Once Upon a Time In the West appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Overall the Dolby Vision image held up well.
Sharpness was usually strong. The majority of the film looked tight and concise, with only a few instances of minor softness on display.
I noticed no jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. The image lacked print flaws and came with a light layer of grain – probably too light, but the scan didn’t go crazy with grain reduction.
Colors usually looked quite good, as they often appeared bold and accurate. The movie didn’t offer a broad palette, as it preferred sandy, neutral tones much of the time, but the hues were positive within those parameters, and HDR added emphasis to the colors.
Black levels also worked well, as they demonstrated depth and richness, and shadow detail looked fine, so I never had trouble making out nuances in darker scenes. HDR contributed impact to whites and contrast. Expect a largely appealing presentation.
In addition, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack seemed more than adequate given the film’s vintage. That said, don’t expect greatness from the audio, as it could seem a bit iffy at times.
Mainly, I found distortion to become an occasional issue. Louder effects like gunshots could come across as a bit rough, and the score could sound somewhat shrill as well. Still, both seemed decent for the most part.
Like other Sergio Leone efforts, West used extensive looping for dialogue. This left the lines less than natural, but they remained intelligible and concise.
Taken from the original monaural – which also appears on the disc – the remixed 5.1 soundscape seemed pretty convincing. Trains and various elements of violence used the spectrum in a fairly smooth manner that created a good impression of place.
None of this compared with a more modern effort, of course, but the soundfield seemed appealing for something taken from circa 1968 mono stems. While the occasional instances of distortion became a distraction, this was still a perfectly acceptable track given its age.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2011? Though it replaced the BD’s Dolby TrueHD mix with DTS-HD MA, I felt the pair sounded virtually identical.
As for the Dolby Vision image, it showed improvements in sharpness, colors and blacks. Some of the grain management made a minor dent in the picture, but this nonetheless became an upgrade.
No extras appear on the 4K disc. However, a mix of new and old components show up on the included Blu-ray copy, where we find two separate audio commentaries.
Also found on the prior BD, the first involves filmmakers John Carpenter, Bernardo Bertolucci, John Milius, and Alex Cox, film historians Sir Christopher Frayling and Dr. Sheldon Hall, and actor Claudia Cardinale. Unsurprisingly, all sit separately for this edited discussion of story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music and sound design, photography, influences, and connected domains.
Most of the track provides content from Frayling, and he carries the load well. Frayling gives us a good array of movie-related details.
Expect less consistency from the others, as some offer insights while others tell us little of value. Overall, however, this becomes a good commentary.
New to the 2024 release, we get a commentary with Spaghetti Western Podcast Hosts Jay Jennings and Tom Betts. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and crew, some production notes and their thoughts about the film.
Given that Betts and Jennings host a podcast about Spaghetti Westerns, one assumes they essentially exist as experts on the genre. This also leads one to believe they will give us lots of insights and details.
No. God no. That couldn’t be more wrong.
Instead, Betts and Jennings mainly just describe the movie and throw out banal reactions to the film. Oh, we find the occasional worthwhile nugget, but we discover little of actual interest, and I suspect the “informational” content adds up to maybe five minutes, tops.
Maybe others disagree, but it feels like a bad investment to spend 166 minutes to hear five minutes of mildly interesting information. If Betts and Jennings created a fun, engaging pair, I could forgive this paucity of valuable material, but they prove persistently flat and dull.
Jennings actually actively annoyed me, mainly because he frequently uses his partner’s name. This essentially becomes a conversation between the two, and it seems really weird that Jennings keeps saying “Tom” over and over again. Tom knows you’re talking to him – you don’t need to remind him of his own name!
Nitpick? Perhaps, and if the track offered an enjoyable affair otherwise, I probably wouldn’t care.
But this weird verbal tic just becomes increasingly irritating since it pops up in the middle of a tremendously boring chat. This turns into a completely terrible commentary.
Some featurettes follow, and An Opera of Violence lasts 28 minutes, 50 seconds. It includes notes from Carpenter, Milius, Cardinale, Frayling, Bertolucci, director of photography Tonino Delli Colli, filmmaker Alex Cox, and actor Gabriele Ferzetti. We also find circa 1984 comments from director Sergio Leone and 1975 notes from actor Henry Fonda.
“Opera” examines the career of Leone and his take on the Western genre as well as aspects of West. Some of this repeats from the commentary, but “Opera” becomes a fairly efficient discussion.
The Wages of Sin goes for 19 minutes, 38 seconds and involves Cardinale, Cox, Frayling, Delli Colli, Ferzetti, Carpenter, and Milius.
“Wages” covers sets and locations, costumes and makeup, editing and cinematography. This delivers another informative program.
With Something to Do With Death, we get an 18-minute, 20-second segment that features Cardinale, Ferzetti, Frayling, Carpenter, Cox, Bertolucci, and Milius.
This one discusses music and audio, political influences, the film’s reception and additional edits. We find a pretty good chat.
Revolutionizing the West fills six minutes, 22 seconds as it gives us info from Cox and Frayling. After a basic history of the expansion of railroads across the US, we get a look at how trains impacted West. It seems short but useful.
Finally, Locations: Then and Now occupies four minutes, 30 seconds and provides images that contrast film shots with the shooting spots in later years. It’s worth a look.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we conclude with a Production Gallery. This running montage spans five minutes, 18 seconds and displays 68 images. It becomes a decent but not especially memorable collection.
New to this release, A Look Back
offers a five-minute, 32-second chat with film critic Leonard Maltin as he covers a few facts and thoughts on the film. While perfectly watchable, this reel seems too brief to relate much, and we hear much of this info elsewhere.
