Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie when Cheyenne is shaving, while Harmonica and Frank are having their shoot-out, he cuts himself at the sound of the gunshots. When Jill tells him that he is a handsome man the cut is gone. (02:22:25)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Starring: Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale
Continuity mistake: During the last flashback that reveals Harmonica's issue with Frank and the significance of the harmonica, the harmonica in the boy's mouth is sometimes dented, sometimes not. (02:22:00)
Revealing mistake: Jack Elam gets bothered by a fly crawling over his face (nice stunt, actually). When the fly moves over the bench, just before he catches it with the muzzle of his gun, look at the hind legs. You'll notice that the fly is dead. (00:07:50)
Trivia: While Morton's private train plays a key role in the movie, and the train moves several times, the train's engineer and fireman are never shown, nor is any reference ever made to them.
Cheyenne: Make believe it's nothing.
More quotes from Once Upon a Time in the West
Question: In the scene where Cheyenne visits Jill at the McBain's residence for the first time, he asks her whether she knows something about a man with a harmonica, although the three of them (Cheyenne, Harmonica and Jill) met earlier in the movie when Cheyenne tells Harmonica to "watch those false notes." Why doesn't Cheyenne just ask her for the man whom she probably still remembers from this event?
Answer: He meant what does she know about him personally. What's his real name, where does he come from and why is he so interested in everything.
Then he should have asked "do you know something about THE man with THE harmonica?" instead of "do you know something about A man going around playing A harmonica?" (time stamp 01:05:25 for the restored version) or am I missing something? He already knows that she has seen him because he was there so he could just ask "do you know something about the guy with the harmonica we met at the bar earlier?" I just don't understand why Cheyenne is using an indefinite article because he and Jill both know who he is referring to.
Question: At first it seemed Cheyenne didn't know harmonica man, but later in the movie they help one another once to get the $5,000 from Cheyenne's bounty. Then Cheyenne rescues harmonica man from the train. And finally Cheyenne didn't want harmonica man to see him die they were leaving together I just think they knew each other and this was planned?
Answer: They formed an alliance, Cheyenne wanted to know why he was being framed for the massacre of an entire family by Henry Fonda and Harmonica seemed to know everything.
Question: There's a few things I didn't understand in this film: 1) What's the deal with Jill? Did she really love Mr. McBain or did she just marry for money etc? 2) After she sees the McBain's bodies, why does Jill search the house? Is she checking to see whether anything was stolen? 3) When Jill meets Harmonica in the barn, why does he rip her dress? 4) What's whole thing with Jill and Frank near the end? What exactly happens?
Answer: 1) Jill is a prostitute from New Orleans. She seeks out a new life out West. Love is irrelevant here. 2) She was promised a country living, a family, and wealth. That's why she is looking not only for money or gold but also for the reason her family was killed. 3) So Leone can show her beautiful body. 4) She's saving her life. She's a prostitute and I guess she knows how to fake it. Remember: "There's nothing that can't washed off by a hot bath".
Answer: "Leone fools us into thinking that Harmonica is a criminal and sexual predator in the scene in Jill's barn in which Harmonica rips off the white lace beneath the bodice of Jill's dress. This act, that seems to betoken sexual aggression and to anticipate rape, is actually one of protection. Harmonica represents no more of a sexual threat than Cheyenne does. What Harmonica realises, and Jill does not, is that Frank's sharpshooters wait for her in the hills above her house and that the white of her dress makes her an easy target. He might have explained this situation more carefully to her, of course, but Leone's characters seem to almost thrive on, or to court, ill opinion. Moreover, when Harmonica's shots ring out at the well and Jill realises he is actually intent on protecting rather than brutalizing her, the effect is all the more dramatic for his having given her no hint of his intentions. Leone's heroes do not like to wear their morality on their sleeves." (John Fawell).
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Answer: The movie was filmed at multiple locations in Spain and Italy, and also in Utah. Chances are they filmed out of sequence and made minor changes to the script later in the movie. There are many things left unclear in the movie, for example the same scene at the cantina/store, just after Cheyenne's crew shows up, he refers to Harmonica by his name when no-one said his name up until that point.