I never expected any western to approach the quality of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but Once Upon a Time in the West both gave me hope and succeeded. The overstretched beginning is fairly flat, but once Charles Bronson and Jason Robards meet it’s as if the whole movie suddenly goes aflame. Sergio Leone is fully aware of the power of silence now, his trademark natural slow pauses creating a voyeuristic effect that turns the audience into an anxious observer of powder kegs in scene after scene. Ennio Morricone’s score is far superior to his others as well.