Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

6 corrected entries

(7 votes)

Corrected entry: The harmonica that Harmonica puts in Frank's mouth, after the shootout, is of a different type than the one Frank had put in the mouth of Harmonica as a kid in the flashback.

albert

Correction: There's nothing requiring it to be the same harmonica. It's the gesture of putting a harmonica in his mouth that's significant and that makes him remember, not the harmonica itself.

Corrected entry: We find out pretty quickly into the movie that Frank has no idea who Harmonica is, or what he wants. So, why would Frank send three people to meet him after he gets off the train?

Correction: Frank doesn't know who he is, but he thinks (correctly) that he's dangerous.

Corrected entry: When in the opening scene at the station the train starts moving Frank's men hear Harmonica's tune. He appears behind the leaving train, but in the wide shots he has both hands down while he is heard playing. Only in close-up he is holding the harmonica to his mouth. (00:10:50)

NancyFelix

Correction: This is incorrect. Throughout the whole scene, Harmonica has one hand holding his bag and the other holding the harmonica. At no time does he have both hands down.

Gavin Jackson

Corrected entry: Why didn't Frank's men attempt to outbid Harmonica when he successfully made the $5,000 bid (using Cheyenne) for the railroad station? It's not like they didn't have the money, given that Frank tried to buy the property back off Harmonica later.

Gavin Jackson

Correction: I suspect that they would've outbid him, if they had the right amount of money. That property would've gone for five hundred dollars if Harmonica hadn't walked in at the last moment. Harmonica was feeling the bid process to see how much money Frank gave them. Let's face it, if you gave those band of cutthroats an exorbitant amount of money, you would probably have to hunt them down and kill them later. Additionally, back in those days, I am sure they wanted cash on the barrel head after you won a bid in an auction. (Or proof of property that is worth that dollar amount.) I mean you couldn't just whip out a VISA card and charge it.

RLN

Corrected entry: During Cheyenne's nightly visit at the McBain farm Jill jams the coffee kettle on the table where Cheyenne is sitting. Then there is a cut to Morton and Frank in the train, where they discuss the issue with the late McBain's farm and widow at broad daylight. Then it cuts back to Cheyenne still sitting at the table, sipping coffee, continuing his conversation with a now more cheerful Jill, and it's night again. (01:08:45)

NancyFelix

Correction: Cheyenne is paying a morning visit to Jill. Some time during his 'speech' he says "Didn't sleep a wink all night" That scene begins with Jill carefully looking out the window - it is broad daylight and the roosters are crowing.

Corrected entry: When Maureen came out of the house she was humming the song "Danny Boy" That song wasn't written until 1913.

Correction: "Danny Boy" was written in 1910. In 1913 the song was set to the tune of "Londonderry Air." Maureen was humming "Londonderry Air", which was published in 1855.

Bishop73

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)

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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.

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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: 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.

Answer: Cheyenne is obviously highly preoccupied with Harmonica in the saloon where they first meet (very tense situation). Perhaps Cheyenne didn't actually notice Jill's presence, or forgot she was there?

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.

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