One Of The Most Iconic Opening Scenes In Westerns In Cinematic History

in #western4 years ago (edited)

This is the opening scene of Once Upon A Time In The West (1968).

The protagonist had his brother murdered in a sadistic fashion when he was young. He comes to town to avenge the murder. The antagonist sends three of his enforcers to finish the protagonist off when he arrives at the station.

What I like about this scene is the buildup of tension through the masterful use of sound in the beginning. The sound of the steam engine helps create tension as does the use of closeups of the gunmen's faces when they arrive at the station. The tension drops for a moment when they think their target has not arrived at the station after all - only to find out that he got off the train on the other side of the track.

The music works perfectly to build tension.

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Indeed, the build up to the scene was phenomenal. Once the scene is passed, you can feel the anticipation rising in you, like, oh boy, I'm in for a ride!

This whole movie was pretty good. I read it was not acclaimed by critics at first but that it later developed a cult following.