Trouble following the plot


Maybe I'm just stupid but I had no idea what was going on for most of this movie. I wasn't even sure who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. Did anyone else have this problem? I also think about 30 to 40 mins could have been cut without the movie losing anything important.

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Same here. Maybe I need to watch it again. Who were those guys that got hung by Frank towards the end and why did he shove a harmonica in his mouth?

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[deleted]

That was Bronsons brother being hung and Bronson being given the harmonica. A cruel sadistic execution by Frank that provided Harmonica with his motive for revenge.

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LOL, the movie is so slow. How can you not follow the plot, which could have been filmed in 10 minutes?

Sopranos - Breaking Bad - The Wire

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Plot quite obvious, but maybe without a caped superhero flying around many millennials have a problem figuring it out.

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[deleted]

The plot is very straight forward. Harmonica (Bronson) is the good guy who is out to avenge the murder of his brother by Frank (Fonda). He contacts Frank via Wobbles (the fat guy in the laundry shop) and makes an appointment with him. He may have even challenged him to a duel. Frank instead sends 3 of his goons in the duster coats disguised as Cheyenne's men. Harmonica because he's such a badass kills all 3 and sustains a superficial flesh wound.

Meanwhile, Frank and the rest of his men murder McBain and his family and pin the crime on Cheyenne by masquerading as his gang (i.e. wearing the duster coats). We learn later that their motive is so that their boss (Morton the railroad baron) can acquire McBain's property which is the only place with an underground water supply for miles making it very valuable. They are foiled by the fact that they were unaware that McBain had already married Jill in New Orleans and she had the legal right to the property.

Cheyenne escapes from captivity and learns that some men pretending to be him and his gang tried to kill Harmonica and the murdered the McBains. Naturally this makes him mad and he goes looking for answers. Harmonica at the road stop also learns that Frank's men masqueraded as Cheyenne's men and somewhere along the line he also learns that Cheyenne's men supposedly murdered the McBains. Because the 3 men sent to kill him were also masquerading as Cheyenne's men, he puts 2 and 2 together and correctly deduces that it was Frank and his men that killed the Mcabains so he goes there to try to find out more. Cheyenne also goes to the McBain farm to try to find out what reason there was at the farm that would warrant someone framing him for it. He initially thought there may have been hidden loot.

Harmonica uses Jill to make Wobble go and see Frank and Morton so that he can follow him. He eavesdrop on them to learn the rest of their plan and with a bit of digging around he discovers what they really wanted. In the process he is captured but lucky for him Cheyenne had followed him. Frank goes and kidnaps Jill and forces her to auction her property without a reserve in the hopes of getting it cheap. By this time Harmonica and Cheyenne have teamed up and they foil their plan by outbidding Frank's men using Cheyenne's bounty to finance their bid. They had previously agreed to this and had planned to break him out from jail. There's a slight hiccup when Cheyenne is taken to the train to be transported to Yuma. His men mqnaged to break uim out but we learn later that Cheyenne is mortally wounded in the gut.

Frank sees that the spread of the railway brings progress and civilization signalling an end to his old way of life as an outlaw. He tries to change and become a "businessman" like Morton and he figures the easiest way to do this is to takeover Morton's operation. Morton counters by bribing Frank's men to assassinate him. Frank escapes with help from Harmonica who wants to kill Frank himself. At the end Frank realises he's not suited to be a businessman man and wherever he goes, Harmonica will never stop hunting him so he goes and confronts for the climactic showdown where he finally finds out who Harmonica is.


The End

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This is a very well written synopsis of the film. I just rewatched it for the first time in a very long time and instantly fell in love with it, though I had some slight problems with some parts of the plot, but what really struck me was the masterfully crafted cinematography. But I guess it really needs another watch to be fully appreciated. However after having read your synopsis some of the plot points
began to fit even more tightly, which just
made appreciate the film even more, and for that I wholeheartedly thank you.

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Thanks for clarifying the part about the dusters. Since Cheyenne was no angel himself, I didn't understand what sort of relationship he had with Frank and why he suddenly inserted himself into the fracas against him. I should have caught that the dusters were a decoy, but I was watching on TV on couple nights ago and maybe not concentrating as close as I might.
Obviously, that information makes a lot of sense.

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Some of the replies to the OP are rather patronising. It is a long and complex movie with a lot to absorb. It takes more than one viewing to fully appreciate it's many subtleties.

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I wouldn't say anyone is good (per se). Don't think of it that way. It was never really made clear who Harmonica was or what he did. Just that Frank did something really bad that Harmonica can't live with the results from.

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[deleted]

Harmonica does physically intimidate Jill & rip off her bra...i suppose he was just trying to frighten her into telling him about any hidden loot at the ranch, but he was a bit of a brute

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Read this thread.

About halfway down a poster (not me) has the best explanation for it. Essentially to distract Frank's men on the hill outside so they let their guard down.

https://moviechat.org/tt0064116/Once-Upon-a-Time-in-the-West/58c72a175ec57f0478f18b56/Why-does-Harmonica-rip-up-Jills-dress-at-her-farm

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thanks, i saw that & rewatched that scene....

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[deleted]

I think nobody is truly a "good guy" in this movie.

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