This superb Once Upon a Time in the West Movie Poster will please all western fans. Discover the world of Sergio Leone!
- Paper Feature:
- 🎨 Canvas: global standard in terms of printing and imitating a “painting canvas” look.
- By default, the poster contains a 4cm white border for framing (frame not included). If you don’t want it, please choose “without white border”.
- ✅ Size: Multiple choices available. ✅
- High UV resistance.
- Color vibrancy maximum, glare-free.
- recycled paper, guaranteeing environmental friendliness.
- Poster packaged carefully and delivered in a protective tube for total protection.
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⚠️ Frame not included. ⚠️
Description of this Once Upon a Time in the West Movie Poster
Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 film directed by Sergio Leone. It is an epic Italian western produced by Paramount Pictures and starring Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, and Jason Robards. The screenplay was written by Leone and Sergio Donati, based on a story conceived by Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Dario Argento. The film was photographed by Tonino Delli Colli and scored by Ennio Morricone. It is the first installment in Leone’s trilogy, which would continue with Giù la testa (1971) and C’era una volta in America (1984).
The director’s original cut ran 165 minutes when the film was released on December 21, 1968. This version was shown in European theaters and was a box-office success. For its U.S. release on May 28, 1969, Once Upon a Time in the West was cut by Paramount to a running time of 145 minutes, earning it a rather negative critical reception and a financial failure. The film is now considered one of the best Westerns ever made.
In 2009, the film was inscribed in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress due to its “cultural, historical, or aesthetic” significance.
Sweetwater, a piece of land near Flagstone (a fictional Western town), contains the region’s only water source and is at the center of a conflict: the land was purchased by Brett McBain, who anticipated that the transcontinental railroad under construction would have to pass through the area to obtain water for steam locomotives. When disabled railroad magnate Morton learned of this, he sent his hitman, Frank, to intimidate the landowner into leaving, but the landowner killed McBain and his three sons, leaving evidence to incriminate the Cheyenne bandit. It appears the land is ownerless until a former prostitute arrives from New Orleans, revealing that she is Jill McBain, Brett’s new wife and owner of the land.
Meanwhile, a mysterious harmonica-playing gunman, later nicknamed “Harmonica” by Cheyenne, is searching for Frank and, after eliminating three men the man had sent to kill him, arrives at an inn on the Sweetwater Road, where he informs Cheyenne that the three gunmen appeared to be posing as his men. As materials are delivered to Sweetwater to build a train station and a small town, Harmonica explains that Jill will lose Sweetwater if the station is not completed before the railroad construction crew reaches that point, and Cheyenne puts his men to work building it.
Meanwhile, Frank rebels against Morton, who wanted to make a deal with Jill. After raping her, Frank forces the woman to auction off the property. He attempts to buy the farm cheaply by intimidating other bidders, but Armonica arrives with Cheyenne and makes a much higher offer, based on the reward of turning Cheyenne over to the authorities. Armonica rejects Frank’s offer to buy the farm for a dollar more than he paid at auction, and his men betray and ambush him, having been paid by Morton to turn against him. But—much to Jill’s outrage—Armonica helps Frank kill them, just to keep the privilege for himself. Morton and Frank’s other men are killed during a confrontation with the Cheyenne gang. Frank then goes to Sweetwater to confront Armonica; Twice, Frank had asked Armonica who she was, but each time, Armonica’s only response had been to mention the names of the men Frank had killed. This time, Armonica said he would only reveal his identity “when he was about to die.” The two prepared for a duel, during which Armonica’s motive for revenge was revealed in an evocative flashback.
When Harmonica was a child, a young Frank, already a cruel bandit, forced him to stand on his adult brother’s shoulders while the latter had the rope around his neck. As the boy struggled to bear his brother’s weight, Frank shoved a harmonica into his mouth. Eventually, the older brother cursed his murderer and hanged himself from the village bell, kicking Harmonica away so he wouldn’t be the cause of his death.
Armonica draws his gun first and shoots Frank. As he dies, the man asks him again who he is: the other puts the harmonica in his mouth. Frank, recognizing him, nods weakly, only to die soon after. Harmonica and Cheyenne bid farewell to Jill, who is overseeing the construction of the station while the railroad crew reaches Sweetwater. Cheyenne collapses, revealing that he was fatally shot during the confrontation with Frank’s gang by Tycoon Morton. The work train arrives, and Jill brings water to the railroad workers, as Cheyenne had suggested, while Harmonica leaves with Cheyenne’s body.