Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Three gunmen wait at a train station while a fly pesters one of them and water drips onto another one’s hat, and Once Upon a Time in the West lets that go on so long you start rooting for the fly. At 166 minutes, the sickly railroad tycoon’s subplot drags, and a couple of standoffs stretch past tense and into checking your watch. Everything else is towering. Henry Fonda, the most trustworthy face of old Hollywood, plays Frank with cold blue eyes and zero mercy, and the casting still lands like a punch. Charles Bronson barely talks, he just plays a harmonica, which is somehow scarier. Claudia Cardinale grows Jill from a stranded widow into the one person in town who isn’t scared of anybody. The music gives every main character a theme, so you hear them before you see them. A 9.4 because it’s the western as opera: slow, enormous and unforgettable. $67.56 says you squint at the microwave during its final countdown like it’s a duel at high noon.

What works: Henry Fonda’s casting against type, the patient standoffs and the music that turns every character into a theme make it one of the great westerns.

What doesn’t: At 166 minutes the Morton railroad subplot drags, and some standoffs are stretched past suspense and into restlessness.

Who it’s for: Anyone who thinks westerns are all the same, and anyone ready to give a slow movie their full attention.