Movies

480 directors voted and decided that the best western in film history is this masterpiece by Sergio Leone

This 1968 classic, with a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, marked a turning point in the genre.

Update: Sep 19th, 2025 00:23 CEST

What is the best film of all time according to filmmakers? In 2022, a total of 480 film directors from around the world participated in one of the industry’s most important surveys to answer this question. This is the prestigious Sight & Sound list published by the British Film Institute magazine, which compiles the 100 best films in history every ten years.

In it, first place went to Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. But when it comes to the western genre, the most voted and highest ranked film is none other than ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’. This Italian film, directed by the great Sergio Leone (‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’) and released in 1968, appears at number 46 on the list, to the surprise of many.

Sight & Sound describes this film as “an epic compendium of borrowed situations from the cowboy films he loved.” The magazine also highlights the memorable opening sequence, the unforgettable soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone, and the slow, tense duels that are so typical of Leone.

Is ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ the best western of all time?

Once Upon a Time in the West became the highest-rated western by film directors thanks to the support of figures such as Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation). Both consider that this work transcended the boundaries of the spaghetti western and had a major impact on their careers.