History Film / OnceUponATimeInTheWest

** Cheyenne, Frank and Harmonica wield Single Action Army revolvers, though Frank's is solid silver.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: If you did not hate Frank after he gleefully gunned down [[spoiler: the last [[=McBain=]] child]], then you ''will'' loathe him after he [[spoiler: forced Jill to sleep with him in exchange for her life.]]

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The synopsis on the back of the DVD case has a pretty significant spoiler about just what Harmonica's beef with Frank is, saying that he [[spoiler: "remembers how his brother was savagely tortured". Although it doesn't say outright ''who'' did it, it isn't difficult to put two and two together, and on top of that, it gives away one of the film's most shocking scenes]].

* WhammyBid: Jill''s land had been put in auction. The bids were in the hundreds when Harmonica bids $5,000. Instead of paying with money, he brings in Cheyenne, for which a reward in the bid's value had been offered.

* CaptivityHarmonica: Harmonica has one himself, [[spoiler:having received it from Frank when was tied up and forced to hold up his brother from the noose until he couldn't stand anymore.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Cheyenne dies, but Frank and his employer are both dead, and Harmonica has avenged his brother. Jill will go on to become a wealthy widow, and a respected and well-loved member of the Sweetwater railroad town.]]

* FacialDialogue: As Harmonica leaves, Jill asks if he'll ever come back. He looks at her and the smile drops from her face. After a {{beat]}, he replies, "Someday". It's clear to both of them that is a lie.

** "W-who are you?" [[spoiler:Frank]]
** "Go away. Go away. Go away, I don't want you to see me die." [[spoiler:Cheyenne]]

* ICanExplain: Wobbles tries this line together with YouHaveToBelieveMe when it becomes apparent that he unwittingly let Harmonica to Morton's train.

* MailOrderBride: The plot is kicked off when Jill arrives at her new home just hours after everyone there was slaughtered as part of a land grab. Definitely '''not'' played for yuks, since he wanted a mother for his children and she wanted a new life.

* MotivatedByFear: Frank quipping to Mr. Morton, that people are more likely sell the land to them if they're properly scared and that 'people scare better when they're dying.'

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: If you did not hate Frank after he gleefully gunned down [[spoiler: the last McCain child]], then you ''will'' loathe him after he [[spoiler: forced Jill to sleep with him in exchange for her life.]]

** In a DeletedScene, Frank gets a shave at a perfume shop. Creator/HenryFonda sits in the same position he did in ''Film/MyDarlingClementine''. At the end of the film, he wears a similar outfit to the one he wore in ''Film/{{Warlock}}''. The latter film also contains a sequence in which Fonda's character kicks a crippled man off his crutches, as Frank does to Mr. Morton.

It is remembered for its beautiful cinematography, extremely quotable dialogue, and fascinatingly enigmatic characters, as well for its brilliant casting: Creator/ClaudiaCardinale as Jill, the young widow with a past, Creator/HenryFonda as the [[PlayingAgainstType villain]] Frank, Jason Robards as the bandit Cheyenne, and Creator/CharlesBronson as a [[NoNameGiven "man with no name"]] seeking revenge.

It is remembered for its beautiful cinematography, extremely quotable dialogue, and fascinatingly enigmatic characters, as well for its brilliant casting: Creator/CharlesBronson as another [[NoNameGiven "man with no name"]] seeking revenge, Creator/ClaudiaCardinale as Jill, the young, pretty widow with a past, Jason Robards as the bandit Cheyenne, and Creator/HenryFonda as the [[PlayingAgainstType villainous]] Frank, who works for the [[RailroadBaron railroad tycoon]] Mr. Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti).

Harmonica has a personal vendetta against Frank, so he and Cheyenne fight against Frank and his boss, Mr. Morton. They defend Jill's homestead and discover her late husband's plan to make a fortune.

