So when I heard that a restored print of Once Upon A Time In The West was to be playing on the Civic’s big screen as part of the 2010 New Zealand International film festival, I couldn’t wait. Unfortunately it looks as though I was the victim of my own anticipation. As much as I wanted to like the film, I left the cinema disappointed. I don’t really know why. I was looking forward to the slow, steady-handed pacing that informs all of Leone’s work, but it just didn’t work for me. Mrs. Popcorn Logic, on the other hand, loved it from start to finish, which baffles me even more than my own discontentment.
The film opens on a deserted train station in the middle of nowhere, as three gunslingers await the train of the man they have been sent to kill. Charles Bronson, in fine form, turns up as the with his harmonica as the Man In White, and, with a few classic one-liners and three shots, swiftly dispatches his welcoming party.
After this great sequence, the film dips as it fills in the back story of the four main characters. Aside from a few interesting moments, the pace never really gets back on track, and Bronson’s final showdown with Henry Fonda’s Man In Black is just anti-climactic after such a long build up.
It’s great to see a western in the cinema, especially on a cold Sunday afternoon in Auckland, and although it’s been cleaned up, the film still retains that grainy quality and looks like it was shot over forty years ago. Although I won’t be rushing to see the film again, I’m glad I gave it a shot on the big screen – I get the impression that I would have liked the film even less if I was watching it at home. Despite my misgivings however, I’d queue up over and over in the rain to see the female lead Claudia Cardinale in action again.
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