‘Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece’ is NEW from Reel Art Press!

Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece. 
“A massive and gorgeous book about Sergio Leone’s landmark Spaghetti Western.”
—Matthew Sweet, BBC Radio

    REEL ART PRESS

Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece

Foreword by Quentin Tarantino. Text by Christopher Frayling. Photographs by Angelo Novi.

“Once Upon a Time in the West” was the movie that made me consider filmmaking.” Quentin Tarantino

Images from Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece,
published by REEL ART PRESS.

Sergio Leone’s film Once Upon a Time in the West set out to be the ultimate Western—a celebration of the power of classic Hollywood cinema, a meditation on the making of America and a lament for the decline of one of the most cherished film genres in the form of a “dance of death.” With this film, Leone said a fond farewell to the noisy and flamboyant world of the Italian Western, which he had created with A Fistful of Dollars and sequels, and aimed for something much more ambitious—an exploration of the relationship between myth (“Once Upon a Time…”), history (“…in the West”) and his own autobiography as an avid film-goer. This would be a horse opera in which the arias aren’t sung, they are stared. Once Upon a Time has since inspired several generations of filmmakers worldwide. Its combination of “film about film” with an angry historical epic, told with great style, has resonated for half a century, and its reputation has steadily grown. This book, by the world-renowned authority on Sergio Leone, Christopher Frayling, includes revealing personal interviews with all the key players involved in the movie (in front of the camera and behind it), a wealth of never-before-published documents, designs and photographs, and the latest research into the making of a masterpiece, shot by shot. It is introduced with a foreword by Quentin Tarantino. This year is the 50th anniversary of Once Upon a Time in the West and this richly illustrated book is a suitably spectacular birthday tribute.

Christopher Frayling is a world-renowned authority on the films of Sergio Leone. He has written Leone’s biography, curated a major world-touring exhibition on his work, published the classic study of the spaghetti western phenomenon and provided commentaries to Leone DVDs and television documentaries. Now he turns his attention to the making of Leone’s masterpiece. Frayling is an award-winning broadcaster and writer on film, design and popular culture. He was Rector of London’s Royal College of Art from 1996 to 2009, and was also Chairman of the Arts Council of England and a Governor of the British Film Institute. He was Professor of Cultural History at the RCA for over 30 years and is now Professor Emeritus. Christopher was knighted in the year 2000 for “services to art and design education.” As Sergio Leone once said to him, “it took an Englishman to take my films seriously…”

“Frayling, the world’s leading Leone expert, has amassed photographs, posters, production sketches and more, and Leone fan Quentin Tarantino has written the introduction to this impressive volume.”
—Kenneth Turan

Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece

Foreword by Quentin Tarantino. Text by Christopher Frayling. Photographs by Angelo Novi.

“Frayling’s own masterpiece… a book for the ages about making a movie for the ages. This is the coffee table book you will actually want to pick up and read.” —Trebuchet Magazine

REEL ART PRESS
Hardcover, 9.5 x 11.5 in. / 336 pgs / 80 color / 250 bw.
ISBN 9781909526334
US $75.00 CDN $99.00

“There’s a new book out this month by Reel Art Press called Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece that will tell you just about everything you want to know about the Italian director Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti western.”
—Kenneth Dickerman

BUY IT ON ARTBOOK.COM!
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