Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Sergio Leone’s expansive and lengthy western isn't of the 'Spaghetti' variety made famous by his Dollars Trilogy. It’s more traditional and respectful to established convention, but it took the bar and raised it to max level.
The pace is slow and expectant, reliant on timed audio to captivate and characterise. Composer Ennio Morricone gave each character their own theme and used them to reinforce what goes unsaid (reportedly the 165 min running time had only fifteen pages of dialogue). Charles Bronson gives what's perhaps the best performance of his career as the man with the harmonica.

5 trains and tracks out of 5