Casting iconic blue eyed-boy Henry Fonda as the bad guy, Leone simultaneously pays homage to a fistful of westerns and subverts them. With story credits for Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, both young turks at the time, this is a foundation myth writ large, one of the most imposing Scope films ever made. It’s also a real slow burn: Leone lays it out and bides his time, yet it’s not a minute too long.
As for Morricone’s contribution, never has a harmonica played a more pivotal role in a film’s pacing and impact; the instrument even gives Charles Bronson’s character his name. Morricone composed the score before filming and the actors performed the scenes while listening to the music, which set the film’s stately tempo. Leone even timed his crane shots to synch with the crescendo in the score. Then there’s the famous ten minute opening to the film: the music of creaking windmills, dripping water and buzzing flies.
Community Partner
Sergio Leone
Claudia Cardinale, Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards
Italy/USA
1968
English
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Screenwriter
Sergio Donati, Sergio Leone
Cinematography
Tonino Delli Colli
Editor
Nino Baragli
Original Music
Ennio Morricone
Art Director
Carlo Simi
Also in This Series
Ennio
Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore proves the perfect filmmaker to craft this loving tribute to one of the all-time greats: composer Ennio Morricone (1928-2020).
Image: Courtesy of Music Box Films
A Fistful of Dollars
Morricone's clamorous score -- with its chanting, flamenco guitar, bells and whistling -- encapsulated everything that was exciting and new about Sergio Leone's revolutionary spaghetti western, its brazen cheek and style.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The third and the best of the so-called 'Dollars' trilogy amplifies Leone's baroque style: crane shots, shock cuts and Morricone music all vying for attention as three rogues hunt buried gold in a series of triangular variations.
The Mission
Written by Robert Bolt (Lawrence of Arabia; A Man for All Seasons), The Mission is the story of an C18th Catholic outpost on the lands of the Guarani people, near the Iguazi Falls. Music is a transcendent force here, and Morricone's score is inspired.
