Product description

Once Upon a Time in the West -- Special Collector's Edition (2 discs) [1969]

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Binding : DVD
EAN : 5014437834836
Label : Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Manufacturer : Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Publisher : Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Release date : 2003-10-06
Title : Once Upon a Time in the West -- Special Collector's Edition (2 discs) [1969]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 2
Original release date : 1969-06-06
Region code : 2
Running time : 158
Studio : Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Theatrical releaseDate : 1969-08-14
Number of discs : 2

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Sergio Leone had to be persuaded to return to the Western for Once Upon a Time in the West after the success of his "Dollars" trilogy. The result is a masterpiece that expands the vision of the earlier movies in every way. It could as easily have been called The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Blonde as Charles Bronson steps into the No-Name role as the harmonica-playing vengeance seeker, Henry Fonda trashes his Wyatt Earp image as a dead-faced, blue-eyed killer who has sold out to the rapacious railroad; Jason Robards provides humanitarian footnotes as a life-loving but doomed bandit and the astonishingly beautiful Claudia Cardinale shows that all these grown-up little boys are less fit to make a country than one determined widow-mother-whore-angel-everywoman. The opening sequence--Woody Strode, Al Mulock and Jack Elam waiting for a train and bothered by a fly and dripping water--is masterful bravura, homing in on tiny details for a fascinating but eventless length of time before Bronson arrives for the lightning-fast shoot-out. With striking widescreen compositions and epic running time, this picture truly wins points for length and width.

On the DVD: Once Upon a Time in the West on disc is the transfer fans have been waiting for: the longest available version of the film in shimmering widescreen (enhanced for 16:9 TVs) which lends full impact to Leone's long shots of Monument Valley scenery or bustling crowds of activity, but also highlights his ultra-close images as Bronson's beady eyes or Cardinale's luscious pout fill the entire screen. A commentary track is mostly by expert Sir Christopher Frayling, with input from other academics, participants and enthusiasts--it's good on the detail, and Alex Cox winningly points out that one scene bizarrely can't be reconciled with what happens before or after it.

Disc 2 has four featurettes which, taken together, add up to a feature-length documentary on the film, and though overlapping the commentary slightly offer a wealth of further good stuff, plus the elegant Cardinale's undiminished smile. Also included is the trailer, notes on the cast, menu screens with generous selections from Ennio Morricone's score, stills gallery, comparison shots from the film and contemporary snapshots of the locations. --Kim Newman

Customer reviews

review by: Pob75 date: 2008-09-23 rating:

Watch this even if you don't like Westerns
This is close to a perfect film. Sergio Leone at his best, Henry Fonda as a bad guy, Charles Bronson as the "goodie" AND with an Ennio Morricone score. What more could you ask for?
Cinematically stunning with some incredible sequences that Leone was not afraid to linger over, a strong plot and a great script.
A truly fantastic film.

review by: smoothiedudie date: 2008-05-03 rating:

My favourtie Western.
Once Upon A Time in the West is Sergio Leone's masterpiece. Not only does it feature classic Leone figures, the silent gunman (Charles Bronson), the cruel hitman (A suprising turn from Henry Fonda) and the charasmatic rouge (Jason Robard), it is the only Leone film and one of the few westerns to have its central figure be a woman. It also pays homage to many great westerns, in particular High Noon with the films brilliant opening, and is also intellegent, many critics interpreting it as a parable on capitalism. As well as brains, it has muscles though, with terrific set pieces and landscapes, exciting action and, as ever with Leone's films, enough suspense to make you heart skip a beat. The music is also great, and it, like Leone's previous films, makes the audience laugh. Perhaps not the best western ever, but certainly my favourite.

review by: s.vernon date: 2007-12-09 rating:

ONE OF THE GREAT WESTERN FILMS
I can't quite find the words to even come close to describing the pure brilliance of this movie. When this movie was made, the western genre was dominated by the big hollywood studios. The western was taken by these studios and transformed into an opportunity to portray classic superheroes like John Wayne and Burt Lancaster in their fight against all sorts of smalltime crooks and outlaws in smalltime stories and smalltime towns. It was a genuine effort to portray 'Americanism', the American Way, along with a romanticised view of the west as 'Frontier country' where good always triumphed over bad and where the life was hard but honest. It was the American Way.

