The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Rating:
Summary: "$200,000 is a lot of money. You're gonna have to earn it."
Review: On of the most impressive things about "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" ("Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo") is that it is not director Sergio Leone's best film, which would be his next one, 1968's "Once Upon a Time in the West" ("C'era una volta il West"). But this 1966 film has is where Leone moves from his first two spaghetti westerns, the Akira Kurosawa inspired "For a Fistful of Dollars" ("Per un pugno di dollari") and "For a Few Dollars More" ("Per qualche dollaro in più"), and starts playing on a grander scale.

In listening to the commentary on the DVD version of "Once Upon a Time in the West" I learned that all of the actors in his films were dubbed because Leone did not bother with sound when he went out to shoot his movies. If you remember how the invention of sound destroyed the more cinematic aspects of the movies by restricting movement so that actors could be near microphones, then you can appreciate the sense of freedom this gave Leone. The result is a distinctive style that goes well beyond Leone's signature juxtaposition of wide vistas and extreme close ups (often in a single shot, without a cut). Leone also likes to take his time, as evidenced by the final three scenes of the film, where Tuco searches for the grave with the gold, the three-way gunfight, and the parting of the two survivors. His films ran long and were routinely shortened (read: "butchered") for their American releases. But even so, there is a clearly boldness and a flavor to Leone's cinematic vision of the west that is as distinct as that of John Ford or any other classic Hollywood director of westerns you want to name.

In the final film of Leone's "Man With No Name" triology, Clint Eastwood (now called Blondie instead of Joe and Manco but obvious the "Good" guy) has a new scam going as a bounty hunter who saves his captures from the rope so that the reward goes up and he can move on to the new town and do the same thing all over again. His pigeon, the "Ugly" Tuco (Eli Wallach), is not exactly happy with the arrangement and finally has the opportunity to reverse their situation. However the former partners find a new unity of purpose when a dying man tells each of them part of the secret location of $200,000 in captured Union cold. Our story takes place in the New Mexico territory (that is where the two particular generals mentioned had minor skirmishes during the Civil War), and the Yankees and Rebels are between the two and the gold. Then, there is the "Bad" Sentenza (Lee Van Cleef), called Angel Eyes, who has also been on the trail of the gold.

From an acting perspective the most impressive performance is that of Wallach, although this is partly by default. Tuco never stops talking while Blondie is a man of very few words (but great timing) and Angel Eyes communicates best when he narrows his eyes and glares at people. In the hands of another actor Tuco might have been more of a buffoon, but Wallach develops one of the most multi-dimension characterizations in the history of Westerns. In those brief moments when Tuco stops talking you can see his mind turning over what to do next before heading off full throttle in a new direction.

"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" does stand on its own, even though it is the final film of a triology. I originally saw the film in a movie theater and did not see the previous two Leone-Eastwood collaborations until decades later on late night television. But while the order in watching Leone's films is of little consequence to the appreciation of any particular one of them, at some point you should enjoy going through them in chronological order to see exactly how within a five year period he went from ripping off Kurosawa to creating what remains my favorite western of all time.

Rating:
Summary: this is a badly scripted and barely okayed movie
Review: long, contrited, cliched, inappropriatedly directed and edited movie. suppose to be good but actually not, if you are not so blindly loyal to sergio leone. one of the most ridiculous scene in this movie is that those confederate pows doing choir in the pow camp. that song was 100% foreign instead of a real southerners' ballad. a totally out-of-picture junk! there are so many drag-on scenes that should be cut and put away but were stupidly kept and made this movie become even more loose and apart. the canon blasting to each other across the river, the blahblahblah of a nonchalant commander, treated two captured southies with special attention with blahblahblah, and then died and (who cares?) then, after the ridiculous blastings, all the north and south guys suddenly disappeared, only the two major roles were kept on the scene and still alive, with another dying guy who was covered with eastwood's duster. and then, did you find how fit eastwood's costumes were? and where they came from? why, he gave away his duster and then got another brand new designer poncho right afterwards?! how conveniently provided by the costume/wardrob guy, hehehe. did you notice his designer jean in the final scene was so clean and pressed? and he himself was suddenly so zestfully clean? there are so many flaws in this terribly scripted and directed movie. the only great performance in this pathetic movie is the guy who played the mexican vagabond, definitely an oscar-worthy performance! eastwood and the other guy were not as good as this guy, because the lousy script did give them any chance to play and allow them to develop into any significant role. the other two movies played by eastwood are definitely better than this one. no wonder sergio leone would hate himself to the guts after this movie and decided to call a quit after this third movie. but, god saved his soul, by accepting hollywood's lure and finally, a much much better and cooler movie, 'once upon a time in the west' was accomplished.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Western will hopefully be re-released on DVD
Review: While I still find Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in The West to be his best and most morally complex western (it's also the only spaghetti western that had footage shot in the United States in Monument Valley a classic John Ford setting), The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is certainly one of his most entertaining and interesting westerns.

