Claudia Cardinale

 

Claudia Cardinale

 

C'era una volta il West (1968)

 

 

A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.

 

A masterpiece Western that elevates the genre onto a level of pure myth; it is immaculately composed like an opera with leitmotifs for each main protagonist, beautifully photographed in John Ford territory and full of memorable scenes, both humorous and vicious - and Henry Fonda's first appearance in the movie is a genuine shock.

Halliwell***: "Immensely long and convoluted epic Western marking its director's collaboration with an American studio and his desire to make serious statements about something or other. Beautifully made and very violent."

 

Maltin***1/2: "Sergio Leone's follow-up to his "Dollars" trilogy is languid, operatic masterpiece...Fonda (brilliantly cast as one of the coldest villains in screen history). Exciting, funny, and reverent, with now-classic score by Ennio Morricone; not to be missed."

 

Claudia Cardinale

Claudia Cardinale