Now on 4K UHD with a Blu-ray full of bonus features too, many of the same stories of Once Upon a Time in the West keep coming up no matter when the extras were recorded. The newest intro by Leonard Martin and commentary by the Spaghetti Western Podcast hosts address the same stories as archival behind the scenes features and commentary by historians and filmmaker fans John Carpenter, Alex Cox and John Milius.
They all discuss how Ennio Morricone recorded the music before filming. Henry Fonda asked Eli Wallach about working with Leone and the archival features have a clip of Fonda telling that story in 1975. The opening shootout was supposed to be Lee Van Clef, Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood but Eastwood said no. The shot rising from the station window to reveal the town under construction was monumental. They tried cutting 20 minutes out in the U.S. but it didn’t work.
So take your pick how you want to hear the stories. Co-writer Bernardo Bertolluci and star Claudia Cardinale tell some.
Of course the film looks epic in 4K. So much is in the buildup, so lingering on these shots in heightened detail does Leone justice. Any silhouette behind a cowboy in the sun is striking in 4K. The shadowy interiors looking out onto the bright desert, sometimes even under the train, capture the deep darkness of the old west.
Then don’t get me started on wilderness night. There’s only a few night scenes but they’re glorious.
The lack of grain could be a problem for purists but it doesn’t look digitized like the Cameron collection. The colors and textures are accurate, just sharp and smoothed out.