20 Things You Didn't Know About The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
3. Sergio Leone Wanted The 3 Leads For The Opening To Once Upon A Time In The West
Once Upon A Time In The West has an iconic and impossibly tense opening scene - where 3 unnamed gunmen wait in silence at a train station for the arrival of protagonist Harmonica. Though ultimately played by Woody Strode, Jack Elam and Al Mulock, Leone had originally wanted to reunite The Good, The Bad And The Ugly's 3 leads to play the ill-fated outlaws.
This plan fell through when Eastwood was unavailable, and Leone cast Strode, Elam and Mulock instead. The scene is undoubtedly stronger for it as well, as having such an iconic trio appear in an ostensibly unrelated capacity would have served as a distraction and an obnoxious in-joke.
One of cinema's greatest opening scenes narrowly avoided being a total disaster.