Once Upon a Time in the West

Synopsis: Story of a young woman, Mrs. McBain, who moves from New Orleans to frontier Utah, on the very edge of the American West. She arrives to find her new husband and family slaughtered, but by whom? The prime suspect, coffee-lover Cheyenne, befriends her and offers to go after the real killer, assassin gang leader Frank, in her honor. He is accompanied by Harmonica, a man already on a quest to get even.
Genre: Western
Director(s): Sergio Leone
Production: Paramount Pictures
  4 wins & 5 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.5
Metacritic:
80
Rotten Tomatoes:
98%
PG-13
Year:
1968
164 min
13,519 Views


Hey!

If you want any tickets,

you'll have to go round

to the front of...

Oh, well, I suppose it'll be alright.

What the hell am I doing around here?

They walk in here and...

Ch-ch-ch-ch!

Let's see. I hope I got...

Three?

That'll be seven dollars...

...and 50 cents.

Shh.

No.

Frank?

Frank sent us.

Did you bring a horse for me?

Well, looks like we're...

Looks like we're shy of one horse.

You brought two too many.

Hey, Pa!

Look!

That's enough for now.

It's getting late. Come on home.

Boo!

Timmy.

Maureen, look.

Hmm.

Ah!

What you doing there?

Go inside, quick, and get washed.

And don't touch the apple pie

or the roast.

Patrick's already left

for the station, huh?

He's getting ready, Pa.

- Damn it, Patrick!

- Coming, Pa.

Ah.

Not bad, I'd say.

Bigger, them slices. What the hell?

We're throwing a party, ain't we?

But these are

the same slices as usual.

Hmm.

Yeah, sure.

As usual.

Maureen.

Soon, you can cut the bread in slices

as big as a door if you want to.

You'll have beautiful new clothes

and you won't have to work no more.

We're going to get rich, Pa?

Who knows?

Patrick!

Wait a minute!

Look at the filth on your boots.

Clean 'em.

The train'll come in and there

won't be no one to meet your mother.

Our mother died six years ago.

Go now, or you'll really be late.

Just a minute. Listen, Pa.

How will I recognise her?

You can't make no mistake, Patrick.

She's young and er...

she's pretty and... she's a lady.

Er...

''For travelling,

I'll be wearing a black dress

and the same straw hat

that I was wearing when we met.''

I'm gonna get

some fresh water from the well.

? Oh, Danny boy

? The pipes, the pipes are calling

? And down the mountain side

? The summer's gone

? And all the roses fall...

Maureen!

What are we gonna do with this one,

Frank?

Now that you've called me by name...

- I saw some fine stock down south.

- That so?

And the prices are good.

- These your valises, ma'am?

- Yes.

- Come, Sarah.

- Bring them other two.

We'll tote 'em for you, ma'am.

Is that true?

The sawmill needs hands?

- Was yesterday.

- Why didn't you tell your brother?

- Hiya, Gramps.

- Hiya, Bill. We're back again.

Come on. Get a move on, will you?

Ha! Ha!

Get the lead out of your asses,

you redskin warriors.

I got a whole train to unload.

Alright,

chuck down those feed sacks first.

Come on! Come on!

What's the name

of the place you wanted to go?

Sweetwater.

Hmm?

Brett McBain's farm.

McBain? Yeah, sure.

That stubborn red-headed Irishman,

tilling sand for years

out in the middle of nowhere.

Sweetwater! Only a loony like him

could call that stinking piece

of desert Sweetwater.

Sweetwater!

A little more to the right.

Higher. Higher.

Hold it there.

Here they are.

Even got here with their damn rails.

They caught up with us again,

eh, Lafayette? Let's go!

Slow down.

What's the matter with you?

Watch out down there!

Slow down!

Whoa!

Why are we stopping?

I told you I was in a hurry.

Don't the train stop?

What can I do for you, ma'am?

I would like some water,

if it's no trouble.

Water? That word is poison

around these parts

ever since the days

of the great flood.

- You mean you never wash?

- We sure do!

I'd like to use the same facilities

you people do.

You sure can. Just happen

to have a full tub at the back.

You're lucky. Only three people

have used it this morning.