I'm not going to recap the plot beyond saying that the trio of main characters featured here (well played by Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach)form an unholy alliance to recover confederate gold. All three manage to cross and double cross each other and while Eastwood's Man With No Name character may be the "good" of the title, he's by no means the type of hero you would find in a John Ford or Howard Hawks western.

The picture looks very nice on this DVD single disc release but (I may have a disc that is flawed) the deleted scenes have no audio. It says it features the original Italian audio but, in fact, the sequences are silent (which would explain why Eastwood and Wallach went back to redub the restored version released this year). When you do hit the audio button on your DVD remote it does say the soundtrack is the Italian version but, again, there's nothing to hear. The sound is so-so and that's not a surprise given that the original soundtrack was in mono and it would be very difficult to locate the original source audio for a digital remix for true 5.1.

If you're a fan of the film and can find this at a bargain, by all means pick it up. If not, wait until the restored version that Scorese worked on is released on DVD. Since that will include the 16 minutes of footage missing from the film with redubbed dialog by Eastwood and Wallach, that version would be the must have for fans of the film. I'm hoping that MGM is planning on releasing this fairly soon (much like they did with the restored Escape from New York which which is being released in December of 2003)as a two disc set with all the extras the film deserves.

One of the criticisms about the film is that it doesn't capture the true flavor of the old west (don't recall who wrote the review). That's not a surprise given that the film was made by an Italian film director with a love of American westerns. Leone's films are self reflective--by that I mean they are films about other films [...] You only have to watch this film and Once Upon a Time in The West to get this sense; there's references to a number of classic westerns in either film including The [...]other major and minor classic films.

Leone was interested in using the American archetypes created by [...] and other American film directors and bringing a sense of irony and cynicism. The films exhibit a European flavor and that's to be expected. Most importantly, Leone helped spark the interest in reviving westerns by American film directors. The western had largely fallen out of favor. Without Leone's trilogy there would have been no High Plains Drifted, The Outlaw Josey Wales or any number of mid-60's westerns.

Eastwood later refined Leone's vision with a uniquely American perspective in the classic films High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Unforgiven. This cross pollenation of European art western and American pulp western gave new life to a genre that had played itself out by the early 60's. Every so often a film director comes along to breath new life into a dying genre. Leone just happened to have the artistic ability and creative tenacity to pull it off.

Rating:
Summary: Pinnacle of the genre
Review: And there it is, the three hour magnum opus and finale of the Leone / Eastwood trilogy. Spaghetti Westerns reach their zenith in this grand epic that tracks the inter-weaving adventures of three very different, but similarly driven gunfighters in the waning days of the civil war. The seemingly convoluted plot has Clint, Lee, and Eli racing towards a quarter million dollars in gold. Each man holds a piece of the puzzle and needs the other to complete it. Beautifully filmed and paced, all the sand, grit, blood and sweat combine with that haunting musical score to hold the viewer breathless. The character studies are equally interesting, the more time we spend with the principals the less we ultimately know about them. Brutal commentaries on the absurdities of war are as timely now as presumably they were back then, especially the bridge scenes. Through it all, Clint rises above as the omni-powerful Blondie, always a step ahead and almost paternalistic in his treatment of Tuco. Lee Van Cleef oozes black bile as Angel Eyes, and ranks up there in Western if not all film villainy. It is a tiring movie to watch, the journey seems to take so long but you realize with each scene that you're seeing great directing, acting and period pieces. It looks beautiful on widescreen TVs, definitely recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Sergio Leone's Masterpiece
Review: This is perhaps my second favorite western next to "Tombstone," and even though it is a long film that does not deter me from watching it again and again.

