I'd seen this about 10 years ago, but nonetheless watched it again.
And was impressed. This film is a masterpiece, after which the Mythology of the American West was molded.
In everything - in the soundtrack: the flies, the spinning of a weathervane, the gunfire, the harmonica, the sound of the Steam-Engines and Clocks all driving the movie forward...
This is not even slightly accidental, most, if not the entire, soundtrack and dialogue were added in post production. Watch the lips.
The opening - 3 Outlaws come to murder Charles Bronson aka 'Harmonica' - how long? 5? Maybe even 10, no, 12 minutes the film builds, the camera focusing on the flies on their faces, on the heat of the day, on the long wait for their intended target. Minimum speaking, none at all from the the 3 outlaws, merely waiting, character exposition. Then when Harmonica arrives they apologize, by way of making light, for bringing only 3 horses, one short, to which Bronson laconically replies "You brought 2 too many".
Leone sends up every cliche - the good guy in white, the bad guy in black, the whore with a heart of gold, the grasping and murderous railway tycoon, gunfight at high noon, the train to Yuma, the anticipation waiting for the final blow of the auctioneers gavel, and yet he does it so well that - while the characters aren't in any way real, they're archetypes, conventions, you are nonetheless heavily invested.
In every instance he shows, doesn't tell, spells nothing out for you that you should be able to see for yourself (**Note - audiences were clearly a little more clever then. "Dumbing Us Down" is a very real thing in the media as well as in School).
The cast, in places hundreds, the attention to detail - in the recreation of historical settings, props, historical costumes, etc - the scenes that Use the Monument Valley, the Cave Dwelling of the Ute people, in the execution of every trivial detail he's finishing off a masterpiece, and - well, he, succeeds. An Italian Film Director redefines the "Old West", the history, the mythology, sums it all up in the most epic Western ever made, and the world has by and large believed him.
I found it interesting that - having received similar reviews in France and Germany, the year of its release saw it panned in America, and only the fullness of time has proven his vision.
Anyways, if you've never seen this, you should, and if you have, maybe it's time to watch it again. There's a lot worse on Netflix, lemme tell you...