Rating: 
Summary: "Cue the MUSIC"!
Review: Where oh where do I start? First off...this is a MESS of a movie! Director Leone knows TWO shots in this film...close up and REEEEALLY CLOSE UP! I watched this film on TV with my family when I was around 12 and we ALL laughed our heads off during the screening. Everytime there was a supposed dramatic moment, that GOD AWFUL music would chime in! And what's with casting Henry Fonda as the villain?! I thought at any moment the aging star's TEETH were gonna fall out onto the dusky plains of Italy! Lemme try to put this gently...this movie STINKS! Extreme close ups, BOMBBASTIC music and ENDLESS scenes sans dialogue DO NOT a classic make!
Rating: 
Summary: WIDESCREEN
Review: This is one of those movies that MUST be seen in widescreen, obviously. A lot of people reviewing this film have mentioned that. The only way to see this movie in widescreen until the DVD is released would be if an old movie channel, say like Turner Classic Movies which shows 90% of its films in widescreen, happened to air the movie sometime in the near future. Might be worth searching the TCM schedule on its website. Sergio Leone's the best, right after Peckinpah and Ford.
Rating:
Summary: Viewed it at least 10 times in the past 10 years
Review: This movie is a classic. Watching it more than once just makes it better. I'm getting old waiting for the DVD to be released. If it is not released soon, I will record it myself on a DVD, recorded direct from a Direct TV showing on the western chan.Id rather pay, however, the studio cannot deny us loyal viewers any longer. Anyone who hasn't seen this movie is missing a movie masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Best Western
Review: By far, bar none or whatever...this is the best western ever produced, written, directed, and acted. The score and the cinematography are both beautiful and amazing. None better.
Rating:
Summary: Why hasn't this film been released on DVD yet?
Review: I can't really say anything more that hasn't already been said about this film in previous customer reviews, but I just wanted to state that watching OUATITW for the first time was one of the greatest cinematic experiences I've ever enjoyed. The film is flawless in every aspect of the filmmaking process. I can't describe the feeling I get from watching it. It's the kind of film that can be viewed multiple times without losing any of the magic that you felt the first time. The story is not terribly complex, but it took me about three screenings to fully digest the film due to its epic scale. I wish that Paramount would stop sitting on this lost gem and give it a proper release on DVD with all the trimmings. It seems that there is already a huge demand for this film, so why the hold up? IMO, I think that OUATITW is not only one of the greatest westerns ever made, but also one of the finest cinematic works of all time.
Rating:
Summary: None Better
Review: The more reviews you read on this movie the better sense that you'll get that it affects all of its fans the same way. Conversely reviews can't adequately describe this movie at all. For reasons that I don't think that I can adequately express this is my favorite movie. Reviews have adequately captured the film's historical and realistic backdrop. The main film musical theme as well as the character musical themes are superb and for this reason even if marginally distracting at some points are completely excusable. I can't imagine how there could have been any better performances than those given by each of the main character actors. They could never remake this movie. I honestly think that although most of these actors have given fine performances in many other movies, that they gave their finest performances in this movie! All of the dialog could easily have fit in a 30-minute film. The only thing left to fill in the remaining 135 minutes was acting - and act they did. To this day I can't see a movie with any of them in it when I don't think about "Once Upon A Time In The West". Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The feeling that you get when you watch this movie differentiates it from all others. It's this feeling that makes me appreciate it every time I watch it.
Rating:
Summary: Once Upon a Time in the West...One outstanding movie!
Review: This is absolutely one of the best western's of all time! The characters, the close-ups, the scenery, the script, the actors all make this a movie to definately own. We want the DVD available now!!!
Rating:
Summary: A unique portrayal of a western story
Review: Sometimes a movie is worth watching if for no other reason than to appreciate the performance of an actor. This is one of those except there is not one but three actors. In addition to their performance, Leone himself seems to have been allowed far more artistic license than permitted by Hollywood's quick profit motive today. The best example is the opening scene. Jack Elam is perfect along with Woody Strode. What other movie starts out with a drama between man and fly. And to watch Strode's death scene makes you wonder how often such scenes actually occurred in the old west. Leone frequently put the camera right in the face of his performers. Perhaps he overdid the art of the closeup but you soon accepted it as part of the movie's tone. One of my favorites was of Bronson at the end where he said "Someday" and walked out the door. Had the scene been longer or shorter I think it would have taken away from the moment. Likewise, the dialogue. To have said anymore would have been too much. Lonesome Dove is another great western tale that leaves you wanting more of the main characters. You wish you could meet not the performers but the characters themselves. Perhaps to an actor that is one of their goals. Only the great ones seem to be able to do it, not the superficial over-rated wannabe's that we are insulted by Hollywood with today. If we allowed the performers to perform as Leone does here, the garbage in Hollywood today would show itself for what it actually is; Untalented for little else than to read lines and follow directions and seek publicity. How wonderful it is to enjoy a movie for the performance more than the story or the special effects.
Rating: 
Summary: Best score of all time, not the best film of all time
Review: I must be one of the very few people to not consider this a total classic. It is a tough movie to review. On the plus side, the score by Ennio Morricone might be the best ever written, with not one but two all-time classic themes ('The Man with the Harmonica' and the title track). I also thought the cinematography was excellent - the dusty, dry and wide-open scenery of the west came to life better than in any John Ford movie. Finally, as so many have said before me, the casting of Henry Fonda as the villain was an inspired choice, and his entrance near the beginning of the film accompanied by Morricone's 'Harmonica' music has to go down as one of the greatest screen entrances of all time. However, there are some serious faults with this film. As in other of his movies, Leone has a horrible tendency to overuse his great Morricone scores, thereby lessening their impact: the worst example here is the hauntigly beautiful title track, which Leone plays all too often. Second, I was sorely disappointed at the lack of good scenes with Henry Fonda: there are really only two, one being his entrance and the second a flashback near the end. Just as with Lee van Cleef in 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,' Fonda's brilliant portrayal of a sadistic killer lost too much screen time to the less interesting main character, here played by Charles Bronson. Furthermore, as also in Good/Bad/Ugly, there are some huge plot inconsistencies - without giving away the plot there is one scene where a character appears to be perfectly ok and then ends up dying from an old gunshot wound five minutes later. Finally and perhaps most important, Leone has to be one of the most pretentious directors of all time. With a title like 'Once Upon a Time in the West,' I expected more than just a rehashing of the plot of 'Johnny Guitar,' and the silly scenes of the railroad baron staring teary-eyed at a picture of the pacific were too much for me. Unfortunately Morricone must take some blame for this pretension, since his music is so good that Leone always seems to feel a need to show long boring shots of his uninteresting characters. Also, the supposed mythic qualities of this movie fail to impress me - for a far better western with much more to say and a lot less pretension check out the far superior 'The Wild Bunch.' In any case, if you're going to watch this movie, make sure your sound system is up to snuff - if you don't like anything else, you'll love the score.
Rating:
Summary: BEST WESTERN
Review: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST IS ONE OF THE BEST WESTERN FILMS SINCE "HIGH NOON". HENRY FONDA IS GREAT AS SINISTER MAN AND ROBARDS SHOWS A KIND SIDE TO HIS "TOUGHNSS".AS AWAYS BRONSON IS AWLSOM!...CLAUDIA CARDENELLI IS TRULY SUPERB AS A DETERMNE WOMAN TO OBTAIN HER GOALS. A MOTION PICTURE YOU WILL WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
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