An 11 Oct 1967 Var news item announced that Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, known for his “spaghetti western” films set in the U.S. but shot in Europe, would make his American motion picture debut with two back-to-back productions, Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America (1984, see entry). The former was scheduled to begin shooting in Mar 1968, with James Coburn, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Claudia Cardinale in leading roles. As an Italian co-production, it was said to be Italy’s biggest film since The Bible…In the Beginning (1966, see entry).
       A 31 Dec 1967 NYT brief gave an amended start date of Apr 1968, and noted that Paramount Pictures would fund the entire production. A conflicting report in the 10 Jan 1968 Var stated that the picture was “totally financed in Italy,” although Paramount had recently alleviated the Italians’ financial risk by purchasing worldwide distribution rights (with the exception of Italy). According to a later article in the 6 May 1968 LAT, the project was initiated by Paramount, who convinced Leone to make it, despite his desire to quit the Western genre, by offering him a $5-million budget, and “the right to hire the stars and write the script.” Conflicting information arose in yet another item in the 5 Jul 1968 DV, which listed Paramount’s financial contribution as $2.5 million in exchange for distribution rights outside Italy. After committing to Once Upon a Time in the West, Leone was quoted in a 7 Apr 1968 LAT article, saying that he hoped it would be his last Western. However, he went on to write and direct Duck, You Sucker! (1972, see entry), which was also a Western.
       Henry Fonda initially turned down the role of “Frank” after reading a script that was poorly translated into English from Italian, according to a 29 Oct 1968 DV article. Fonda then conferred with fellow actor Eli Wallach, who had worked with Leone on The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966, see entry), and Wallach persuaded him to take the part as a chance to work with Leone, who did not speak English but considered the language barrier no impediment to his process, according to the 2 Apr 1969 Var.
       Despite Charles Bronson’s starring role, it was noted in the 10 Jan 1968 Var that he would receive below-the-title billing. An item in the 2 Apr 1968 DV explained that Bronson had declined above-the-title billing in fourth-position after Fonda, Robards, and Cardinale, and instead negotiated for “special billing” that read, “Starring Charles Bronson as ‘The Man.’”
       Items in the 10 Jan 1968 and 10 Apr 1968 Var listed the following actors as cast members: Enrico Maria Salerno; Robert Hossein; Robert Ryan; and Eduardo De Filippo. Al Mulock was named as a cast member in a 7 Aug 2005 LAT article, which reviewed an exhibit dedicated to Leone’s Westerns that included “four life-sized plaster statues of the quartet of desperadoes” in the opening sequence, played by Bronson, Mulock, Woody Strode, and Jack Elam.
       Principal photography began 8 Apr 1968 at Cinecitta Studios in Rome, Italy, as noted in the 10 Apr 1968 Var. The picture marked Cinecitta’s 500th production to be filmed on the studio lot. Two months of location filming was slated to take place at the “Flagstone, Arizona” set built in Gaudix, Spain, which entailed a 350-yard main street, a railway station, and several buildings that were “built for occupancy.” Leone was due to retain ownership of the $500,000 set for a ten-year lease period in which he planned to produce other pictures there. Location shooting also took place in Almeria, Spain, as noted in the 29 Oct 1968 DV. The 31 Jul 1968 DV reported that Henry Fonda had recently returned from Spain to Los Angeles, CA, where he would spend a couple days before production resumed in Monument Valley on the Arizona-Utah border. There, four weeks of exteriors were scheduled. Finally, a return to Cinecitta was planned for the remainder of interior shooting.
       While in Spain, Leone recruited American, British, and Scandinavian background actors to represent frontiersman. As stated in the 5 Jul 1968 DV, the extras were paid $14 per day.
       Once Upon a Time in the West opened in Italy in late Dec 1968. Within three weeks of release there, it grossed $1.35 million, according to a 28 Jan 1969 DV brief. In the U.S., the picture received an “M” rating (suggested for mature audiences) from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), as stated in a 21 May 1969 DV item. It opened in New York City on 28 May 1969, with a running time of 165 minutes. Perhaps due to some early criticism of its length – described as “heavy going” in the 26 May 1969 DV review – it was edited down to 135 minutes by the time it debuted in Los Angeles, CA, on 23 Jul 1969. Overall, critical reception was mixed, and the film took in only $2.1 million in domestic rentals in 1969, the 7 Jan 1970 Var noted. It enjoyed popularity overseas, however, especially in Italy, and in Paris, France, where it grossed $935,000 in its first run, as stated in the 16 Dec 1969 DV.
       The film won Best Picture at Italy’s David Di Donatello Awards, in a tie with Mario Monicelli’s The Girl with the Pistol, as announced in the 5 Jun 1969 DV. In the decades following its release, it came to be regarded as one of Leone’s greatest pictures, and as a classic Western. It was named as one of Time magazine’s “All-Time 100” greatest films ever made, and in 2009, it was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. A 16 Nov 2006 LAT article announced that Once Upon a Time in the West was chosen as the first film to be restored under a three-year project organized by the Rome Film Festival and avid film preservationist Martin Scorsese.
       The 18 Dec 1968 Var stated that Italian filmmaker Italo Zingarelli planned to make a parody of Once Upon a Time in the West called Once Upon a Time in the South.