Movie Minx

Starring: Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda
Directed by: Sergio Leone

Plot: Epic story of a mysterious stranger with a harmonica who joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.

But is it any good?

As with High Noon, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Once upon a time… but I did. It’s part of a trilogy including The Good, The Bad and The Ugly which is still to come on my ever-shortening list, so I can’t place it in context yet (although I’m a big fan of Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies which are clearly homages to westerns such as this one).

It took me some time to figure out what exactly was going on and who was who in this trigger-happy Spaghetti Western, but once Harmonica’s back story was filled in near the end it packed quite a whallop. The acting is brilliant and focused, the dusty cinematography is amazing and the music (which gives all the main characters their own theme tunes) is both amusing and effective.

I liked it so much I want to see it again already, despite the movie’s 3-hour duration. It may have a meandering pace, but that’s exactly what its storyline about the slow decay of the Old West requires. Recommended.

IMDb’s rating: 8.7/10
My rating: 8.5/10

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!