Here's a question. If Clint had done this film, would it have been as famous as the Dollar trilogy 45 years later? Because let's face it, this movie is barely a side note these days compared to the Dollar trilogy. While I think this is superior to the first two, Good, Bad and Ugly was the best out of the four. And Eli Wallach's Tuco stole that show.
For me Once Upon a Time in the West is absolute best of the four. And seriously, this is the first time I hear that this movie is "barely a side note these days compared to the Dollar trilogy". I thought that OUATITW is tie with The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Fist two movies aren't on their level.
Btw, on every "Best Movies of the 1960s" list that I had the opportunity to see OUATITW is ranked higher than TGTBTU.
"The trick, William Potter,is not minding that it hurts."
OK. I'm in my mid 40's. Been a western fan since about 1990. All the Eastwood movies, Costner movies, Lonesome Dove/Duval films, Mag-7 and sequels, Young Guns, Gunsmoke TV, Bonanza, Rifleman. You name it, I've seen it at least once. I alway knew this movie existed, but never saw it. Never saw it on the rental shelves, never saw it listed on TV, never saw it in Walmart. Take ALL the rest of those movies, they are EVERYWHERE! They're on TV constantly, Walmart has huge displays at any given time for the various Eastwood westerns, usually in some sort of discount multipack. Same thing goes for John Wayne multipacks. Any discount rack you look at will always have a copy of Mag-7 and a double pack of Young Guns 1&2.
Once Upon a Time in the West, as good as it might be, commercially does not exist anymore. The only reason I caught it was because someone posted it on DailyMotion, illegally no doubt.
This film failed at the American box office, probably because Clint wasn't in it. The Europeans loved it though. A Paris theater showed it for well over 4 years straight. It grew a cult following here in the states and is now on most 'top film lists'. Roger Ebert didn't like the film back in '68, but did a turnabout in later years and began calling it a masterpiece, along with GBU. You're correct in the sense that everybody knows the greatness of GBU and not everybody knows the greatness of "West", but I suspect they will..."someday".
"gonna throw, my raincoat in the river...gonna toss, my umbrella in the sea"...Sammy Turner.
Well, It is definitely a worthy movie. Better than a lot of the more commonly seen stuff. Two Mules For Sister Sara I find unwatchable, but that doesn't really garner that much attention. A highly rated Clint vehicle, Josey Wales is another one I find terribly overrated. The monotone old Indian and babbling Indian woman were amusing for a while, but I found the film long and boring. High Plains Drifter was forgetable, but yet still turns up on TV all the time. Hang'em High was a great. Mag-7 was a masterpiece, I think, along with Tombstone and Unforgiven. Open Range was a really good late entry too.
Deadwood. That is the best Western subject I have ever seen. By far.
Your thoughts on The Wild Bunch (1969) by Sam Peckinpah ?
"The trick, William Potter,is not minding that it hurts."
I saw bits and pieces of it years ago. I had a hard time keeping track of what was going on and lost interest. The Long Riders hit me the same way.
Clint Eastwood refused to be in it, no wonder due to how low Leone thought about him.
He only wanted to hire him to be one of the henchmen, who gets shot at the train station
5 minutes in to the movie.
Leone even tried that stunt on Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach, who also told Leone to F... Off.
The entire point of that was to mess with the audience and make them think they were seeing the main characters when they were, in fact, merely cannon fodder. As it is, the three actors they hired were, at the time, fairly well known.
I don't see how this movie is hard to find either, maybe it is in America. I found the DVD easily enough and got the Blu Ray a couple of years ago, incidentally both this and the Dollars trilogy were all released on that format in 2011 at roughly the same time.
Jesus, this is constantly ranked among the best films made ever. Your comparison is a moot point.
shareWho ever said the first two are not on the same level, 'For afew Dollars More' is a masterpiece, my favorite film of all time, the trinity of the 3 characters, themes of revenge and past are all present in what is in his other films aswell. Praise 'Once upon a time in the West' but not at the sake of the others.
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