It really doesn't seem that long. The storyline moves out smoothly through three men and their intertwined stories in their search for gold, and every minute there's some new catchy dialogue, action scene, or nice bit of character development to keep you interested.

In many ways, its an epic in and of itself. Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes are all caught up in the Civil War, and in a Kurosawa-like style they experience it on many different levels: the wounded hospitals, the POW camps, and the front line itself. The mere scope and range of the storyline is amazing, and it makes you feel like you really are seeing a period of the old west as it was. In fact, I've heard that Sergio Leone would actually sit in his director's chair with pictures of the Old West laid out across his lap.

If you're a Sergio Leone fan, you must simply see this as its one of his best. If you like westerns, you should see it simply to gain experience. If you're just a film goer, you should at least give it a shot. Hey, it helped get me into westerns.

Rating:
Summary: An Epic Masterpiece From The Master - Sergio Leone
Review: Let me preface my review with a story.

I grew up in a time when westerns ruled the television airwaves of the early sixties - Bonanza, Gunsmoke, etc.

In the mid-sixties, as a young teenager, I recall seeing the advertisments for a new motion picture called "A Fistful of Dollars". When I saw it, it had the same effect on me as hearing The Beatle's Sgt Pepper's album for the first time - this film was different from anything I had ever seen before. And notwithstanding my youth, I was vividly aware of having seen something so different, so revolutionary that it took me some time to get my bearings.

And I quickly became a disciple of this amazing Italian film maker - Sergio Leone.

And so a few years later, when The Good, The Bad and the Ugly was released, it was a foregone conclusion that I would see it. And see it. And see it over and over again. Over a three week period, I paid to see it 19 or 20 times with advances on my allowance. On the 18th or 19th time, the cashier just looked at me and said in a very monotone and deadpan voice "You like this film, don't you..??".

An understatement if there ever was one.

Almost 40 years later, I still love The Good The Bad & The Ugly and with the exception of Leone's magnificent Once Upon A Time In The West, I think this is the greatest western ever made.

The Man With No Name has defined the anti-hero perhaps better than any other character before or after him. Prior to Eastwood's character, westerners were relatively one dimensional characters identified by the color of their hat (if white it was a good guy and if black, it was a bad guy). The Man With No Name redefined all of that. In fact, the idea of the anti-hero transcended westerns and in the sixties, we were seeing them in every film genre.

Images of the poncho clad Eastwood with the small cigar in his mouth became an iconic symbol of the 60's and contributed to the change that the 60's entailed.

Eastwood as the enigmatic Man With No Name - Eli Wallach as the memorable Tuco in perhaps his finest role and the late, great Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes. These three men created these memorable characters that still live on so many years later.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly follows the trails of three very different individuals, each of whom discovers that there is $250,000 in gold buried in a soldier's coffin in a cemetary. Uneasy alliances are formed between these characters and the film builds towards a powerful climax when Leone once again stages a memorable gunfight, complete with the pocket watch music we first heard in For A Few Dollars More. The gunfight is perhaps my favorite moment of any film as Leone's close-ups of the eyes and "twitchy" hands of the three gunfighters is drawn out with Morricone's powerful soundtrack in the background.

Ennio Morricone again created a soundtrack that is instantly recognizeable and an integral part of the film. In fact, I don't think there has ever been a musical score/composer that has contributed so much to the success of a film as has Morricone. It would be impossible to even contemplate a Leone film without Morricone's haunting, majestic scores in the background.

I've probably seen this movie a hundred times and yet if I'm home with little to do and come across this movie on television, I wouldn't hesitate to watch this movie.

