Once Upon a Time in the West

Dir. Sergio Leone. 1968, 165 mins. DCP. With Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Woody Strode. Leone’s widescreen masterpiece—a nearly avant-garde epic featuring depopulated vistas, extreme close-ups, Fonda cast against type as a grimy villain, and a searing harmonica-dominant score by Ennio Moricone—provided Strode with a cameo for the ages. In his entreé to the Italian film industry, where he would find his greatest popular and financial success, he’s cast as an assassin staking out Bronson’s avenging “Harmonica” during a prolonged, dialogue-free opening sequence. “I remember [Sergio] asking me in his thick Italian accent why Hollywood had never made me a star,” he wrote in his memoir, Goal Dust. “I told him, ‘I don’t think they’ve quite gotten used to me coming off the mountain on a horse with John Wayne by my side,’ But Sergio saw what I could do, and that was enough for him.”

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.