Sergio Leone's renown as a filmmaker rests upon a fistful of films, most notably the three Westerns he made with Clint Eastwood in the mid-1960s: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). While the success of these movies ensured Leone's reputation would endure, the few films he made following The Man with No Name Trilogy—culminating in his American gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America (1984) with Robert DeNiro—would solidify Leone's place as one of the great visionaries of his time.

In this enhanced revision of Once upon a Time: The Films of Sergio Leone, Robert C. Cumbow examines the work of this Italian filmmaker who made his mark re-envisioning the American Western. This volume includes a greatly expanded introduction and contains newly revised essays in which Cumbow analyzes the transition from "peplum" films to westerns in the Italian popular tradition. The book also examines each of Leone's major films as director, as well as the swan song Italian Western My Name Is Nobody, which Leone co-wrote and guided as producer. Cumbow also studies Leone's compositional style and the influence of Catholicism and the Italian grand opera tradition on his work. He provides a critical evaluation of Leone's style in reshaping the Western genre (and later, the crime film), as well an assessment of the influences on Leone's work, and his continuing impact on subsequent generations of film makers.

Additional features of this book include thumbnail comments on the professionals who most frequently made up Leone's cast and crew, as well as an entire chapter devoted to composer Ennio Morricone. The book also includes an exhaustive bibliography, discography, and filmography, completely updated for this new edition. For fans and scholars seeking original and illuminating discussion of his work, The Films of Sergio Leone provides a critical appreciation of this master stylist.

塞尔吉奥-莱昂内作为电影人的声誉建立在大量的电影上，最引人注目的是他在1960年代中期与克林特-伊斯特伍德拍摄的三部西部片。A Fistful of Dollars（1964年）、For a Few Dollars More（1965年）和The Good, the Bad and the Ugly（1966年）。虽然这些电影的成功确保了莱昂内的声誉经久不衰，但他在《无名之辈》三部曲之后拍摄的几部电影--最终与罗伯特-德尼罗合作的美国黑帮史诗《美国往事》（1984年）--将巩固莱昂内作为他那个时代的伟大幻想家之一的地位。

在这本加强版的《曾经沧海难为水：塞尔吉奥-莱昂内的电影》中，罗伯特-C-坎博研究了这位意大利电影人的作品，他重新定义了美国西部片。本卷包括一个大大扩展的导言，并包含新修订的文章，在这些文章中，Cumbow分析了从 "波普 "电影到意大利流行传统的西部片的过渡。该书还研究了莱昂内作为导演的每一部主要影片，以及莱昂内作为制片人共同创作和指导的意大利西部片《我的名字叫无名氏》的天鹅之歌。Cumbow还研究了莱昂内的作曲风格以及天主教和意大利大歌剧传统对其作品的影响。他对莱昂内重塑西部片（以及后来的犯罪片）的风格进行了批判性评价，并对莱昂内作品的影响进行了评估，以及他对后来几代电影制作人的持续影响。

本书的其他特点包括对最经常组成莱昂内的演职人员的缩略评论，以及专门介绍作曲家恩尼奥-莫里康内的一整章。本书还包括一个详尽的书目、唱片目录和电影目录，并为这个新版本进行了全面更新。对于寻求对其作品进行原创性和启发性讨论的影迷和学者来说，《塞尔吉奥-莱昂内的电影》提供了对这位大师级造型师的批评性评价。