Mar 31, 2014
* Note: This review was written nearly 10 years ago by an eager film lover and writer. I decided not to touch it up as a means of preserving the vitality of that younger me. That and I'm natually lazy.
It isn't difficult to see why westerns were one of the most
popular genres in cinema history. It has a historical approach,
which automatically have an epic feel. There's colorful characters
and archtypes, which can be swapped out and retold over and over
again (which it has been). Hence, the limitation of the genre.
There's only so many times you can play cowboys before you start
walking on treaded ground.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly doesn't so much find a new path,
but re-examine the old paths and find the moral and social fibers
of these characters, then burns the trails to a crisp with style
and fury beyond anything we've seen before. Sure, this is epic, but
not so much because of the scope of the film, but the scope of the
three lead characters.
Interesting we meet Tucco (Eli Wallach in his finest hour), aka The
Ugly, first. Tucco is a man of vice and greed, but has a
compassionate side that he hides with bravado and wit. Tucco has
had a life that leads him to this time and this place. One of the
best scenes in the film involves Tucco and his brother, a
missionary priest involving how he came to be an outlaw.
Then we meet Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), The Bad, next. This
character is first seen killing a man for money, the man's sons
almost for sport. Greed and violence are what he lives for. When he
is paid by the man he kills to kill the man who placed the hit in
the first place, he has qualms doing so, but not before knowing of
a small fortune that said man is trying to hunt down.
And the last one we meet is "Blondie" (Clint Eastwood), obviously
The Good, as a bounty hunter who brings Tucco to justice, then sets
Tucco free with some fancy shooting. What makes him good? He isn't
a law-abiding citizen as much as he's fair to Tucco and Angel
Eyes.
These three are in constant war with each other whether it's open
war or not. But all three are bound in ways that appeal to their
moral strengths. Bad cannot survive without Good and vice-versa. On
a metaphysical level, perhaps Angel and "Blondie" represent the
devil and the angel, with poor Tucco representing mankind in
constant battle between the two forces. Wanting to allow himself to
give in to his greed, but being pulled out of evil's hands by his
limited conscience.
Of course there's gold involved. Each character wants it for
themselves. And to make matters interesting, Tucco knows the
graveyard the gold is buried, "Blondie" knows the grave. This is
put our characters into play as we follow them through the
backgrounds of the end of The Civil War, where Angel hides under
the disguise of good. The closer these three characters get to the
gold, the more their choices start showing their true natures. One
of the more fantastic displays concerns a bridge that Tucco and
"Blondie" take upon themselves to blow up to fulfill a Colonel's
dying wish. And then there's the graveyard....
Performance-wise, this film is all about Eli Wallach's Tucco, who
tries to be bad, but isn't too good at it, but cannot seem to be
good enough to be righteous. Wallach is able to get underneath this
character and understand what makes him this way with only a
handful of scenes that expose his character. Eastwood has the
easiest job in playing "Blondie" because he's supposed to be
mysterious. Knowing more than that would ruin his character's
interest. With Van Cleef, his performance is solid, playing a man
that we know just as much about as we do "Blondie", since the few
exposition scenes he's portraying an image and not himself, but he
slides into scenes with ease, making his evil not so much mustache
twirling, but something deeper, more organic.
For Sergio Leone, this is his finest film, taking elements of the
mythological western genre, adding his blend of brutal,
stone-carved features with faces just as polished. The plains of
Italy make for a great environment for his westerns because of
their barren feel, almost desperate isolation. There is very little
comfort made for these locations where we go. And of course, his
camera work for this film is legendary. He uses long, panning shots
using the full palate of the screen to isolate and unite
characters. Scenes play out longer in his films than others because
he allows his characters to feel into their situations rather than
make decisions, and understands how to film it so well that you
don't even know that much time has passed.
And then there is the matter of composer Ennio Morricone, whose
theme for this film is legendary. But that theme is not the most
impressive music in the film. During the film's final climax with
all three characters about to showdown, the music sets up
additional tension as the characters stare each other down for
nearly three minues. Not to mention the guitar solos used in lesser
scenes which apply a haunting feel to these scenes.
Perhaps if you take away all the metaphors and ideas that come with
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, all you would have is another
western. But sometimes that's all that's needed to turn something
good into something excellent. Even Arch Stanton would agree with
me.