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When I went into this, I knew I'd have to write something about it, so as I watched I kind of pictured what I'd do. After 25 minutes I said to myself "The first 25 minutes of this movie are perfect!" Then, after 45, I said "The first 45 minutes of this movie are perfect!" And so it went on for a 160 minutes, after which the only thing I could think of about for this review is "The 160 minutes of this film are perfect!" So yeah, Once Upon a Time in the West sure deserves all the praise it gets. It's called the ultimate western, but it's so much more than that. Sure, it has all the things any good western should have and none of the things it shouldn't have (meaning that there are no saloon fist fights, thank god), but the movie also has soooo much more to it. All the dialogue is layered with subtext ontop of subtext, none of it is nonsenical, everything reveals more and more about these great characters. The performances are beyond solid, providing atleast four unforgettable characters that will haunt anyone who dares enter Leone's masterpiece. The pacing is pitch-perfect every step of the way as well, as is, well, pretty much every other thing as well. The sole problem I can come up with that actually bothered me during the film is the way the score occasionally ends and then restarts. This sometimes works, but every once in a while a tune just cuts in a bad point where the transition from music to no music doesn't feel natural and it kind of takes me out of the film when this happens. The train scene with Harmonica aboard is a good example of this. This is however by no means a flaw that would lower my appreciation towards the picture in any way. This is a film that could be used as the dictionary definition for masterpiece.
10/10
