The opening sequence of Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best sequences in the history of cinema, as well as one of the most referenced.  For over 10 minutes the soundtrack consists of nothing more than the naturalistic sounds of creaking windmills and dust blown wind and the screen filled with three characters performing the most mundane tasks imaginable as they wait for a train to arrive.  What makes the opening so essential is not only how beautifully it is executed, but how it sets up the rest of the film.  Much of the film consists of the characters waiting and Leone films this to create an increasing amount of anticipation and tension until the cathartic explosions of violence.  Through his bold compositions and abundance of close-ups, it becomes a hyperbolic expression of the legend of the Old West where the heroes and villains are bigger than life and the background characters and the vast landscape around them are dwarfed.  Leone's West embraces the legend of these men to the point where it is not remotely realistic, but an artistic expression of how the West is remembered.  

The framing and composition is used as a means of expression to create tension, develop characters, externalize the characters internal experiences and paint Leone's vision of myth on the screen.  He borrows more techniques from silent and art films than from other westerns and without hearing a single line of dialogue the intensity of the film would not be lost.  Though there are long stretches with little or no dialogue, the dialogue that is there is sharp, witty and sarcastic leaving plenty of room for the humor that pops up at just the right moments and works even better at the more seemingly inappropriate moments such as right before a shoot-out.  The intense atmosphere pervades the film and even the quieter romantic or reflective moments are filled with a sense of energy that comes from the expectation that at any given moment something huge is going to happen.  There is a sense of immediacy unlike any other western because every action and reaction is monumental.  When Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson or Jason Robards are on screen, it is for a reason and that reason is usually because someone is about to die.  Claudia Cardinale's screen presence is also greatly felt (which could take us into a completely different topic!) as the determined widow and former prostitute trying to hold on to her last threads of hope.

For all of its revisionist tactics, Once Upon a Time in the West also embraces the genre clichés.  The story of good vs. evil, the creation of a new town, and the train representing the arrival of modern civilization and all of the good and bad things that come along with it are all important parts of the story.  It is this last aspect that the film tackles most intelligently.  Leone is very preoccupied with comparing and contrasting the "man" with the "businessman". As the crippled businessman suggests, the only thing more powerful than a man with a gun is a man with money.  While Leone doesn't condone the violence in his films, one gets the feeling that he has a great deal more contempt for the dishonorable tactics of businessmen since there is no honor in their methods and the responsibility of their actions is continuously passed down the line.  Here the businessman is safe from the world, never leaving his train and mobile only to the degree that he can drag his deformed body from one side to the other.  His money weighs him down and leaves him power-hungry for more, but he is unable to act on his own.  His money gives him the power to purchase not only land, but people as well.  His kind comes with civilization and Leone reminds us just how similar capitalist is to a man with a gun.  This is one of the minor pieces of the film, but important enough to mention along with everything else that make this an amazing, one-of-a-kind film.

Charles Bronson's Harmonica character's (an obvious extension of the man with no name in the Dollars trilogy) endless quest for revenge makes for the most interesting piece of the story and it is shrouded in such mystery that his true motivations and true character traits are unclear until the final 15 minutes of the film.  The stories that surround this are nearly as interesting and interweaved so beautifully that although the plot isn't too important in a film like this, it is deeply textured and able to generate huge emotional payoffs even when we know next to nothing about the characters.  The over-the-top style - a blend of Leone's unique visual style and Morricone's layered, explosive score - is what sets this apart from all other westerns.  Few directors are able to successfully create there own cinematic world and even amongst the few that have, even fewer are so immediately recognizable and distinctive as the one here.  Whether one embraces this or not is a matter of personal taste, but there is no question that this is an amazing accomplishment.