<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $5 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $5,321,508 (US) 14,873,804 admissions (France) 13,000,000 admissions (Germany) </Td> </Tr> <P> Once Upon a Time in the West (Italian: C'era una volta il West) is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone . It stars Henry Fonda, cast against type, as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader, and Jason Robards as a bandit . The screenplay was written by Sergio Donati and Leone, from a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci and Leone . The widescreen cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the acclaimed film score was by Ennio Morricone . </P> <P> After directing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Leone decided to retire from Westerns and desired to produce his film based on The Hoods, which eventually became Once Upon a Time in America . However, Leone accepted an offer from Paramount Pictures to provide access to Henry Fonda and to use a budget to produce another Western film . He recruited Bertolucci and Argento to devise the plot of the film in 1966, researching other Western films in the process . After Clint Eastwood turned down an offer to play the movie's protagonist, Bronson was offered the role . During production, Leone recruited Donati to rewrite the script due to concerns over time limitations . </P>

Who directed the movie once upon a time in the west