I find Westerns to be cheesey in their fake earnestness and highly stylized plainspokenness. This is not true of all Westerns, but more than most. More importantly, I have a hard time, typically, accepting the premise of the film and this dooms it.
Giant. 30 minutes. There is no way that the handsome but rich Rock Hudson would still be single and there’s no way that Elizabeth Taylor would have given up life as a potential ambassador’s wife to go be a rancher’s wife. Why is this film on the AFI list?
Once Upon a Time in the West. Stunning plotted death of the traditional Western. I bought into the crazy vision of a lonely single father, trying to hit it big and provide for his family. I bought into the idea that this guy would go to New Orleans and pick up a whore to be the mother of his kids, after one too many lonely nights in the middle of nowhere without another adult to talk to. I bought into that woman, stuck now in the middle of nowhere and not wanting to go back to her old life without something to show for it, exacting revenge. I bought into Charles Bronson spending his whole life preparing for revenge and Jason Robards getting too old to keep running any more. Every character and their arc in the film was completely plausible and the film itself moves through those arcs with the awareness that it’s nailing the coffin of the traditional overwrought, good guys in white hats, staged barfight, John Wayne ride off into the sunset Westerns. Why isn’t this film on the AFI list?
One Comment
I just finished “Once Upon a Time…”
It has the quality of a metafilm that references so many others, and the self-consciousness and deliberateness that went into so many of its details comes through brilliantly on the whole, whether the audience is aware of them or not. A love of films went into this film. It has the flavor Pulp Fiction had, making gold from turds. Its an homage to all the hokey backlot Westerns that we hate.
I think one possible reason it didn’t make it to the AFI list is that it is basically an Italian film, with some American actors. It was filmed in Europe and just about everyone involved in it was Italian.