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Wednesday, November 28

Bring On The Spaghetti

The other night, while cruising through the endless number of channels on television, I happened upon what is probably the greatest Spaghetti Western ever made - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It wasn't the first time I'd stumbled upon it and I know it won't be the last, but it seems like every time this Sergio Leone masterpiece catches my eye, I'm compelled to watch it to the end.

Released to US audiences just over a year after its release in Italy in 1966, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly portrays 3 gunslingers who wade through chaotic and violent gunfights, public hangings, and Civil War battles while trying to beat each other to a cache of gold buried in a war cemetery. Throughout the movie, tenuous alliances are repeatedly formed and broken between the 3 while each tries to figure out what the other knows so they can take the gold for themselves.

Clint Eastwood (good), Lee Van Cleef (bad), and Eli Wallach (ugly), playing Blondie, Angel Eyes, and Tuco, respectively, put on a performance that, to me, is unrivaled in Westerns. Each of these guys are ruthless and calculating....and very cool. Eastwood and Van Cleef give you the hard, cold face of the old West while Tuco is a little looser and prone to calamity. One of the coolest features of this movie, besides the spectacular Spanish scenery, is Leone's propensity to focus in tightly on the eyes of the 3 actors. Not only does that lend to the drama that's usually at play during the moment it happens, but you can really pickup on the nature of each of the characters - Blondie's steely gaze wearing down his target, Angel Eye's furtive squinting, and Tuco's looks of suspicion. I can only describe the photography in this movie as incredible.

There is just SO much to this film, but the last moments in the movie are probably some of the most memorable among all Westerns. I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but watching Tuco running among the tombstones, looking for some sign of the gold, with a strangely haunting musical score accompanying...it's awesome. Of course, that leads to a showdown that has me hanging on the edge of my seat even though I've seen it dozens of times; fantastic stuff! The end is much like the beginning....hanging around. ;)

If you've never watched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, then you're missing out on the greatest Spaghetti Western ever made! It's a "must see" movie and a deserves a place in any Wild West aficionado's collection right beside the replica pistols and rifles.