No music is played at all during the scene and the opening credits are slowly revealed one by one. Leone casts his characters really well in all of his films, and you can definitely see it in this one. He chooses characters with very interesting and distinctive faces making everyone in the film different. He also loves wrinkles on the face. So when filming close ups during intense scenes, he mainly chooses older actors to play his main characters for this reason. When casting Henry Fonda as the role of Frank, Fonda originally rejected the role. So Leone flew to the United States to meet with Fonda and try to persuade him. Fonda asked why he was wanted for the film. Leone replied, "Picture this: the camera shows a gunman from the waist down pulling his gun and shooting a running child. The camera pans up to the gunman's face and...it's Henry Fonda". Until the release of Once Upon a Time in the West, Fonda had only been casted in "good guy" roles. Leone wanted the audience to be shocked with Fonda being the villain.

The Opening:

The first scene I will be analysing is the opening scene. During this scene, 3 of Frank's men are waiting at a train station for Harmonica. Throughout the entirety of the opening scene the 3 cowboys are shown standing in a triangle. A triangle represents evil and danger suggesting to the audience that they are the villains in this story. Whilst they are waiting, Leone uses sound really well to build suspense and tension. These noises are annoying and irritating for the audience creating a sense of unease. You have the screeching of the windmill which goes on for most of the scene. You then have the crackling of the telegram machine, which also annoys one of the cowboys but indicates to the audience that something is coming. A fly then starts crawling over one of the cowboys' faces making a buzzing noise every so often making the audience feel dirty as well, but this also creates a sense of realism as back then everyone would have been unclean and dirty. Leone then uses a Smash Cut to increase the tension. The scene starts off at the quiet train station, where they hear the train in the distance and look over. It then cuts to a low angle of the train and the train noise is amplified making it very loud. This makes the train look powerful and more like a monster than a vehicle.

The train then arrives at the station, the diegetic sound of the engine resting and the steam escaping has been altered in Post Production. It sounds like the heartbeats of the three Gunslingers and the tension in the film begins to increase, suggesting Harmonica is going to get off the train. This is then broken by the sharp screech sound of the sidecar door being opened, this makes the audience jump at the same time as one of the Gunslingers jerks his head around and goes to draw his gun thinking it's Harmonica. This is then all emphasised by the fast pace of editing. ​The train then starts to leave and the sound of steam being released is, again, altered in Post Production. This time though it sounds like a sigh of relief as it mirrors the cowboys feelings as Harmonica hasn't gotten off the train. This sense of relief is then shown again through the actors when their focused and concentrated faces are brightened up with a smile of relief. The cowboys then start walking away and suddenly you hear a Harmonica. At first, the audience thinks this sound is non-diegetic but the train moves revealing Harmonica, playing his Harmonica making it diegetic. The smile of relief on the 3 cowboys fades away and they turn around to confront Harmonica. They have a small conversation which then leads to a dramatic shootout between them. Throughout the entire standoff, a clear border between the characters is visible showing a sense of rivalry and opposition.

The Ending:

The other scene I have chosen to analyse is the ending which consists of a showdown between Harmonica and Frank. Harmonica is wearing light coloured clothes symbolising goodness and purity, whereas, Frank is wearing dark coloured clothes symbolising evil and death. Themes of power, status and dominance is shown in the build up. You have the distance long shots of the standoff suggesting only one man will walk out alive. You then have the use of extreme closes ups of the characters expressions and gaze. For example, as Frank walks over to face Harmonica, he loses his gaze on Harmonica suggesting weakness and a sense of anxiety. Whereas, Harmonica's eyes are glued on Frank the whole time showing his concentration. Leone uses a barrier again to show a rivalry between the two characters, this time though he uses the Franks jacket on the floor.

The tense showdown between the characters comes to a stop when we see the reveal of the blurry figure we have seen multiple times throughout the film. The figure actually is a young Frank, who places a Harmonica in a younger Harmonica's mouth who has his brother on his shoulders tied to a noose. Harmonica then starts to lose his breath causing him to fall over killing his brother. The use of the flashback distracts the audience from the standoff in the present day, as when it cuts back to present day, the audience are shocked by the sudden gun fire. Harmonica is quicker on the gun and shoots Frank who slowly falls to the ground. The use of the flashback, jump cut and Harmonica shooting first could go back to the fact Frank was distracted in the build up. Harmonica then walks over to Frank and a really nice low angle shot is used of Harmonica towering over Frank. This is used to show Harmonica as the more powerful and dominant gunslinger. The themes of revenge and redemption are shown in this scene as Harmonica places his Harmonica in Frank's mouth as he is slowly dying. This suggests that the flashback was also added to foreshadow the outcome of the standoff.