The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (1966)

Directed by Sergio Leone, TGTB&TU follows the seemingly diverging stories of Sentenza, a.k.a. Angel Eyes (played by Lee Van Cleef), and Blondie (played by Clint Eastwood) and Tuco (played by Eli Wallach), and their story's explosive meeting.

In the beginning, Angel Eyes is following up on the trail of gold hidden by a Lieutenant from the South during the Civil War (which serves as the backdrop for this film). He is almost to the end of the hunt, and is killing anyone in his path.

Meanwhile, we meet Blondie and Tuco. They're two conmen collecting "bounties" on Tuco's head. Blondie will turn Tuco in for the reward, and then save him from the noose by firing a well-aimed shot through the rope. After getting tired of splitting the money, Blondie leaves Tuco in the desert and heads on his merry way; after which, Tuco is mad for revenge. He decides to get a gun and go after him, and after a few botched encounters, Tuco finally gets what he wants and makes Blondie suffer in the desert far worse than he did. While being shamed, in rides a Cavalry wagon, with the dying Lieutenant aboard, who divulges the name of the cemetery the gold's buried in to Tuco, and the tombstone under which it lies to Blondie. Thus forging a partnership of necessity and mistrust.

On the way to the treasure, Blondie and Tuco are captured by Union soldiers and imprisoned under the watchful eye of none other than Angel Eyes. He overhears that the two know where the treasure he's hunting for is buried, and, after trying to beat it out of them, splits them up and takes Blondie with him, while leaving Tuco to be shipped off.

After lodging in a town close to the cemetary, Blondie and Tuco cross paths again, and decide to head for the treasure themselves. So, under the cover of a battle in the town, they kill Blondie's captors, with Angel Eyes being the sole escapee of this fight, and head out.

Upon reaching the cemetary, the two meet up with Angel Eyes again. To finally end this chase, Blondie offers a deal. There will be a gunfight between the three. The winner of which can grab a rock, on which Blondie had written the name of the tombstone the treasure's hidden at. Bang, Angel Eyes dies, and Blondie plays one more over on Tuco; outsmarting him, taking the treasure for himself, and leaving Tuco in a hangman's noose yet again.

Sergio Leone blew my socks off with this one. It's such a full film, and filled with wonderful things from beginning to end. He took his time with this film (the running time is around three hours), and there were no dull moments, or extraneous parts. I can imaging that this could be where P.T. Anderson got inspiration.

There are some stunning images and shots, courtesy of Tonino Delli Colli. Two in particular stand out. One: in the opening, Angel Eyes is meeting with Stevens (played by Antonio Casas) to find out where the treasure is. Stevens is sitting at his kitchen table, and Angel Eyes comes and stands in his doorway. There's this gorgeous long-shot from Stevens' perspective. Two: when Tuco is running around the cemetery trying to find the tombstone, the camera follows his run around the circular pathways of the cemetery. The shot just goes round, and round, and round, and mesmerizes the viewer.

It's interesting to me that Leone drops Angel Eyes to the background at a few points in this film. After we see him watching Blondie's and Tuco's scam, we don't hear from him for a while. Also, after he escapes from the battle between Blondie, Tuco, and his henchman in the war-torn town, we don't see him again until Blondie and Tuco get to the cemetery. He's easily forgotten, as the viewer just gets swept up in the film, but when he comes back, it's like he never left. Impressive how Leone pulled that off.

I think Eli Wallach created a great anit-hero with Tuco. You hate him, you empathize with him, you hate him again, you want to see him get his share of the money, yaddayaddayadda. In the scheme of it, he's the middle between Eastwood's label of 'good,' and Van Cleef's label of 'bad.' Leone got one over on him and his faccia brute. But, your moral code might have an identity crisis after watching this, because those lines of good, bad, and ugly all get blurred in this.

The use of the Civil War as a backdrop for this film brought up some questions for me, personally. Maybe it was just the fact that a foreign eye looked at our history and made its own interpretation, but there was a strong dislike of the Union. The soldiers were primarily presented as brutes, and the Confederate soldiers were sympathetic characters. It makes me want to read some modern books on the subject, because that definitely ain't what I learned in school. Kudos to Leone for challenging views!

My only qualm with this film was the dubbing. Not being a fan of dubbing in the first place, it was even harder to watch, because it was poorly dubbed. I understand that the majority of the actors were Italian, and might not have spoken a word of English, but dubbing is just so visually and audibly unappealing.

But, this is a classic, and I can see why people consider it so. A strong movie all around. Definitely worth a watch, or a rewatch.