Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) by Sergio Leone is a powerful western with a powerful soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. It center Jill McBain, former prostitute turned frontier wife, Cheyenne, a wild west outlaw, and Harmonica, a man who plays music when he should talk and talks when he should play music. Jill has just moved to Sweetwater to find that her husband and his children have been recently gunned down. The people of the nearby town of flagstone initially believe the crime to have been committed by Cheyenne, but it is soon revealed that he was framed by Frank and the railroad tycoon, Morton. Harmonica enters the plot as a man tracking Frank, and teams up with Cheyenne and Jill to bring him to justice.

This conflict, however, is not what this film is about. It has been suggested (specifically to me by Filmmaker and professor Phil Solomon) that this film is about "the end of the west" as a product of feminizing or civilizing. I do not entirely disagree with this idea, and can certainly see some aspects of the film that demonstrate this. A new train to the pacific ocean is a central part of this film, with the land that is Sweetwater set to become a rich town right alongside it. Prior to this town and during the film, the land is overrun with outlaws and bandits. Once the town is built, there will be some semblance of authority in this land, i.e. it will become civilized. This process is also coupled with feminizing due to the correlation with Jill's arrival and her presence during the building of the town. She is there to give water to the men building; we understand from Cheyenne that it would not be distributed without a woman present.

These examples are compelling and I believe are definitely themes of the film. However, I think that Once Upon a Time in the Old West is about the evils of corporate capitalism and the defense of small business enterprise. John Fawell writes about this in his book The Art of Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. One major indicator of this theme, according to Fawell, is the characterization of and the relationship between Morton and Frank. He specifically cites the parallel between money and guns in the scene in which the viewer first meets Morton while he and Frank discuss the McBain job in Morton's Private car. As Frank sits behind Morton's elegant desk he muses. "it's almost like holding a gun...only much more powerful"(Fawell 104). Later in the scene Morton holds up a wad of cash (you know, big 19th century hundred dollar bills) to Frank's gun saying "There are many kinds of weapons, and the only one that can stop that is this"(104).

The connection between money and guns and violence is further strengthened in another scene in Morton's train car later in the film. Morton is being guarded by Frank's guns while Frank is in town hoping to put an end to the McBain business once and for all. Frank has these men their to protect the man that he views as a both a mentor and, less kindly, an avenue for his own success. Morton has begun to grow tired of Frank as he sees him as too rough and reckless to ever take over for him or be seen as a legitimate businessman. Accordingly, Morton buys Frank's guns by paying them to leave him and instead kill Frank. "But money, in the form of bribes, had easily dispatched the guns" (105).

Fawell also has discussed the idea of the film as a defense of small business, although not as explicitly. He discusses the difference between Morton's capitalist enterprise and McBain's, saying "Morton's dream is of his own glory...McBain's dream grows out of love for others" (110). Although this is still capitalist enterprise, McBain is not a railroad tycoon expanding for the sake of money and itself. He is a widower and a father and a newlywed trying to build some security and a legacy for his growing family.

While I can acknowledge it is not a perfect analogy, I believe there is sufficient evidence within the film to paint it as a commentary on the dark sides of capitalism. I have to think that it is not just a product of  the Bernie Sanders campaign or my own personal lens. Perhaps Fawell puts it best when he says "Here the disillusioned Socialist seems to transpose the dream of twentieth century socialism on to the terrain of the old West. The final image o the film depicts a world in which the destructive machinery of capitalism has given way to a respect for workers and their comforts" (110).