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| Once Upon a Time in the Midlands [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC) | ![Once Upon a Time in the Midlands [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CMN27PAYL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Shane Meadows
Actors: Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans, Kathy Burke, Vanessa Feltz, Ricky Tomlinson
Studio: Columbia TriStar
Category: DVD
Buy New: £6.99
Buy New/Used from £2.28
Avg. Customer Rating:  (4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 63450
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 104 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1404934391
UPC: 043396011915
EAN: 9781404934399
ASIN: B00011V8J0
Release Date: February 10, 2004
Theatrical Release Date: 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Amazon.co.uk Review
IOnce Upon a Time in the Midlands/I is credited as the closing part in a loosely connected trilogy by director Shane Meadows. IA Room for Romeo Brass/I (1999) and ITwenty Four Seven/I (1997) preceded it, and ultimately the viewer will be hard pressed to discern anything other than the British Midlands locale linking them together. That and the generally grim tone. Here we have what boils down to a tale of a girl (Shirley Henderson) who can't decide between two guys (her ex, Robert Carlyle, or her current boyfriend, Rhys Ifans). Wrapped up in some easy comedy and framed in the occasional nod to the spaghetti western genre, the movie initially has plenty in its favour. Unfortunately, the intrusion of a B-plot, involving some Scottish thugs, overpowers the more pleasant family portrait. As a result, the stellar performances by Kathy Burke and Ricky Tomlinson get lost in the drama of the love triangle. After swinging back and forth indecisively, Shirley's conclusion to the tale doesn't have the emotional punch that it should have. This third Midlands tale may be the most accessible in terms of familiar characters and aspects of contemporary British life, but it isn't the kind of escapist movie experience suggested by its title. --IPaul Tonks/I
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Ennio Morricone December 5, 2008
This classic movie within (the opening credits) the first 15 minutes packs in more entertainment than most Hollywood movies of today can pack in within 90 minutes. br /br /Sergio Leone introduces three characters in the Train station waiting for the next train (High Noon style) with an amazing Morricone soundtrack in the back ground. Leone deepens and defines the characters by means of visual persuasion. There is no dialogue between the characters as they wait at the train station for someone who is obviously going to be on said train. No explanation, no conversation; not a word is said for 15 minutes. br /br /We then move onto a scene of quiet away from the Train station with young Timmy McBain. His family have just been slaughtered. Cue Henry Fonda, the all American hero now playing a bad guy. He shoots the boy. This is ground-breaking cinema at its best. 1969. And you thought the Wild Bunch was violent. br /br /br /How is it that this rather stylised movie still holds up so well 38 years after its release? It's not that it has somehow kept up with cinema and popular culture. It's that cinema and pop culture have done their best, over the decades, to catch up with this epic western. I stubbornly keep it on my list of top ten English language movies, even though it was mainly an Italian production with an Italian director. Three of the four main actors were American and delivered their lines in English (although many of the other roles were filled by Italians). Even the Internet Movie Database gives its language as English, even while listing it under the title C'era una volta il West, which by my tally is at least 78 percent Italian. The Italian title is actually slightly better since, as I read it (in my virtually non-existent Italian), it comes off as more elegy than fairytale: There Was Once the West. br /br /br /Leone's westerns were called, somewhat derisively in the beginning, "spaghetti westerns." But his employment of majestic music (Ennio Morricone) and of epic drama and emotion suggest that another old term, ironically evocative of Italy's cultural heritage, might have been more appropriate: horse opera. The cast is great, but the real stars here are Ennio Morricone's reverberating musical themes and Leone's stunning visuals. Morricone didn't win an Oscar for this, and never has won. They've given him a honorary lifetime achievement thing, but he's never won an Academy Award for his music. br /br /br /Many striking scenes have been quoted endlessly ever since: the camera swinging around to reveal that the chief bad guy is Henry Fonda (about to gun down a defenseless child), the camera peering through the train station window and then rising to give us a sunrise's view of a frontier town, Fonda and Claudia Cardinale face to face and rotating 90 degrees and revealed to be horizontal on a bed. It goes on and on. br /br /The men are impossibly implacable and impossibly macho. Cardinale and the landscapes of southeast Spain and southwest U.S. are impossibly beautiful. Supposedly, Leone wanted to use the stars of his earlier westerns (Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach) as the trio of killers who wait to ambush Charles Bronson in the movie's opening sequence (over what is claimed to be the longest set of opening credits ever). That would have been some opening but, of course, it didn't come to pass. In their place old standbys Jack Elam, Woody Strode and the lesser known Al Mulock did just fine. It was merely the first of many unforgettable set pieces, mostly sans dialogue, that make up this extraordinary piece of film work.br /br /10/10.br /Brendan clarke, Pikey.