** Jill wears fake eyelashes throughout the movie. Fake eyelashes were invented by Max Factor in the early 1910's.

* BestServedCold: Harmonica has spent most of his life hunting down Frank, who [[spoiler:murdered his brother when they were teenagers. By putting a noose round the brother's neck, and forcing him to stand on Harmonica's shoulders until his legs gave way, no less]].

* BloodlessCarnage: When Cheyenne shoots the man who's guarding Harmonica through the train window, there is no blood on the chair the man was sitting in, despite the fact that he was shot at pointblank range.

* {{Deconstruction}}: This movie definitively deconstructs TheWestern even more than the ''Film/DollarsTrilogy'' did. Sergio Leone filmed much of it in Monument Valley, where the Creator/JohnFord classics were filmed, and the film bears specific allusions to other films such as ''Film/JohnnyGuitar'' and ''Film/{{Shane}}''. Complete with obvious inclusions of typical western stereotypes being used in a very not-typical manner. It says a lot that Leone intended to use the lead actors from ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' as the three thugs whom Harmonica kills in the first ten minutes of the film. (All three of the actors ''liked'' the idea, but it was scrapped when Creator/ClintEastwood wasn't available.)

* DissonantSerenity: Cheyenne goes about his business and doesn't care one iota about the climatic duel, and is just annoyed when the shooting makes him cut himself while shaving. On top of that, [[spoiler:he's secretly dying]].

* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: Done by Harmonica after the climatic final duel.

** Frank shows up as the leader of a gang that has massacred a family, and ends the deed by killing a little boy.

** Mister Morton loathes senseless slaughter, and comes to see Frank as little more than an animal.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Mr. [=McBain=] abuses one of his sons when the lad talks back, and seems to be a domineering man in general, but it's also evident that the man deeply cares for his family, specially for his daughter.
* JustTrainWrong: The train's box cars have four wheels, a rounded roof, and other features more akin to European railroad practice. The passenger cars have a more American appearance, but feature buffer and chain couplers which were not used on US railroads. The locomotive, though fitted with a bell, cowcatcher, and other applications seen on American engines, has a plate frame, whereas American engines have bar frames.

* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: After being kidnapped by Frank, Jill lets him have his way with her in order to save her own life, and even pretends to enjoy it.

* RevealShot: Repeated flashbacks are shown of Harmonica's first meeting with Frank, but it's rather sparse on the details. When we do see the scene in it's entirety, it's horrifying.
* {{Revenge}}: Harmonica is driven entirely by desire for revenge on Frank.

** Leone admitted that the rustling bushes, the silencing of insect sounds, and the fluttering grouse that suggests menace is approaching the farmhouse when the [=McBain=] family is massacred were all taken from ''Film/TheSearchers''. The ending of the film—where Western nomads Harmonica and Cheyenne move on rather than join modern society—also echoes the famous ending.

* WeaponOfChoice: Frank uses a nickel-plated Colt Single Action Army revolver "Cavalry" style (7.5 inch barrel) with black grips.

** [[spoiler: When Frank killed Harmonica's brother, he had the chance to kill Harmonica too. Instead, he left him alive, only for Harmonica to come back for a revenge.]]

* SpiritualAntithesis: It's considerably less cynical than Film/TheDollarsTrilogy and feels more like a ClassicHollywood western than SpagahettiWestern. The depiction of the Wild West has gone from CrapsackWorld to on the verge of civilisation.

%%* ButtMonkey: Wobbles.

''Once Upon a Time in the West'' (in Italian: ''C'era una volta il West'') (1968) is considered Creator/SergioLeone's masterpiece; according to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, it's a prime example of an Epic Western.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Averted, Stony is the last of the three gunmen to be killed in the opening. He even manages to shoot Harmonica as he goes.]]

* WidowedAtTheWedding: Subverted with Jill. The story begins during her WeddingDay party with [=McBain=], but it's revealed they already married in New Orleans the month before.

* AnachronismStew: Jill wears fake eyelashes throughout the movie. Fake eyelashes were invented by Max Factor in the early 1910's.

