449. Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Running Time: 177 minutes
Directed By: Sergio Leone
Written By: Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone, Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli
Main Cast: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach
Click here to view the trailer

SERGIO LEONE HAT TRICK: PART ONE OF THREE

NOTE: The book cites "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as a 166 minute feature. However, the version that I took in was the Extended, English dubbed version, which clocked in at 177 minutes. It's the only version that Netflix offers and thus, the only version that I was able to retrieve, so I guess it will have to do. Now then....

I had never seen "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", prior to this morning. Of course, I had always heard about it, heard excerpts from the score used in multiple places and heard tale of "The Man With No Name". I've seen the IMDB Top 250 Movies (as voted on by it's users) and noticed how "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" has held steadfast at around the #5 position for as long as I've known about that list (it's currently #4). However, I had just never had the urge to see it. So, what follows is a first-timers review of "Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo" or "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

The films plot, despite it's length, is actually fairly simple. First, we're introduced to three characters: The Good takes the form of Blondie (Eastwood), the Bad is Angel Eyes (Van Cleef) and the Ugly is Tuco (Wallach) - all three existing somewhere in the United States, during the time of the American Civil War. During the film's opening moments, Angel Eyes is told of $200,000 in gold that was stolen from the confederacy by a man named Jackson, later dubbed Bill Carson. Angel Eyes makes it his mission to track down the gold, but first he must track down the thief. Meanwhile, Blondie and Tuco are running a scam, which involves Blondie turning over the wanted Tuco to the authorities in exchange for the bounty. When they're about to hang Tuco, Blondie shoots him down, the two split the bounty and wait for the bounty to rise, so they can do it all over again. After a while, Blondie double crosses the weasel-esque Tuco and leaves him, hands tied, in the desert to fend for himself, while he makes off with the whole sum of a recently acquired bounty payment. Tuco eventually gets back to town, captures Blondie and tries to drag him across the desert, but is eventually halted by a runaway horse carriage. When Tuco stops the carriage, he finds a group of dying confederate soldiers, one of them being Bill Carson. With his dying breath, Carson tells Tuco that the gold has been buried in Sad Hill Cemetary, in a grave. However, when Tuco goes to get Carson some water, Carson tells Blondie the name on the grave and then dies, before Tuco can return. Now, Tuco and Blondie must try to settle their differences, as they each know one half of a $200,000 secret: Tuco knows the name of the cemetery, Blondie knows the name of the grave. And don't forget about Angel Eyes, who also has his eyes on the prize.

I wasn't TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY, I'll tell you that much right now. Now before all of you die hard Leone fans send me death threats, let me also say that I thought the film was very, very good and I'm really glad I finally got the chance to watch it. Prior to even popping the DVD into my player, I was very excited to finally be watching this iconic film and finally being able to say that, "Yes, I've seen The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". I knew, from the opening shot (a close-up of an extreme outlaw's face and a coyote walking across his/our field of view) that this was going to be something special. It only took me about ten minutes to see where Quentin Tarantino got a lot of influence out of Sergio Leone. I'm a big Tarantino fan, so that went a long way in helping me to feel more comfortable with a spaghetti western, a genre that I'm almost completely unfamiliar with. The score was legendary and it's no wonder that it became so memorable and so often imitated/stolen. The camera shots were also quite unforgettable and did a huge part in branding this film into my mind and I doubt that I'll soon forget this one.

As for the actors, a huge, enthusiastic thumbs up to Mr. Eli Wallach, my favorite character from the whole movie. Sure, Eastwood was bad ass, but not quite as bad ass as I always thought he would be as "The Man With No Name", but a bad ass nonetheless. Lee Van Cleef did a decent job too, but as far as I'm concerned, "Ugly" stole the show. Wallach was just so slimy and weasely, yet also portrayed as a bit of a bad ass himself - I just couldn't help but fall in love with his character. I wasn't necessarily rooting for him, I just very much enjoyed the scenes that he was a part of.

As for "not being totally blown away", I think a lot of it was simple hype. You know, when you hear about a film for so many years and then you finally see it, it's hard for a single movie to live up to so many years of praise, from so many different sources. Also, the film did drag in a couple of parts, not many, but a couple. However, I guess I did watch the "extended" version, so maybe that could account for some of the scenes that seemed to go on forever, like the one where Blondie and Tuco meet up with the drunk Union Captain, right before they blow the bridge. That scene was just slow and dull. I know I seem to say this A LOT, but this is yet another film that could easily transform into a '10' with a little bit of retrospective thinking on it and maybe another viewing. I won't continue blathering on and on, I think I've made my points.

RATING: 8.5/10 Not a '10' yet, but maybe someday. I'm REALLY excited to see "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "Once Upon a Time in America" though. Those will both be reviewed, probably by mid-week.

MOVIES WATCHED: 345
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 656

November 6, 2011 3:18pm