What is the iRankMovies score for Once Upon a Time in the West?

Name: Once Upon a Time in the West
Director: Sergio Leone
Genre: drama, western
Released: 1968
Duration: 2 h 46 min
Rating: 8.5

Once Upon a Time in the West has an iRankMovies score of 87.1/100, based on a weighted combination of IMDb (×3.0), Rotten Tomatoes (×2.0), Metacritic (×1.5), and TMDb (×1.0).

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

C'era una volta il West

There were three men in her life. One to take her… one to love her —and one to kill her.

Release:1968

Runtime:2h 46m

Country:Italy

Director:Sergio Leone

Language:Italian

Genre

DramaWestern

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Keywords

Small Town Loss Of Loved OneHarmonicaWedding PartySpaghetti WesternArizona TerritoryIntercontintental RailroadOutlaw Gang

iRank87

Once Upon a Time in the West rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.5/10· 384K votes

Rotten Tomatoes96%

Metacritic82%

TMDb8.3/10· 5K votes

With 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.5/10 on IMDb and 82/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About Once Upon a Time in the West

As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.

Cast of Once Upon a Time in the West

Claudia Cardinale
as Jill
Henry Fonda
as Frank
Jason Robards
as 'Cheyenne'
Charles Bronson
as 'Harmonica'
Gabriele Ferzetti
as Morton
Paolo Stoppa
as Sam
Woody Strode
as Frank's Gunman
Jack Elam
as Frank's Gunman
Keenan Wynn
as Sheriff
Frank Wolff
as Brett McBain
Lionel Stander
as Innkeeper
Frank Braña
as Frank's Gunman (uncredited)

Once Upon a Time in the West facts

Original title: C'era una volta il West
Budget: $5M
Box office: $5.4M

Our take on Once Upon a Time in the West

Leone's 1968 western opus slows the genre to a hypnotic crawl: a mysterious harmonica-playing gunman, a ruthless killer and a widow converge as the railroad transforms the frontier. Majestic, patient and scored unforgettably by Morricone, it's the operatic peak of the form. If its grandeur and simmering tension gripped you, Leone's Dollars trilogy and the great epic westerns share its mythic scale and stillness.

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026Methodology Data sources