Once Upon a Time in the West

On the data. One film, and two decisions define it. The first is casting Henry Fonda as the villain. Fonda had spent thirty years as the most trustworthy face in American film, and Leone's introduction of him is built entirely around that expectation. Fonda arrived wearing brown contact lenses to look more menacing and Leone made him take them out, because the blue eyes were the point. American audiences in 1968 did not take to it and the film failed there. The second is the music. Morricone wrote the score before filming and it was played on set during takes, so the performances are timed to it rather than the other way round. Each main character has a theme and the themes announce them. It was cut by about twenty minutes for its American release, which did not help. It was reassessed steadily from the 1970s onwards and is now routinely named the best western ever made, including by people who do not otherwise like westerns. Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento worked on the story with Leone, which is an unlikely combination of names.

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