Used it one at a time

or all together?

I can tell

you're accustomed to fine living.

Bet you come from

one of those big eastern cities.

- New Orleans.

- New Orleans!

- You've been there?

- No.

But I got a cousin down there.

She runs a bar.

You know, she...

Jug.

Do you only know how to play

or do you know how to shoot?

Do you know

how to blow music from that?

Pick it up.

You!

You don't know how to play.

Try this one.

Take it.

Go on.

Here.

Bravo.

Hmm.

Cheyenne.

We thought we'd never make it.

It's alright. You're right on time.

To bury my escort.

If I'd waited for you,

I'd be in jail by now.

Hey.

The gun.

You interested in fashions,

Harmonica?

I saw three of these dusters

a short time ago.

They were waiting for a train.

Inside the dusters,

there were three men.

So?

Inside the men,

there were three bullets.

That's a crazy story, Harmonica.

For two reasons.

One, nobody around these parts

got the guts to wear those dusters

except Cheyenne's men.

Two, Cheyenne's men,

don't get killed.

That surprise you?

Yeah.

Well, you know music.

And you can count.

All the way up to two.

All the way up to six, if I have to.

And maybe faster than you.

Yeah, go on.

Play, Harmonica.

Play, so you can't bullshit.

Only, watch those false notes.

Like so?

Hmm.

This cousin of mine keeps writing me

to come down to New Orleans.

''Come on down. Help me with the bar.

Make a pile of money.''

I don't think

I'd get along in a big city.

It's too full

of fast men and loose women.

Begging your pardon, ma'am. Ah, no.

Now, I'm too used to

a quiet simple country life.

He's Timmy.

Yes.

Dear God.

On the day...

On the very day of your wedding.

Poor little miss.

Mrs.

Mrs McBain.

But we all... We thought...

I know.

It was to be a surprise today.

Brett McBain and I were married.

A month ago.

In New Orleans.

I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believeth in me, though

he were dead, yet shall he live.

Whosoever liveth and believeth in me

shall never die. Amen.

- Mr Bennett!

- What's he doing here?

I found this collar

on a nail by the door.

You got no way of knowing,

but this is as good as a signature.

Cheyenne's hand.

- But why?

- Don't worry, Mrs McBain.

We'll make 'em tell us

before we hang 'em.

Let's get moving.

Come on.

Let's go back to Flagstone.

No, Sam.

You go back.

You don't want

to stay out here alone.

Huh. Why not?

This is my home.

You know, Wobbles...

...I'm kinda mad at you.

Frank wasn't there.

- Ow!

- He sent three friends.

I don't know nothing, I swear.

I only arranged the meeting

the way... the way you wanted it.

I don't know why Frank wasn't there.

- I swear to you that I...

- Cos he was at the McBains'.

That's not true.

Cheyenne did that job.

Everyone knows that. We got proof.

That was always one

of Frank's tricks. Faking evidence.

I don't know.

I swear.

I only arranged the meeting. I swear.

I don't know nothing.

Who's there?

Did you make coffee?

Make it.

Didn't sleep a wink.

A pack of turds dressed in black

rode herd on me the whole damn night.

Yeah, but I left them

in the middle of the desert.

If they're lucky, they'll be home

in three days.

I'll do it. You fetch the coffee.

They want to hang me,

the big black crows.

Idiots.

What the hell?

I'll kill anything, but never a kid.

Be like killing a priest.

A Catholic priest, that is.

Yeah, the world is full of people

who hate Cheyenne.

See, I ain't

the mean bastard people make out.

Of course, if somebody

had a mind to kill me...

...it fires me up.

Rate this script:4.0 / 2 votes

Sergio Donati

Sergio Donati (born 13 April 1933) is an Italian screenwriter. He has written for more than 70 films since 1952. He was born in Rome, Italy. He started as a writer and had some of his books optioned for film. He is well known for his collaboration with Italian director Sergio Leone, who encouraged him to take up screenwriting as a full-time career, and with Italian producer Dino de Laurentis. What is film? In the first act, you hang a man up in a tree. In the second act, you throw stones at him. In the third act, he falls down. If he is alive, it is a comedy. If he is dead, it is a drama. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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