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Title: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Claudia Cardinale | ... | Jill McBain | |
| Henry Fonda | ... | Frank | |
| Jason Robards | ... | Manuel 'Cheyenne' Gutiérrez | |
| Charles Bronson | ... | Harmonica | |
| Gabriele Ferzetti | ... | Morton - Railroad Baron | |
 |
Paolo Stoppa | ... | Sam |
| Woody Strode | ... | Stony - Member of Frank's Gang | |
| Jack Elam | ... | Snaky - Member of Frank's Gang | |
| Keenan Wynn | ... | Sheriff - Auctioneer | |
| Frank Wolff | ... | Brett McBain | |
| Lionel Stander | ... | Barman | |
Story of a young woman, Mrs. McBain, who moves from New Orleans to frontier Utah, on the very edge of the American West. She arrives to find her new husband and family slaughtered, but by whom? The prime suspect, coffee-lover Cheyenne, befriends her and offers to go after the real killer, assassin gang leader Frank, in her honor. He is accompanied by Harmonica, a man already on a quest to get even. Written by DrGoodBeat / edited by statmanjeff
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thank goodness for IMDb !!! I remember over the years that echoing mournful theme song but since I missed this movie on first release I didn't make the connection, and it never played on television because of rights issues and the unusual length for the time.
finally I bought it on DVD and there it was, that theme song that gave me flashbacks big time.
then I finally knew what the interview with Jane Fonda was about where she described her recollections seeing her father Henry in the unusual role as archvillian, and another one with jack Elam about how it took all day to do the scene with the handgun and the fly.
this is a remarkable western, despite some stretches of credibility.
the railroad indeed was the thing that finally opened the west; it was the only way to move millions of tons of goods and tens of thousands of people over the long distances, wagon trains were too dangerous and got off the beaten path too easily and couldn't carry enough provisions. the railroad allowed in a symbiotic relationship, towns to be founded and flourish with mining, cattle herding and farming around them.
and thus the premise of the movie, McBain is going to build a town right in front of the advancing railroad.
the corruption, violence and greed depicted were certainly problems of the day considering the fortunes to be made. no different than today when a big factory is built and the land selected gains 20 times its normal value and those 'in the know' engage in speculation. or oil or mineral resources are discovered on land held by simpletons who mysteriously are murdered in a 'botched' robbery or some such nonsense. it does happen.
the movie is so long I haven't seen it once yet without falling asleep which is not to be taken as a criticism, just that wailful haunting theme song gets to me ..... and it is close to 3 hours long.
at least the good guy, in this case, the good girl wins in the end.
gawd Claudia Cardinale is beautiful and still making films.