Best Westeern ever!

[Robert Muller]

In a today´s Dutch newspaper, Dutch Movie Director Martin Koolhoven declared ¨ One Upon A Time In The West ¨ to be the best western ever.....I agree; not because I am Dutch.....but because it´s the simple truth....even though I know Sergio Leone got many or most of his ideas from a variety of American Western.

[Robert Muller]

Forgot to paste the website address

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/5601/TV-Radio/article/detail/3462845/2013/06/21/De-beste-western-ooit.dhtml?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=

[mike siegel]

Strange. I'd say for an artist there is, there can't be no such thing as a 'BEST' piece of art - only personal favorites.
Nothing wrong if OUATITW is a personal numero uno...

[noodles_leone]

There is a part of objectivity when it comes to rating works of art. It doesn't mean that everybody will agree, but to a certain point, some people will be right to like/dislike a work of art and the other opinion will be wrong.

If someone asserts that OUATITW sucks, they're wrong.
If someone asserts that Joshua Tree rocks, they're wrong.
So there is objectivity somewhere.

[drinkanddestroy]

Why are we so worried about semantics? When someone says a movie is the best ever, he obviously means that is his opinion. Its his favorite..... No, i dont believe there is objectivity in art. But thats just my opinion

[The Well]

... Dutch Movie Director Martin Koolhoven declared ¨ One Upon A Time In The West ¨ to be the best western ever....

its a shame this topic's not being expanding. Not because of the Dutch movie director or anybody else, but because of us; don't we love this film?

To be frank I still cant work out what the hell intrinsic charge is captured inside of this story to make it so enticing; I am suspicion that there is something  hey, more than that, more than a western.

I am tempted to believe that this film is not in fact a western; sure it applies the tools of a western, but the inner message and its depiction could match any kind of a genre.

What makes this film specific is its pace; the story it tells, if expressed in this pace by any other genre would probably fail; this western aspect keeps it up.

All the fortune came together creating a synergy effect of sreenplay, cast, music and Sergio's directory.

When wondering what the hell is radiating thus enticing on this movie performance, it reminds me of an air interview of a guitarist who said that even possesing the same guitar and equipment of his idol he would not generate the same sound, because he believes that the final point is in the fingers that touch the strings...and this may be the case of Sergio in OUATITW - his inner one and only views of what he wanted to tell us.

[cigar joe]

He captured the MYTH of the WEST.

[Huey]

Leone always insisted he was telling "fairy stories" and that is just another term for mythology. The whole western genre from The Great Train Robbery onwards has perpetuated that mythology. Leone made a start and got better at it, finally turning it into true cinematic art and the culmination of that process was this film.

[franksgrandson]

Why do we say this is the best Western ever? more to the point why do many of us say this is the best film ever made without rival? on the face of it yes Leone captured the spirit the myth of the west and not only him as director but the music and the cast, Fonda put his all into this, he had such iconic lines to work with and the same for Bronson this is without doubt Bronson's finest movie no one else could be Harmonica and so it goes for the rest of the cast, I think everyone of note Jack Elm, Woody Strode all of then knew that this was the death of the western as everyone knew it and something magical just clicked.
But then there is the comfortable feeling of a well worn saddle, we all feel this as West name checks all the westerns from the past we love and adore and Leone put it into one movie for us! and lastly there is the personal thing to each of us, I don't know about you lot but so many things in the past? Now and what's to come in my life relate to parts of the movie.
And its this ability so frequent in lyric writers to pen songs that although personal to the writer also touch millions of others that Leone captured as well in the film.

[Novecento]

Because if it were a book, it would barely run a couple of pages in length. Yet as a film it runs close to 3 hours in length and not one minute is wasted.

[Sackett]

While watching Person of Interest, Reese and Fitch came out of a theater from seeing Rashomon.  Reese commented to Fitch that he would have preferred to see OUATITW because it had fewer subtitles.

[Novecento]

Nice reference!

It's funny cos Rashomon was actually styled after Silent films.

[Robert Muller]

Taking this opportunity to correct my previous typing error under Subject, I would like to mention that I just finished watching on TCM/HD the Western ¨Firecreek ¨ with Henry Fonda and James Stewart. I noticed that both OUATITW and Firecreek were made in 1968; that Henry Fonda plays the villain and the resemblance with Frank, specifically with the bearded or unshaven Frank are striking. Question for me, who inspired who?

[drinkanddestroy]

I dont know if anything was inspired by the other, but I believe Firecreek was made first

[stanton]

Firecreek was shot in 1967, which is the year it is normally associated with. And is a lousy film anyway.