** The massacre scene in West features young Timmy [=McBain=] out hunting with his father, just as Joey Starrett does in ''Film/{{Shane}}''. The funeral of the McBains is borrowed almost shot-for-shot.

* {{Expy}}: Mr. Morton was based on Senator Jackson [=McCanles=] from ''Film/DuelInTheSun''.

* TheStarscream: Frank to Morton, who he sees as a doddering old fool, and couldn't care less what Morton does unless he's being paid.

* CelibateHero: Unlike Cheyenne and Frank, Harmonica shows no romantic interest in Jill, as he's more task-orientated. She develops feelings for him, but sadly they're not returned.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Frank plans to make Jill his wife. She's repulsed by the idea.

* ShoutOut: Bursting with references both obvious and subtle to classic American Westerns, from ''Film/HighNoon'' and ''Film/{{Shane}}'' to ''Johnny Guitar'' and ''Run of the Arrow''.

* TheSevenWesternPlots: Most of the film plays out as something of a mix of a ''Union Pacific'' and ''Ranch'' story, [[spoiler: but with the revelation that Frank was responsible for the death of Harmonica's brother, on top of all the other murders Frank committed, the film is, ultimately, a ''Revenge'' story.]]

* EvilCounterpart: In many ways, Frank is a {{Foil}} or even a ShadowArchetype to some of the most negative aspects of TheManWithNoName, the protagonist of the ''Film/DollarsTrilogy''. Like him, Frank is a cunning {{Chessmaster}} who watches over his interests and {{greed}}, and both are [[ProfessionalKiller professional killers]] who kill for money. The big difference is that while TheManWithNoName has honor codes that somehow make him likable and a [[invoked]] MagnificentBastard, Frank is a {{sadist}}ic, [[HateSink unlikable]] monster who enjoys his cruelty.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Harmonica is only ever called that by Cheyenne. Frank asks for his real name multiple times, but he gets the names of people he's killed in the past instead.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Frank is a sociopath, Cheyenne a bandit, and Harmonica a ruthless gunslinger.

* ButtMonkey: Wobbles.
* CaptivityHarmonica: Guess who?

* RealityEnsues: Taking on three armed men out in the open, Harmonica was bound to get shot.

* MusicalisInterruptus: Cheyenne's theme pauses several times so he can say a line, and starts up again. [[spoiler:It even stops to allow his dead body to drop to the ground.]]

* ThemeMusicPowerUp: The spooky sound of the hamonica accompanies his raging revenge through the movie, and every time you hear it you know that he'll do something awesome.

%% * GoodColorsEvilColors: Frank always wears dark brown or black. Harmonica always wears light yellow, almost white.

* GoodColorsEvilColors: Frank always wears dark brown or black. Harmonica always wears light yellow, almost white.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the beginning, Mr. [=McBain=] tells his daughter that one day they will be rich and won't have to work any more. Later it is revealed that the whole plot revolves around him buying the land for cheap because he knew that the railway will have to pass it and he will get rich by running a station there. [[RailroadBaron Mr. Morton]] wants to get the land for himself, obviously. Another occurs later when Cheyenne tell Jill she deserves better than her present circumstances; she replies that the last man to tell her that [[spoiler:is buried in her front yard]]

* HateSink: Frank is an utterly despicable ChildHater who has no redeemable or likable traits whatsoever. Years ago, he [[spoiler:killed off Harmonica's brother in probably the most sadistic way possible]], and now he goes and kills off a farming family, including their youngest son. [[RapeAsDrama Then he advances on the widow]]. He is clearly meant to garner much of the viewers' hatred and revulsion as possible.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Jill during her final meeting with both Cheyenne and Harmonica]].

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Harmonica places his harmonica between the lips of a moribund Frank]], a CallBack to the death of [[spoiler: Harmonica's brother, which Frank caused by hanging him from a bell.]]

** When Frank shoots the younger [=McBain=] boy, the camera cuts away to the train with Jill arriving at the station, [[MatchCut merging the sound]] [[SmashCut of the bullet with the train's whistle]].]]