And each time I see it, I'm transported back in time to a theater in Toronto, Canada where a cashier once remarked to a young 14 year old boy 35+ years ago "You like this movie, don't you..?"

Close - I actually love this movie..!!!

Rating:
Summary: a masterpiece that lives up to the hype
Review: From the opening triumphant strains of Ennio Morricone's legendary score and those wonderfully dated '60s opening credits, you know you're watching something pretty special.

This is one of those films that even people who haven't seen it, know all about it because, over the years, it has become absorbed into popular culture.

Does it get any better than Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood in the same film together? All three actors play brilliantly off one another with Van Cleef exuding absolute menace, Wallach gleefully chewing up the scenery (the way he says, "You bastard!" is brilliant) and Eastwood is at his laconic best as the mysterious Blondie (aka The Man With No Name).

Sergio Leone's direction is a revelation. He totally reinvents the western into his own unique style that has been imitated but never equaled. Right from the opening shot of a close-up of an grotesque man to the tension-filled final showdown between the three leads, Leone demonstrates a complete command of his craft.

There's a reason that this film is considered one of THE best westerns of all time: you've got Leone's brilliant direction that subverts genre expectations, Morricone's great soundtrack that covers the entire emotional spectrum, and a killer cast that are risen to iconic status as a result of their performances in this movie.

While some consider Once Upon A Time in the West to be Leone's masterpiece, I think that The Good, The Bad and The Ugly edges it out ever so slightly, in my opinion, because I find it infinitely more watchable. It's one of those movies I can sit down and watch any time and if it's ever on TV I usually end up watching it all the way through to the end.

This DVD is a must-have for fans of this film because Leone's proper aspect ratio for this film is faithfully restored. This is the ONLY way to see this movie because [bad] pan and scan completely destroys Leone's widescreen compositions. The sound and picture quality is fantastic and the extras are not half bad -- although, an audio commentary would've been nice.

Essential viewing.

Rating:
Summary: Clint Eastwood's best
Review: First, this is my second favorite film of all time! Second, it has the best soundtrack ever. Third, it's non-stop entertainment. It is VERY well directed, and Sergio Leone comes very close to Akira Kurosawa at directing. Clint Eastwood is spectacular, and so is Eli Wallach. The plot unfolds itself wonderfully, and introduces the characters. It even has a civil war mood to the story! This is the greatest Western of all time, just remember that.

Rating:
Summary: The Squinty Eyed, the Shifty Eyed and Angel Eyes
Review: "For a Few Dollars More" is Sergio Leone's best *cinematic* work; But his epic Western "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is his greatest *work of art.* An audacious undertaking, it would have flopped miserably in any other director's hands. Only someone so commited to his artistic vision as Leone could have pulled off this bombastic pageantry of human nature in all its facets, its capacity for cynicism, greed, bloodlust, revenge, heroism, redemption and honour.

This movie must be *experienced.* Put the DVD in, turn the stereo all the way up and let it pummel you from the moment the Lardani titles blast onto the screen in a blaze of Technicolor fury. The montage of colour, interspersed by stark black and white visages of Eastwood, Van Cleef and Wallach is a tough act to follow, like Saul Bass' mesmerising titles for Hitchcock's "Vertigo."

But, Leone delivers: A pack of killers finally home in on their prey, small-time bandit Tuco Ramirez (THE UGLY, played by the venerable Eli Wallach). They pile through a saloon door, then the camera imediately pans away laterally. Suddenly, his body hurtling through the front window in a rain of glass, Tuco bursts onto the street -- in what has to be the most absurd grand entrance in screen history -- revolver in one hand, a chicken leg in the other. It's total chutzpah on Leone's and Wallach's part.

If you think *that* can't be topped, watch Wallach's entire performance. Animated is putting it mildly. More than a performance, Wallach is a one-man band, nay, Army. Never has such a selfish, petty, ratty and shifty little man been played so larger than life. Wallach smirks, scurries, grimaces, chuckles, shouts, bellows and slyly oils his way across the screen in what has got to be the hammiest performance ever by a method actor. Or *any* actor: He makes Orson Welles, Burt Lancaster and Charles Laughton look like the grey and sullen cast of Woody Allen's "Interiors," he's so alive with passion that he literally sweats his performance out through the filthy pores on his stubble-ridden face. And he's wonderful!

