They're both magnificent films with two of the most incredibly scored scenes - Jill's arrival and Tuco's torture in the camp - you'll ever see so it's very difficult to choose a definitive winner. However the thing that elevates both of these films above being "mere" Westerns is their meta elements.

With that in mind I think Once Upon A Time In The West just shades it as it's meta storyline is the death of the wild west itself. The ending, with railtracks arriving just as the old cowboy's time literally and metaphorically runs out, is for me one of the greatest in film history.

@The Midi-chlorian Count said:

They're both magnificent films with two of the most incredibly scored scenes - Jill's arrival and Tuco's torture in the camp - you'll ever see so it's very difficult to choose a definitive winner. However the thing that elevates both of these films above being "mere" Westerns is their meta elements.

With that in mind I think Once Upon A Time In The West just shades it as it's meta storyline is the death of the wild west itself. The ending, with railtracks arriving just as the old cowboy's time literally and metaphorically runs out, is for me one of the greatest in film history.

Well said.