Not as bad as I'd been led to expect. February 28, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If the interviews and commentary-track on the Dead Man's Shoes DVD are anything to go by, even Meadows himself considers this film to be something of a failure... even going so far as to take up semi-retirement until Paddy Considine could talk him into making another film. As a result of Meadows' personal opinion, coupled with the critical notices at the time, I'd avoided the film under the allusion that it was an absolute cinematic disaster... a Brit-flick turkey completely devoid of merit!! As it happens, however, the film isn't all that bad, or at least, not as bad as I'd been led to believe by the director and the critics.pThe story is simple, with Meadows and co-writer Paul Fraser playfully attempting juxtapose the conventions of the western genre with the more traditional style of British storytelling favoured by the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. So, we have the usual western flourishes - the lone desperado riding into town, the fight between the two protagonists over the hand of a fair maiden, and the big mid-narrative showdown in the local saloon - appearing alongside the more obvious British concerns like family-ties, shell-suits, day-time talk shows and bingo. The combination of the two forms isn't entirely successful, and it seems that the filmmakers aren't quite committed to the concept 100%, with certain parts of the film simply descending into the style of filmmaking usually reserved for an ITV social drama. The use of the widescreen "cinema-scope" photography works well, with Meadows lovingly referencing the films of Sergio Leone, most prominently in the scene in which Robert Carlisle's character Jimmy has an altercation with the bumbling Dek, brilliantly played by Rhys Ifans, at the auto-garage where he works. As well as that particular scene, there's also the big climactic face-off between the two characters, which is also perfectly handled by Meadows and his crew... with the director making great use of the frame and plenty of low-angles, whilst a crane shot rising above the houses as one of the characters drives off into the sunset is also a particularly nice touch (still... it's a shame Meadows didn't go for close-up shots of the character's eyes, ala A Fistful of Dollars, but perhaps that would have been a little too much?).pComic relief comes courtesy of Ricky Tomlinson and Kathy Burke in supporting roles, with both actors doing their usual trademark shtick to great effect (for example, a scene in which Burke's character accidentally gets hit on the head with a projectile microphone is bound to generate more laughs that you'd probably expect!!). Carlisle and Shirley Henderson are both good in their pivotal roles, though for me it's Ifans who really impresses, managing to make his character likable and believable as he progresses through the film from meek-doormat into someone who is willing to fight for the family he loves. This is the second film I've seen, following Enduring Love, in which Ifans hasn't seemed like a complete caricature (like he did in Notting Hill and Human Nature), with both films showing his capacity to switch from sly humour to emotional drama within a single scene and furthering his metamorphosis into one of the UK's greatest actors.pOnce Upon A Time... is by no means as impressive or inspiring as other films by Meadows, in particular A Room For Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes, but it's enjoyable enough and charming in it's own way, with Meadows and Fraser balancing an interesting story with an imaginative concept and a handful of strong performances. It's certainly worth picking up if you can find it in the budget-price range, as the DVD comes with a second disk or great entertainment, with making-of documentaries, deleted scenes and interviews, as well as the great Shane's World compilation that was shown on Channel 4 a few years back (...basically a collection of four short films by Meadows, inter-cut with 'Tanks Tips', a how-to guide to short filmmaking, presented by Meadows in character, as the legendary Tank Bullock).
 Spoiled by its own success December 27, 2003
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
Love Shane Meadows. Wrote in fluorescent marker pen on the envelope of my Xmas cards the other year that everyone should see, and spread the word of, "A Room For Romeo Brass," one of the greatest films ever made. 24/7 was an amazing debut full-length film. Delighted at the media attention "Once Upon a Time." has been getting, as it will give Shane Meadows attention he well deserves. Great that "stars" got on board, a testament to how far and well respected Meadow's work is. In the end it sort of spoiled the film for me though. Famous character actors playing characters so similar to those that make them famous in the first place, detracts from the film. Rhys Ifans is great out of type but the 12 year old daughter character (Finn Atkins) steals the show. Rather cliched but well worth seeing for this remarkable young actress and because Shane Meadows is still one of the best British directors around. USE IT AS A TRIGGER TO WATCH A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS AGAIN
 Comic Western in the East Midlands October 25, 2003
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Shane Meadows has once again tapped into the East Midlands resources with a Western twist. The story is a wonderful tragic/comedy with many well known characters from TV, which gives the film that something extra. Finn Atkins is brilliant as the young daughter who makes the decisions for the dithering adults, and excels in her first movie role. Shame about so much foul language. Ignore that, and you'll love the movie.
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