If that's a tough act to follow, you haven't met the bad. They don't come any badder than Angel Eyes, Lee Van Cleef's hired killer who's got ice water running through his veins. Van Cleef is ruthless, bold and heartless. Riding out of nowhere onto a doomed man's rancho, Angel Eyes pays a visit, carrying out a murder for hire. The price: $500. But the victim offers him $1000 to look the other way. No dice: Angel Eyes isn't in it for the money. Rather, he's a man who loves his work, and always sees the job through. So, the poor sod dies anyway.

Clint Eastwood is as cool as a cucumber as The Man With No Name (but really one with sort of a name, in this case "Blondie," which is Wallach's moniker for him). It's fun watching the ongoing relationship between Blondie and Tuco as bounty hunter and prey. In another life, they would have been great pals, but in this life ("we're all alone in this world," Tuco confesses to Blondie, half seriously, half cynically) their love of money is thicker than friendship. So, begrudgingly, they invent ingenious and cruel ways to exact revenge of each other.

It's during one of Tuco's sadistic plots - in which he marches the pale-skinned Eastwood across 100 miles of scorching desert - that the plot finally comes to a head: A driverless stagecoach full of wounded Confederates happens across their path, and through a twist of fate, Tuco and Blondie each have two halves of a secret which, if put together, will make them a quarter of a million dollars richer. But, without each other the two halves are worthless. Thus does Tuco do a 180 from brutal executioner to Blondie's would-be saviour. Now that he could be rich, he suddenly realizes how valuable their friendship is.

It's not before long that they wind up with Angel Eyes, as they're captured by Union soldiers. At the prisoner of war camp, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins. Van Cleef is now more restrained and less thuggish as he deals with Tuco to extract the secret; his henchman Wallace (Mario Brega, a Leone stalwart), pummels it out of Tuco.

In epic fashion, after a shootout in a deserted town and a bridge demolition that explodes across the screen, Tuco, Blondie and Angel Eyes make their way to the cemetery where the treasure is buried. In a fanfare of brass, percussion and chorus, the three face each other down in the cemetery plaza. It's a gorgeous and cathartic set piece. Credit must go not only to composer Ennio Morricone but also to musical director Bruno Nicolai, who conducts the score con fuoco.

To the German viewer who asks about a complete version: This year, MGM/UA issued a restored 35mm print, which just closed at the Film Forum in Manhattan. First restored in Italian by Cineteca Nazionale, the English-language restoration was spearheaded by Martin Scorsese, whose efforts with the Film Preservation Foundation have helped fund preservation of America's celluloid heritage. Both Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood returned to the sound studio to dub new dialogue for approximately 20 minutes of restored footage. Both sound a little older and scratchier, but these added scenes help to explain both Tuco's and Angel Eyes' gangs and some plot points that were previously unclear. However, they both sound great! (Van Cleef's voice was dubbed by a professional voiceover artist, and sounds almost on target). The movie now has the true feel of a sprawling epic, one that's earned its right to take its time.

The current DVD includes two of the three major scene additions as bonus material, but only in Italian. Hopefully soon, MGM will release a new DVD in all its three-hour splendour. Until then, this is well worth watching, giving the viewer a reference point against which to compare the restoration.

Rating:
Summary: Top 100 all time?`
Review: This is the movie that got me into movies. Great cast, good script (i wish i spoke italian and could hear and understand the original in it's intened form) great soundtrack, especially at the climactic end. the fast cuts to the intense eyes of the three characters in time with music is one of my favorite scenes on film. i love how it's drawn out. some scenes are shot are shot in a 'real-time' if you will. for example the opening scene where the three bounty hunters close in on Tuco and pounce on him in the saloon. Leone takes his time walking up the street. i love the cinematograpy, lee van cleef--awesome--

i love it i love it i love it