Once Upon A Time In The West: The Original Soundtrack Recording

"Once Upon a Time in the West" was a brilliant movie. From the insanely haunting title track to the soft beauty of "A Dimly Lit Room", this soundtrack will touch you. Listen to "Death Rattle" and you'll imagine yourself standing in the middle of the desert with the hot sun beating down on you - waiting for something bad to happen. Your mind will play tricks on you. Is that... is that a mirage off in the distance or.. are they coming for you? Can you feel it all around you - the smell of death?

One of the best soundtracks. Period.


A Great Western Film Score--Italian Style   May 22, 2005
Erik North (San Gabriel, CA USA)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

In popular terms, when one thinks of composer Ennio Morricone, the first thing that they're likely to think of is "spaghetti westerns"--namely the scores he composed for director Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy of the 1960s. Morricone's output, of course, is much bigger than that now. But one of the best scores he ever did for any film, western or otherwise, was the one he composed for Leone's 1969 western epic ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. And like the film itself, Morricone's music has gained a foothold as one of the very best film scores ever composed for a western.

Amazingly, Morricone composed the film score by reading the screenplay by Leone and Sergio Donati, and doing this before a single frame of film was exposed by Leone himself. This meant that Leone could choreograph the main characters' movements in the film. Thus, you get certain sound elements weaving throughout the score--a lush, haunting score (with a wordless female voice) for Claudia Cardinale's frontier widow character; a stinging electric guitar for the ruthless railroad killer portrayed by Henry Fonda; a jaunty banjo for Cheyenne, the outlaw portrayed by Jason Robards; and an ominous, tuneless harmonica for Charles Bronson's character.

One element that is strangely never mentioned when it comes to Morricone's scores for either this film or the "Dollars" trilogy is how attracted he is to minor keys. The themes attached to the Bronson, Robards, and Fonda characters are all in the key of A Minor (the famous "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly" is in D Minor). It is this penchant that Morricone has for the minor keys in his composing that gives his western scores the ominous and deadly charge they have.

One previous reviewer compared the Leone/Morricone collaboration to those of Hitchcock/Herrmann and Spielberg/Williams. I think this is an extremely apt comparison, and it goes a long way in explaining the success of the films, the filmmakers, and the composers who help them. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is a sterling example of the Leone/Morricone collaboration, and is well worth finding.


THE BEST OF MORRICONE   August 19, 1999
L. S. Slaughter (Chapel Hill, NC)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

I've reviewed over eighty Morricone scores in my brief life thus far and this is the score to which I most frequently return. The wordless vocal sung by Morricone regular Edda del Orso defies description. I've listened to this score while lamenting my singularity in the Tucson desert, and heard it performed live by the Gran Caffe Orchestra in the Piazza San Marco in Venice under a full moon in October, and few experiences in life compare to the intensity and beauty of the latter. Sometimes I find Morricone morose and repetitive, but ONCE stands out from the bunch, alongside the unpublished LA VOGLIA MATTA (1962) and CHI MAI. There are many treatments of the main theme that invite repeated listening, but it is the final track that will send chills down your spine and make you believe in the heart, if not heaven.


One of my favorite movies and soundtracks.   November 28, 1999
Matthew Karns (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

The music written by Ennio Morricone for this film is some of the most eerie and haunting you will ever hear. I get chills down my spine every time I hear "As A Judgement", just picturing the cold stare of Henry Fonda as he guns down that 10 year old boy. The main theme is quite moving. "The Transgression" will again give you chills as will "Death Rattle". Awesome music all around.


Sends chills down your spine and brings tears to your eyes!   July 16, 2003
Wanda Loskot
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Someone wrote before me: "a haunting, wordless female vocal on the main theme that sends chills down your spine and may even bring tears to your eyes."
I couldn't agree more regarding the chill and tears. I have tears in my eyes each time I listen and there is NO movie so far that brought to life the true drama of the Wild West in more vivid way. This music will stop you from doing whatever you are doing, forcing you to really really listen. I can't believe that they didn't give Morricone an Oscar for this - what a shame!!!!