After the culmination of his Dollars trilogy, Sergio Leone initially wanted to move away from the Western genre entirely. Thankfully he didn't, as his next movie delivered a sweeping, operatic revenge tale that lived up to the mythical promise of the title. Opening with a classic scene of slow-burning suspense that introduces Charles Bronson's grizzled protagonist, Leone's revisionist Western escalates into a sprawling, three-hour epic that includes all of the director's signature visual flourishes, and another iconic score from Ennio Morricone. Featuring all of the genre archetypes from railroad tycoons to saloons and shootouts, Leone reinvigorates these familiar tropes thanks to some stunning cinematography, gripping set-pieces and several memorable characters, particularly Henry Fonda playing against type as a stone-cold killer. It is no surprise that Quentin Tarantino lists Once Upon a Time in the West as a major influence, given how Leone subverts the conventions of the Western genre throughout the movie, as well as including a number of veiled references to other works. More than just a Spaghetti Western, the movie is an elegiac, revisionist tale that is as intimate as it is epic.
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