# Once Upon a Time in the West film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666 "2018-09-03T01:34:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/21 "2018-09-04T01:16:39Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The reality is inconsequential, what matters is how Henry felt about that little upstart pipsqueak. Sometimes you got to make sure the kid knows who’s boss around here. When Henry Fonda made _Once Upon a Time in the West_ Peter Fonda was doing Roger Corman schlock and TV episodes. _Easy Rider_ was still a year away. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/22 "2018-09-04T01:27:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > With his wife in a Hollywood boutique, Charles Bronson asked the guys to turn up the temperature. They wouldn’t, so he went back to the car while his wife shopped. I can picture him walking back into the store with a loaded .44 magnum… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/23 "2018-09-04T12:36:22Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I can picture him walking back into the store with a loaded .44 magnum… 😛 Or an axe. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/24 "2018-09-04T20:44:31Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > Don’t leave us hanging. What’s the story? I’m no good at telling stories, so here’s a link: [Historical Meet-Ups - Ingmar Bergman Death-obsessed Swedish filmmaker ...](http://historicalmeetups-blog.tumblr.com/post/718067128/ingmar-bergman-death-obsessed-swedish-filmmaker) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/25 "2018-09-04T23:24:49Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > I’m no good at telling stories, so here’s a link: [Historical Meet-Ups - Ingmar Bergman Death-obsessed Swedish filmmaker ...](http://historicalmeetups-blog.tumblr.com/post/718067128/ingmar-bergman-death-obsessed-swedish-filmmaker) Well, I learned a new word there! ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/26 "2018-09-04T23:39:43Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Bronson (birth name Charles Dennis Buchinsky) dug coal as a teenager and served in the Army Air Corps during WWII with distinction before becoming an actor…He didn’t have a lot of range as an actor, and later in his career largely played in formulamatic actioneers, but he had some genuine presence on screen, and was never better than in this film. > > Stranger I would argue that he had more range than most would give him credit for, but little opportunity to display it. A case in point is [**From Noon Till Three**](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074553/?ref_=nv_sr_1) (1976) with almost no (for a Bronson picture) action scenes. Bronson was a lot like John Wayne in his acting persona. He could only really portray _“Charles Bronson”_, but given the chance, _“Charles Bronson”_ had some depth. But Jill Ireland- now _those_ were some shallow waters. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/27 "2018-09-04T23:53:51Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > I would argue that he had more range than most would give him credit for, but little opportunity to display it. A case in point is [**From Noon Till Three**](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074553/?ref_=nv_sr_1) (1976) with almost no (for a Bronson picture) action scenes. > > Bronson was a lot like John Wayne in his acting persona. He could only really portray _“Charles Bronson”_, but given the chance, _“Charles Bronson”_ had some depth. > > But Jill Ireland- now _those_ were some shallow waters. Watch him in _[Breakout](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML7jIPUrrbg)_. It’s not a great movie; a generic action thriller. But Bronson shows he can play a comedic action star as well as a badass one. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/28 "2018-09-04T23:58:35Z")
To perpetuate the digression, Danny the Tunnel King in _The Great Escape_ was close to the edge of Bronson’s range. But, if you criticize him for only playing within a narrow range, you have to concede that Henry Fonda rarely strayed far from Henryfondaesque characters either. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/29 "2018-09-05T00:06:57Z")
It’s true that Bronson could be funny, though his screen opportunities to show it were few. His looks were such that he was never going to be cast too much outside of tough guy roles. I wish he had done more sci-fi. Other than a supporting role in “Master of the World” and co-starring with Elizabeth Montgomery in a Twilight Zone episode, I can’t think of any other sci-fi roles he played. In a perfect world, “The Stars My Destination” would have been brought to the big screen in the early to mid-1970s and Charles Bronson would have played Gully Foyle. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/30 "2018-09-05T00:12:51Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > In a perfect world, “The Stars My Destination” would have been brought to the big screen in the early to mid-1970s and Charles Bronson would have played Gully Foyle. _“Vorga, I kill you filthy!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/31 "2018-09-05T00:41:48Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > _“Vorga, I kill you filthy!”_ If you ever get a chance, watch “[Rider on the Rain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_on_the_Rain).” Bronson, though kind-of-sort-of a good guy, isn’t particularly nice as Dobbs. This, along with some of the other over seas films he did during the period, is why I think he would have made such a great Gully Foyle. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/32 "2018-09-05T01:04:36Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > If you ever get a chance, watch “[Rider on the Rain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_on_the_Rain).” I _saw_ “ **Rider on the Rain** ”!! In the best of all venues for a Bronson flick, a $1.00 theater on Market Street, so it must have been a year or two after its original release. I think I saw it 2 or 3 times (for the younger set, there was a time before streaming, before DVDs, before VCRs, when if you liked a movie, you went and saw it several times. It was likely your only chance.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/33 "2018-09-05T01:06:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > To perpetuate the digression, Danny the Tunnel King in _The Great Escape_ was close to the edge of Bronson’s range. But, if you criticize him for only playing within a narrow range, you have to concede that Henry Fonda rarely strayed far from Henryfondaesque characters either. There was a Western with Jimmy Stewart that was somewhat comic. I believe \*The Grapes of Wrath \*was his best, though I have not seen _Twelve Angry Men_. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/34 "2018-09-05T01:22:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > There was a Western with Jimmy Stewart that was somewhat comic. I believe \*The Grapes of Wrath \*was his best, though I have not seen _Twelve Angry Men_. Jimmy Stewart? Mr. Roberts is a masterpiece also. I think we missed the range he could have had if he wasn’t so typecast. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/35 "2018-09-05T01:35:45Z")
Umm… **[The Lady Eve](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033804/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_102)** anyone? When Preston Sturges directs you, you’ve got automatic comedy cred. Which reminds me- Charles Bronson showed some of his comedy skills in a great action picture- **[Red Sun](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067770/)**. I can’t recommend this film highly enough if you are fan of samurai spaghetti westerns. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/36 "2018-09-05T01:47:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Jimmy Stewart? > > Mr. Roberts is a masterpiece also. I think we missed the range he could have had if he wasn’t so typecast. Henry Fonda made a Western with Jimmy Stewart where Fonda was out of character. One of then had inherited a house of ill repute, [The Cheyenne Social Club.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cheyenne_Social_Club) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666/37 "2018-09-05T02:02:40Z")
_Sometimes a Great Notion_ ? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-film/820666.md?page=1)