As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.
Direction
Leone's extreme close-ups turn staring contests into warfare.
Score
Ennio Morricone wrote the music before filming. Leone played it on set.
Cinematography
Every frame could hang in a museum of American desolation.
Director
Sergio Leone
Claudia Cardinale
Jill
Henry Fonda
Frank
Jason Robards
'Cheyenne'
Charles Bronson
'Harmonica'
Gabriele Ferzetti
Morton
Paolo Stoppa
Sam
Woody Strode
Frank's Gunman
Jack Elam
Frank's Gunman
Keenan Wynn
Sheriff
Frank Wolff
Brett McBain
Lionel Stander
Innkeeper
Frank Braña
Frank's Gunman (uncredited)
Claudio Mancini
Hanged Man (uncredited)
Al Mulock
Frank's Gunman (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Leone wanted the actors to hear the score during filming so their movements would match the music's rhythm.
This was Leone's love letter to and funeral for the American Western—he killed the genre he adored by exposing its brutality.
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