And then came this film. The title, 'Once Upon A Time In The West' must have seemed to mean nothing more than 'just another western' to the unexpecting viewers at the time. Oh boy were they wrong. With this movie, Sergio Leone singlehandedly redefined the western genre and no American western would ever match the brilliant spirit in which it was made. While the story is basically the same as in any other western, it is the WAY in which it is presented that so clearly distances this western from others. Whereas other westerns are simply stories that are designed to entertain, this movie is an emotional masterpiece that will move your heart. Sergio Leone takes the ordinary western and replaces words with looks, and conversations with feelings and emotions. With his brutal but honest portrayal of the sheer hardness of life and death in those times he thoroughly destroys the old romantic idea of the west as a 'generally-hunky-dory-kind-of-scene with the occasional bad guy and indian' and replaces it with an eerie, dark, hot and dry place where life is cheap and only the strongest will survive.

I cannot adequately convey in words the way in which Sergio Leone deepens and defines the characters by pure means of visual persuasion. It starts with the three gunman in the beginning of the movie, waiting for some reason at a train station for someone or something that obviously is going to be on the next train. No explanation, no conversation; not a word is said. Even the stationmaster is ushered into captivity without a single audible threat. Then comes the waiting... Any other director would have skipped directly to the moment of arrival, but Sergio Leone takes minutes of boredom and translates it into a visual feast, deepening the characters that are portrayed and making them more human, more real to the viewer, while at the same time encompassing us with a deep dark sense of foreboding. This way in which the story is not just augmented but in times completely replaced by the sheer visual drama, is perfected by the absolute fantastic music, directed by Ennio Morricone. Who needs words and explanations when the combined forces of cinematic mastery and heart-tearing music are not just able to carry the story, but pick it up and push it up to such heights of excellence that it has no equal in it's genre?

Another great feat that adds to the power of this movie is the minimalistic way of portrayal of the characters as real, emotional people. Not a single word is said that isn't required for the understanding of the story, yet the characters feel more true than those in movies where whole conversations are added merely to explain their motives. Instead of words, the camera focuses on the characters...so that you can simply read the emotion off their faces. Often no explanation is given other than than a mere facial expression. No superheroes or supercriminals, just real, desire-laden, traumatised, obsessed people that act upon motives inherently understood by the viewer.

All in all this is without a single doubt in my mind the greatest western of all times, and even though Sergio Leone has made many more mindblowing, heart-shattering westerns like this one, like 'A Fistful of Dynamite', 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly', and 'For a Few Dollars More', none could equal 'Once Upon A Time In The West' in sheer magnitude of perfection. Western has never been the same since....

I only wish I'd have been there in 1969 when the movie was new and see it, for the first time with fresh innocent eyes and an unexpecting mind..just like 2001: A Space Odyssey (also of 1969, a year of legends).

A tip for those who have never seen this movie: Bribe, beg, borrow, or steal yourself into possession of a Videobeam and Hifi-audio equipment if you can't find a cinema that is showing this movie. Turn the audio up WAY HIGH (never mind the neighbors) and prepare never to be the same again.........

I (obviously) gave this movie a 10 because no matter how hard I try I can't find anything less than perfect about it.
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review by: date: 2007-12-07 rating:

Leone at his best
Just seen this film again and it gets better every time i see it. The story, the characters, the dialogue, the soundtrack and the cinematography is brilliant. Definately one of if not the best westerns made to date and one of the best films for that matter too.

review by: date: 2007-11-23 rating:

Perfection is hard to find
I love all the Clint Eastwood films with Sergio Leone. But the cast in this film is better then in any of the three Clint films. Henry Fonda is great but it is Charles Bronson who steals this film. From the opening scene, which must be one of the best opening scenes to a western i have ever seen, Charles Bronson oozes presence. Two and a half hours just fly by as we follow the three main protagonists through to the end of this dance of death. Fantastic ending also... much better then most films, never mind westerns.

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