Can I Ask: Why Do People -Like- This So Much?

Not a troll post... I -sincerely- want to try and understand why so many people educated people talk about this movie with such reverence.

I consider myself a fairly savvy film lover. If a movie is considered a 'classic' I make a sincere effort to try to 'get it'... even if there's no visceral appeal. And most of the time, I can at least -see- what all the fuss is about.

But this is my 3rd shot in 20 years at this thing and frankly? It just strikes me as dated, hammy and almost a caricature. I love 'classic' movies as much as the next guy... and I understand that 'westerns' are something of a world of their own, but jeeez. Most of these characters are like cartoon characters.

I've read just dozens of critical essays talking about the 'multi-layered depth' of this things and all the hidden meanings but at the end of the day? I think it's the Emperor's New Clothes.

It seems to me that it simply fed into the prejudices of moviegoers in 1956 and is nowhere near the equal of movies from that era.

OK... what am I missing. If you just like Westerns as a guilty pleasure? Or it has great memories of childhood? Or you just think John Wayne is cool Fine. I've got dozens of movies like that---but I don't go on about how 'great' they were. I just -liked- 'em.

SO: What are all these 'depths of greatness'?

TIA,

---JC