Once upon a Time in the West opening credits
The titles of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West use stretched Cooper Black, set in capitals. Will Perkins describes the titles – and their soundtrack – on Art of the Title:
In [Once upon a Time in the] West, Leone uses sound and editing to slowly ratchet up the tension as the trio wait and wait and wait for their quarry. The film’s score is widely considered to be some of composer Ennio Morricone’s finest work, but the only sound here is the squeak of the wind turbine, the jangle of spurs, the cracking of knuckles, and the incessant buzz of one seriously pesky fly. This naturalistic soundscape allows the credits, set in Cooper Black, to seamlessly blend in with the scene. On-screen moves and audio cues pull — or lasso, if you will — most of the typography into frame. Credits appear and disappear in time with the clack of the telegraph machine or the slamming of a door. The final credit of the sequence — Directed by Sergio Leone — arrives with a roar as the long-awaited train pulls into the station, the type coming down across the tracks to block the locomotive’s path or, more appropriately, like the arm of a clapper board. The showdown is about to begin. Action.
