Once Upon a Time in the West

I watch movies often. I can't go long without watching a movie. I have no favourite genre, I like them all. In fact a movie has to be really really bad for me not to like. When i am sick, I watch a lot of movies at once. I can't keep track. So in the interests of documenting and reviewing what I watch, here goes. As an added bonus, I intend to watch every movie in the top 250 on IMDB.http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?tt0064116 . As luck would have it, Once Upon a Time in the West (OuaTitW) is on the top 250, at #24 to be precise.

I was bored, there was nothing on the telly. Election night, all regular programming was cancelled and watching the election coverage got very boring. OMG I forgot to actually see who our Prime Minister is! BRB. Well apparently its a draw, nevermind, back to the movie. This movie was seriously the only thing on TV, it got very good reviews in the TV guide, and my interest was piqued. I missed a little at the start while I convinced the family that we should watch it. It was a loooooooooooooooooooooong movie, and on the ABC so no ads. It was almost 3 hours long, with NO ADS.

To start with, nothing much happened, just a bunch of dirty men sitting around waiting for something. One man had fly crawl on his face and he tried getting rid of it using facial muscles and blowing on it, but it wouldn't shift. It was like he was too lazy to swat at it, though eventually he did. The fly flew away near by and the man got out his gun. "He's not going to shoot the fly, is he?" I asked increduously. He didn't, he just caught it in the end of the gun, some mad skillz he had. So this scene went on for ages, no one was talking, no one was doing much of anything. Almost turned the TV off, but something about it captivated me. It was like that the whole movie; slow, deliberate, engaging, not much dialogue. Lots of face shots, scenery shots and unbelievable music to set the mood.It so very hard to explain, it was so captivating, after I got used to the pace. Every scene, long and slow. There was little action, and barely any violence even though an extraordinary amount of people met their end with the aid of a bullet. I didn't know what was going on some of the time, and got the men and the respective gangs a little mixed up. All unwashed, leathery western men kind of look the same. So I really enjoyed the film, and would watch it again and pay much more attention to the details and the dialogue.

*****

Cheyenne: The bad guy? Or is he the good guy?

*****

Frank: The bad guy, he really is, but look at those eyes.

*****

Harmonica: He likes to play the harmonica(duh), who is he really?

Intersting facts

1. Henry Fonda was in his 60s when he played Frank.

2 The three main actors (Pictured) have since all passed away (well Henry Fonda would be 105).

3. The Movie is actually Italian. Called C'era una volta il West.

4. The leading lady, Claudia Cardinale, is very pretty, and busty.

5. Only 11 actors in the movie were credited.

6. Two of the McBain children are siblings in real life.

7. A bit part actor commited suicide in costume, and all the Director was worried about was getting the costume back! (OMG)

Some Quotes:

Morton: Not bad. Congratulations. Tell me, was it necessary that you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them.
Frank: People scare better when they're dying.
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Frank: How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants.

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Harmonica: And Frank?
Snaky: Frank sent us.
Harmonica: Did you bring a horse for me?
Snaky: Well... looks like we're...
[snickers]
Snaky: ...looks like we're shy one horse.
Harmonica: You brought two too many.
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Cheyenne: Harmonica, a town built around a railroad.
[laughs]
Cheyenne: You could make a fortune. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hey, more than that. Thousands of thousands.
Harmonica: They call them "millions."
Cheyenne: "Millions." Hmm.

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Cheyenne: You deserve better.
Jill: The last man who told me that... is buried out there.