Taylor Pittman
Professor HubbardLiba 102 sec. 497 December 2008
Mother of The West It goes without saying, that the Western film genre is a male dominated society. Often times the importance of female roles are shoved to the side for that of a mere sex symbol. In 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West, director Sergio Leone opted to forgo that route and instead cast the iconic beauty Claudia Cardinale as the resilient Jill McBain. Through her steadfastness in times of immense adversity and creative symbolism, Leone develops Jill McBain as a mother to the new West. Director Sergio Leone wished to capture the audience the moment Jill is introduced in the film. As the camera pans over the train which carries Jill, jubilant background music can be heard. The score in this scene is a complete contrast to the sinister sounds which filled the opening scenes of bloodshed. Knowing the diligent attention Leone gave to sound, this song can be perceived as Jill’s theme, much in the same way as Harmonica. Jill is first shown smiling and looking over the train-yard and then gracefully helping herself down the steps. This one shot establishes Jill as a person who is eager to live somewhere new, boldly stepping down into the dust filled West while maintaining her pleasant disposition. As Jill begins to walk through the crowd she pays special attention to numerous types of people. Leone chose to include blacks, Native Americans, Union soldiers and young and old of all type of people in this scene. Jill seems to pay extra attention to a mother walking with daughter while pushing an elderly man in a wheelchair, a reference to Jill’s overlooking the dying cowboy of the West. The selection of matched with Jill’s movement within the frame, back and forth, captures the essence of Jill’s entrance to all people. Although the character of Jill McBain is one of strength and solidarity, Leone did not select a woman of plain physical characteristics for the part. Claudia Cardinale’s classic curves and soft facial features enabled the director to exploit the treasure of a woman of the West’s sexuality. Prior to moving to Arizona, Jill was a high end prostitute in New Orleans, a lifestyle that in many ways prepared her for the trials she would face out West. After Cheyenne and Jill have their extended conversation in which Cheyenne even referenced his own mother as a good woman yet whore, Jill receives her first brutal encounter. As Jill is loading her wagon to leave the doomed McBain ranch and return to “civilization“, a menacing harmonica melody can be heard as Harmonica begins to approach Jill. Harmonica grabs Jill as she struggles and instructs her that it isn’t time for her to leave yet. Leone specifically had Bronson’s character say this to Jill on a level that would not be entirely seen until the conclusion of the film. The dialogue hints that Jill can not leave until she has helped settle the score against the McBain’s land, The Land. Harmonica then uses force to position Jill flat on her back as if to rape her, Cardinale’s chest heavily moving up and down below the applied pressure of Harmonica’s aggressive hand. He then rips off her sleeves and tells her to go fetch water, but specifically not out of the house, instead from the well. The two then proceed to the well where Harmonica slyly takes off his jacket and masterfully guns down the approaching riders. No longer is Jill’s key contributing factor to men simply her sex appeal, she is now a strong individual, willing to carry out any task for the betterment of all.Within this scene, Leone manipulates the story in order to convey the symbolism of Jill’s final times of old. In the moment Jill is raised from her back and seemingly inevitable rape, her birth as the Mother of the West is solidified. Tuska states that the new element of violence is something that “only an alien influence such as Leone could interject into the Western” (560). Claudia Cardinale’s powerful portrayal enabled Leone to further his message alongside immense carnage. A central subplot to Once Upon a Time in the West, is water. From pictures and dreams to simple drinking water, this theme flows throughout the picture and is a key element in the transfiguration of Jill McBain. The films plot stems from the struggle over the McBain ranch, a piece of land who’s sole owner does not know of the precise value. When McBain first sought to develop the tract he knew that one day the railroad company would look to run through his valley due to the precious and priceless supply of well water. This “water” led to the death of the entire McBain family and left Jill without a family. It is the same “water” which Jill must retrieve in order to sexily create a decoy so Harmonica can save her life from Frank’s men who attempt to kill the last beneficiary to the land. Water is something which no man, woman or animal can live without, and society as a whole cannot exist without. In the end of the film, the railroad workers have finally come to sprout up a new civilization in the “town” or “station” that Cheyenne’s men have built for Jill. In the valley where the McBain ranch is, Jill’s final characterization is shown when she delivers the water to the workers. Although these men have come to bring an end to one way of life, the maternal figure of Jill McBain welcomes these men of all colors with a smile, open heart and the gift of new life, water. Sergio Leone’s vision for the birth of a new West is eloquently shown in the film Once Upon a Time in the West. This theme of hope and compassion in a time of savagery and brutality would have gone without notice, had it not been for the timeless portrayal of Jill McBain by Claudia Cardinale. The director Through the development of the sole female character set against the dusty landscape, Leone presented Jill as the maternal figure of a new era.

Pittman