Once Upon a Time in the West

(C’era una volta il West, Sergio Leone, Italy/US 1968, 165 min., 35mm)

Morricone×2. Ennio Morricone composed and recorded his leitmotifs for the four main characters so that Sergio Leone could play them on set while filming to inspire the actors (Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson). So distinctive and expressive are these musical themes that a character does not even need to be on screen for the audience to feel their presence. A eulogy for the end of the West—and of the western—the film was shot in the seldom-used Techniscope format to take advantage of superior lenses and their deep focus to capture the never-ending landscapes of Monument Valley.