Hot take on "Once Upon a Time in the West"

[Justin Hayward]

It's an hour and a half of story stretched out to 2 hours and forty five minutes of extreme close ups of wrinkly, sweaty, men with suspicious looks.  Tell me I'm wrong.

[Mark Kenfield]

I disagree. I think of it as a cool-as-hell, two hour and forty-five minute Ennio Morricone score, set to extreme close ups of wrinkly, sweaty men with suspicious looks. 

[Max Field]

1 hour ago, Justin Hayward said:

It's an hour and a half of story stretched out to 2 hours and forty five minutes

You can say this about 99% of movies and it's still accurate.

[Webster Colcord]

IMHO, it's got a lot more of a solid and engaging plot than "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", which at times barely makes any sense. Plus he had a higher budget and those shots of the town being built around the train are amazing. Henry Fonda is a great bad guy too, and Jason Robards is in top form.

Also, they're wrinkly, sweaty, and oily. Like leather - they been in that sun a long time.

[Stephen Perera]

On 4/28/2020 at 4:32 AM, Justin Hayward said:

It's an hour and a half of story stretched out to 2 hours and forty five minutes of extreme close ups of wrinkly, sweaty, men with suspicious looks.  Tell me I'm wrong.

I remember watching all of them back in the day and loving it in our hugely wide cinema screen in Gibraltar's Queens Cinema.....

[Ignacio Aguilar]

The most ambitious Western that Leone ever attemped. Better, more expensive than the previous and more complex, with great characters, incredible music score and great themes on America and its pioneers. Great Techniscope photography by Tonino Delli Colli and great Spanish locations and sets built in La Calahorra (Granada), near Almería. 

"The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" is funnier, an opera Western at times and a little campy, but too long, while "For a Few Dollars More" is great in its simplicity, as it was really a starting point for Leone, even though most of his trademarks are already there. Don't forget that "For a Fistful of Dollars" was a remake of "Yojimbo", originally done without the rights, which were settled after the release with Kurosawa. It's a nice little movie, but the others are improved in style, characters, story and production values. 

[charles pappas]