Once Upon a Time in the West (Italian: C'era una volta il West) is a 1968 epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci and Leone. It stars Henry Fonda, cast against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit and Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader. The widescreen cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli and the acclaimed film score was by Ennio Morricone. It is considered one of the greatest Westerns and greatest films of all time.
The original version by the director was 165 minutes when it was first released on December 21, 1968. This version was shown in European cinemas, and was a box-office success. For the U.S. release on May 28, 1969, Once Upon a Time in the West was edited down to 140 minutes by Paramount and was a financial flop.
Dubbing History[]
The film was translated into English by Mickey Knox, who had previously worked on Leone's previous film, The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (1966). Much like most of Sergio Leone's works, it was shot silently, with the actors performing their roles in their native languages. Due to this, all dialogue had to be dubbed in post-production. The English dub was primarily recorded by Italian-based studios NIS Films and C.D.C., with additional dubbing done in the United States. Though the majority of the voice cast in the dub is unknown and up for speculation, it is confirmed that most of the lead actors dubbed their own lines.
Cast[]
| Character | Original Actor | Dub Actor |
|---|---|---|
| Jill McBain | Claudia Cardinale | Joyce Gordon |
| Frank | Henry Fonda | |
| Manuel "Cheyenne" Gutiérrez | Jason Robards | |
| Harmonica | Charles Bronson | |
| Mr. Morton | Gabriele Ferzetti | Bernard Grant |
| Sam | Paolo Stoppa | ¿? |
| Sheriff of Flagstone | Keenan Wynn | |
| Brett McBain | Frank Wolff | |
| The Barman | Lionel Stander | |
| Stony | Woody Strode | not dubbed |
| Snaky | Jack Elam | ¿? |
| Knuckles | Al Mulock | ¿? |
| Vecino | Conrado San Martín | Edward Mannix |
| Wobbles | Marco Zuanelli | ¿? |
| Harmonica's Brother | Claudio Mancini | ¿? |
Additional Voices[]
- Robert Dryden - Cattle Corner Station Agent
- Robert Spafford - Construction Yard Owner
Video Releases[]
| Distributor | Year | Format | Region | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paramount Home Entertainment | 2003 | 
|
1 NTSC |
United States | 
|
| 2011 | 
|
A DVB-T | |||
| 2024 | 
|
Free | |||
| 2025 | |||||
External Links[]
- Once Upon a Time in the West on the Internet Movie Database