Once Upon a Time in the West is the second in Sergio Leone's trilogy of sorts. I'd seen this film as a school kid and I didn't get it more than the occasional gunshots. After a recent spree of rewatches, this is arguably my all-time favourite western along with Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. 

Assisted by the big hollywood bugdet this time and hence (breathtakingly) shot on locations in Arizona and Utah, this movie is visually the best movie that Leone ever made, and probably one of the best ever. It's not just the landscape and the sets, but shot-by-shot and scene-by-scene, this is gorgeous. The two stars in Henry Fonda playing Frank, the bad guy and the super mysterious Harmonica character played by Charles Bronson, are both brilliant in their respective roles. They talk very less and a lot of close-ups of their cold faces and eyes are put to great effect. 

The movie is a slow mover so be forewarned. The beginning/title scene where 3 bad guys wait for the train to arrive at the station is a long 8 minute sequence with nothing but natural sounds (windmill, chair, water, fly etc.,) used. It's one of the best intros to a movie ever. It actually reminded me of the scene in another old favourite western of mine, High Noon, a tribute perhaps. There was another instance that I noticed where Charles Bronson revisits a scene from The Magnificent Seven too. After watching the movie, I looked up and found out that the movie is full of references to old(er) westerns that the writers and Leone put in as tributes, which is completely awesome for nerds like the readers here.

Back to the movie, this Irish guy who's settled with his family in an obscure place and is waiting for his new wife Jill to arrive by rail (rail is a recurring theme in this movie by the way) gets murdered along with the rest of his family. Harmonica comes looking for Frank, past revenge story and all, who's also responsible for these killings. The movie reveals the motive behind the killings and ends with a final gun fight between the Frank and Harmonica. I've always liked it when the whole movie is built up to a fight like this, it's the tension and release that matters and not the actual length of the fight. A lot of one-on-one Samurai fights do this. Take for example the strange, recently made Zatoichi or the classic Samurai. The fights between two great Samurai gets over with a single flash of the sword. Same effect here and the build up is totally stylish and intense.

Cheyenne, as played by Jason Robards in a superb supporting role (or the third guy around the Jill character), especially provides an exceptional touch when the movie comes to a finish.

Morricone's score in this movie and the sound design overall takes this brilliant movie to a level where you can call it one of the best films ever made. Poetic and epic.