Rediscover one of the best western movies with this superb Once Upon a Time in the West Poster!
- 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.
- FREE STANDARD DELIVERY.
⚠️ Frame not included. ⚠️
Description of this Once Upon a Time in the West Poster
Once Upon a Time in the West (Italian: C’era una volta il West, “Once Upon a Time in the West”) is a 1968 epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati from a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone. It stars Henry Fonda as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit, and Claudia Cardinale as a widowed new-to-the-farm owner. The widescreen cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the acclaimed film score was composed by Ennio Morricone.
After directing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Leone decided to retire from Westerns and produce his own film based on the novel The Hoods, which became Once Upon a Time in America. However, Leone accepted an offer from Paramount Pictures, which offered Henry Fonda and a budget to produce another Western. He recruited Bertolucci and Argento to develop the film’s plot in 1966, researching other Westerns. After Clint Eastwood turned down the offer to play the film’s protagonist, Bronson was offered the role. During production, Leone recruited Donati to rewrite the script due to time constraints.
The director’s original cut was 166 minutes long when it was first 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 to 145 minutes by Paramount and was a financial failure. The film is the first installment in Leone’s Once Upon a Time trilogy, followed by Duck, You Sucker! and Once Upon a Time in America, although the films do not share any characters.
In 2009, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry because of its cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. The film is considered one of the greatest Westerns of all time and one of the greatest films of all time.
The story “Once Upon a Time” takes place in the Old West town of “Flagstone.” A man arrives wearing a harmonica on a rope around his neck—and is therefore nicknamed “Harmonica”—and seeks revenge on the outlaw Frank. Currently, Frank is working as a gunfighter for railroad magnate Morton, who is trying to acquire land belonging to the Brett McBain family. A second outlaw, Cheyenne, is implicated in the resulting murders.
Harmonica kills three men who ambushed her when she arrives at the train station. The mufflers they are wearing trick her into thinking they are Cheyenne’s men. Meanwhile, Frank and his henchmen kill Brett McBain and his three children at their Sweetwater ranch, leaving behind evidence to frame Cheyenne for the murders. A woman named Jill arrives in Flagstone, en route to Sweetwater for what is presumed to be her upcoming wedding to McBain. However, Jill, a former prostitute from New Orleans, had actually married McBain a month earlier and was therefore Sweetwater’s sole heir. It turns out that McBain knew the railroad would one day pass through Sweetwater and planned to build a watering station on his property, subject to a reversion clause that would see McBain relinquish Sweetwater if the station was not built by the time the railroad reached that point. Morton wanted Frank to intimidate McBain, but McBain’s murder and Jill’s inheritance put Morton and Frank at odds. Morton wants to make a deal with Jill, but Frank wants the land for himself.
Cheyenne denies that his men tried to ambush Harmonica, and he is furious when he is accused of murdering the McBains. Harmonica and Cheyenne eventually realize that Frank is behind the ambush and the murders. Harmonica goes to the railroad car, where Morton is confined using crutches due to his spinal tuberculosis. There, he is captured by Frank’s men as he discovers Frank’s connection to Morton. When Frank asks Harmonica’s name, Harmonica replies with the names of men Frank has killed in the past. While Frank is called away, Cheyenne rescues Harmonica, and the two collaborate to help Jill save Sweetwater, using the stored materials to begin construction of a resort.
After a threatening sexual encounter with Frank, Jill is forced to auction off the land while Frank’s henchmen intimidate bidders to keep the purchase price low. Suddenly, Harmonica appears with Cheyenne and offers $5,000—Cheyenne’s head price as a wanted fugitive—and secures the land herself. Meanwhile, Morton has bribed Frank’s own men to kill him, but Harmonica intervenes to save Frank from an ambush on the street. When Jill blames Harmonica for this, he replies that there is a difference between her current actions and her plans for Frank in the future.
Cheyenne eventually escapes and, with his gang, engages in a gunfight with Frank’s remaining men on Morton’s train. Except for Cheyenne, who goes to Sweetwater, everyone is killed, including Morton. When Frank sees the aftermath of the fight, he too goes to Sweetwater, where Harmonica is waiting. Cheyenne arrived earlier, but he stays in the ranch house with Jill. Outside, Harmonica and Frank fight. A flashback reveals that Frank has already hanged Harmonica’s older brother, forcing his younger brother to support him on his shoulders. Just before the gasping boy collapsed under the weight, Frank had put a harmonica in his mouth and told him to “keep your loving brother happy.” In the present, Harmonica soundly defeats Frank, mortally wounding him. As Frank lies dying, he again asks for Harmonica’s identity, and she tells him to place the instrument in Frank’s mouth as he breathes his last.
Harmonica and Cheyenne leave Sweetwater, but Cheyenne collapses and dies from a stomach wound he received in the shootout with Morton. As Harmonica rides off carrying Cheyenne’s body on a horse, Jill serves water to the railroad workers.