Once Upon A Time In The West

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.

• Director: Sergio Leone
• Genre:Action / Drama / Western
• Runtime:166 minutes

Cast

Henry Fonda : Frank
Claudia Cardinale: Jill McBain
Jason Robards : Cheyenne
Charles Bronson : Harmonica
Gabriele Ferzetti: Morton (railroad baron)

The film describes two conflicts that take place around Flagstone, a fictional town in the American Old West: a land battle related to construction of a railroad, and a mission of vengeance against a cold-blooded killer.

The main storyline revolves around a struggle for Sweetwater, a piece of land near Flagstone containing the region’s only water source. The land was bought by Brett McBain (Wolff), who foresaw that the railroad would have to pass through that area to provide water for the steam engines that power the locomotives. When railroad tycoon Morton (Ferzetti) learns of this, he sends his hired gun Frank (Fonda) to intimidate McBain, and Frank kills McBain and his three children, planting evidence on the scene to frame the bandit Cheyenne (Robards) and his gang. By the time McBain’s new bride Jill (Cardinale) arrives from New Orleans, the family is dead and she is the owner of the land.

Meanwhile, a mysterious harmonica-playing gunman (Bronson), whom Cheyenne later dubs “Harmonica”, pursues Frank. In the film’s opening scene, Harmonica kills three men sent by Frank to kill him, and, in a roadhouse on the way to Sweetwater, he informs Cheyenne that the three gunfighters he killed appeared to be posing as Cheyenne’s men. Sometime later, Harmonica kills two men sent by Frank to kill Jill. Read more