Subject: Re: [Harp-L] harp movies (once upon a time in the west)

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Excerpted from Dave Payne's post about "Once Upon a Time in the West"
 
" Finally, he tires, falls, the brother is hanged."
 
I always thought (and believed I just saw it again in the video  clip)...that 
the brother with the noose around his neck while standing on  his kid 
brother's shoulders...actually kicks him away after calling the Fonda  character a 
'son of a bitch'...effectively hanging himself...just so the younger  brother 
would NOT feel responsible for his older brother's death.  It made  the scene 
for me....am I misinterpreting this?
 
If you hadn't brought the 'eerie' harp playing in the background to my  
attention, I doubt I would have realized just how much it was incorporated into  
the soundtrack. Thanks!  Great movie...definitely worth re-visiting.
 
Elizabeth
 
"Message: 10
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:23:49 -0800 (PST)
From: David  Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] harp movies  (once upon a time in the west)
To: Harp L Harp L  <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID:  <870065.89549.qm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type:  text/plain; charset=us-ascii

In all the "harp movies" I've seen, the harp  just happens to be in the 
movie, with one exception, "Once Upon A Time in the  West." I saw that movie when I 
was a kid and it inspired me to play the harp. I  had been fooling around 
with the harp before, but the movie got me seriously  interested in the 
instrument. It's got an excellent harp soundtrack, chill you  to the bone. Though, harp 
players will notice the part of the harmonica is  played by at least three 
harps, four if you count the obviously chromatic harp  on the soundtrack. 
Henry Fonda is an SOB, it's one of the best villian  performances ever, but 
add that to Fonda always playing good guys and that's  what you expect when you 
see him on screen, the result is something good and  familiar turned evil, 
kind of chills like Old Yeller did when he got rabies and  tried to kill 
everybody. 
Anyway, Charles Bronson shows up playing these  really eerie riffs on the 
harp, and he "plays" them all through the movie. henry  Fonda and his boys will 
be walking around and they hear these eerie harp riffs  coming from seemingly 
nowhere. 
Turns out, when Charles Bronson was a kid,  Henry Fonda and his roughnecks 
hanged his brother, had him hanging from an arch  an standing on young Charles 
Bronson's shoulders. So, as Bronson is standing  there, gradually tiring, Henry 
Fonda puts a harmonica is his mouth to "keep your  loving brother happy" and 
while the boy gasps for breath, he's playing draw and  blow chords. Finally, 
he tires, falls, the brother is hanged. Bronson keeps the  harp and the whole 
movie is about Bronson giving the harp back to Fonda,  bascially. Which he does 
in the final showdown of course. 
In the movie, the  harp is a symbol of a lot of things, a central symbol of 
the movie, in fact.  Bronson is a mysterious stranger, nobody can figure out 
who he is. He lets his  harmonica do all the talking. Seriously. 

I found the final showdown on  Youtube, it has a flashback to when Charles 
Bronson gets the harmonica and ends  with Bronson giving it back. 
Check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcjUpL7ThAU

Dave
___________________________________
Dave  Payne Sr. 
Elk River Harmonicas  
www.elkriverharmonicas.




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