Totally agree Groucho.
It was something new then...ippo romba kaapiadichu, spoof pannunathaala, we don't feel anything.
I don't think this matters at all. Despite all the spoofs, and overcooked standoffs, the way Leone sets it up towards the denouement and the confrontation itself, is brilliant. The eyes, as you said, shows the distrust that runs in-between, and the music, strikes the recurrent notes (three different musical-motifs for three characters flexed together) and the imagery is setup. The deft movement along the periphery of a Circle. We are much used to traditional Western dramatalogy - you know the flip-side good vs bad, but a tripartite showdown of three different shades of Grey came off well.

Btw I'm responding towards Peckinpah's style a lot more these days when it comes to choreographing fights and violence.