Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West)
US film poster by Frank McCarthy
Directed by	Sergio Leone
Produced by	Fulvio Morsella Bino Cicogna
Screenplay by	Sergio Donati Sergio Leone
Story by	Dario Argento Bernardo Bertolucci Sergio Leone
Starring	Claudia Cardinale Henry Fonda Jason Robards Charles Bronson Gabriele Ferzetti
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Cinematography	Tonino Delli Colli
Edited by	Nino Baragli
Production company	Rafran Cinematografica Finanzia San Marco Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Euro International Film (Italy) Paramount Pictures (United States)
Release date	21 December 1968 (1968-12-21) (Italy)
Running time	165 minutes
Country	Italy United States Spain
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$5,321,508 (US) 14,873,804 admissions (France)

Once Upon a Time in the West (Italian: C'era una volta il West) is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Henry Fonda, cast against type, as the villain,Charles Bronson as his , Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader, and Jason Robards as a bandit. The screenplay was written by Sergio Donati and Leone, from a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci and Leone. The widescreen cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the acclaimed film score was by Ennio Morricone.

After directing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Leone decided to retire from Westerns and desired to produce his film based on The Hoods, which eventually became Once Upon a Time in America. However, Leone accepted an offer from Paramount Pictures to provide access to Henry Fonda and to use a budget to produce another Western film. He recruited Bertolucci and Argento to devise the plot of the film in 1966, researching other Western films in the process. After Clint Eastwood turned down an offer to play the movie's protagonist, Bronson was offered the role. During production, Leone recruited Donati to rewrite the script due to concerns over time limitations.