1. Once Upon a Time in the West - Dir. Sergio Leone
As an era passes on, so too must its heroes and villains - as they become obsolete and unable to cope with the changing times, they must perish. In Sergio Leone’s iconic classic, Once Upon a Time in the West, three gunslingers come face to face with their demise as progress lurches along the tracks of the ever-expanding cross-continental railroad. With each passing moment, the train promises to bring with it a more modern time, although one that is equally as dangerous. In this new era, guns and bullets are no longer the premier dealers of death. No, a new and more powerful force rears its ugly head, and that force is commerce – advertising, commercialism, and the almighty dollar. A man with enough money and commercial power can buy loyalty, and like the mighty railroad itself, once this force gains momentum, it is nigh impossible to stop.
A train pulls into a station, and with it, a messenger. His message has something to do with death, as do many of Leone’s heralds. Leone depicts three gunslingers here, at a train station in the middle of nowhere, waiting to kill a man. But little do they know that it is they that need to worry, for Time has arrived, their Time. The locomotive brings with it a new era, and the gunslingers themselves are quickly becoming obsolete. The messenger is none other than Harmonica, played by the ever stoic Charles Bronson, the last of a dying breed, a lone gunman seeking justice, a hero for every man who has ever been wrongfully slain by cruel and unjust villainy. Harmonica knows that his time has come, for he rides with the train, and the train stops, jut long enough for him to exit, and take care of one last task.
However, the train does not always stop, nor does it wait for any man. Some men, men like Cheyenne (Jason Robards), know sure and well that time is not on their side, and they accept this. Cheyenne, the honorable thief, the trickster, represents all of those who would rather die in a blaze of glory, chasing the dragon that cannot be slain. This act, however, is not one performed in vain, but one performed with honor and exuberance, one last attempt at excitement, and one last ride on the giant roller coaster before the park is closed for good. Cheyenne faces the end of the era head on, mounting one last attack on the train knowing full well that it will be his downfall. He has played with the devil many times, and eventually time catches up to him, but he goes out like a warrior who embraces death like a long lost brother.
Unfortunately, not all of the gunslingers are able to let go as easily as Cheyenne and Harmonica. Some try desperately to hold on, embarrassingly so. Frank (Henry Fonda), does not want time to pass him by, and tries to mold his old ways with the new. He partners up with commerce, and the train, and joins the side of the financiers. However, the new world does not embrace Frank, and as his business partner explains to him, there is a new and more powerful weapon now, one more deadly than any six-shooter – the dollar bill.
At one point, Frank finds himself at the wrong end of the dollar, as mercenaries wait to assassinate him. What is most interesting about this attempt is where the henchmen are placed as they wait to strike. One hides behind an advertisement, his gun poking through a large billboard, probably the first of its kind, and another carefully positions himself behind a large clock: for Frank, the real killers are the coming and changing times, and an era ruled by commerce. When it comes to people like Frank, there is no hope; there is no bowing out with dignity; there is only the sad passing of a desperate old man.
The train’s arrival at Stillwater station, a bastion of hope established by Jill McBain (Claudia Cardinale), signifies the time for the final showdown. Two men on opposite sides of the spectrum must face off; this is the last act of the old, ushering in the new. On one side, there is Harmonica, the gunslinger who knows his time has come and gracefully accepts this fact. He is actually eager to ride off, vanishing into nothing more than a trace memory. On the other side is Frank, a man frustrated by change, a man who tries to incorporate the new with the old, a man who sadly learns that the bullet is no match for the dollar. As the train pulls into the station, all time stands still for these two gunslingers – the world pauses just long enough for them to play out their last significant act before restarting and chugging along into the horizon, into the future.
Like the Titans, these remaining gunslingers are left in a world that no longer needs them, a world they cannot even hope to understand. Perhaps Stephen King said it best about his own Gunslinger, Roland, when he said, “The world has moved on.” Some, like Harmonica, bow out with grace and dignity; they see that their ticket has come up, and pass with grace. Others, like Frank, try to change; they desperately grasp at anything and everything that allows them just a few scant seconds more time. And still others, like Cheyenne, face the monster head on, mano y mano, storm chasers till the very end. Yes, the railroad has come, and with it, a new era promising more civil times. But was it really more civil, or was the violence and brutality just cloaked in more shadows and conspiracy, hidden behind most powerful weapon of all – the dollar bill?
