I have only seen a few westerns in my time (Wait, is City Slickers even considered a western?) because I’ve always been a bit put off by them. I’m not sure exactly why. Then I stumbled upon these three perfect posters and I knew that I had to see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. As the title implies this film concerns three men: a good(ish) guy named Blondie (Clint Eastwood), a very bad man named Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), and an ugly fellow named Tuco (played by Eli Wallach). The men become intertwined when they discover there is $200,000 in stolen Confederate gold buried in a cemetery up for grabs.
It’s no surprise that the pay off doesn’t come easy. There are miles of dessert and searing sun, gun fights, and civil war soldiers between them and the money. It all leads up to tense standoff where it’s every man for himself and it’s so good! Then there are the details that make it more than a western: Tuco’s cotton candy pink sun umbrella, the use of closeups and camera angles that make it feel first person, the incredible (and now ubiquitous) soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone and of course the use of lovable curmudgeon Clint Eastwood. He’s always squinting, with his mouth in a grimace for most of the film, but that’s his thing and he does it so well. I can only hope that at the height of his fame Eastwood was trolling around Hollywood in a wide brimmed hat, tattered poncho, a hand rolled cigarette hanging from his mouth and a whiskey in his hand. Damn, I wish I was there right now.
Download “Il Buono, Il Cattivo, Il Brutto (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly) (Main Title)”, “Inseguimento”, and “L’Estasi Dell’oro (The Ecstasy Of Gold)”.
