Review of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) by Alvin Y — 23 Jul 2012

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Great Movies.

During the 1960s, Hollywood had grown largely tired of Western, which was increasingly viewed as a stodgy and hokey relic of another era. Sergio Leone thought it differently. He sensed that the genre was ripe for reinvention, and the enduring influence of his spaghetti westerns demonstrates that he's right.

Leone had also directed the first and the second of this *man with no name* trilogy; which are, *A Fistful of Dollars* and *For a Few Dollars More*, now, the third part, is what really confirmed Leone's reputation in cinematic legend. And yes, it's the best of the three, even though I gave 5 stars to the other two.

Leone isn't terribly interested in plot. The movie embraces purely cinematic elements of filmmaking. He carefully composes each widescreen image like he's painting a great landscape, frequently indulging himself in extreme close up shots, and sometimes a little more than a character's eyes. He also propels the story forward with radical editing techniques, often cut to the rhythms of Ennio Morricone's score, pairing odd instrumentation and electric guitars to more traditional orchestration. The style drips from each frame like the sweat pouring down his stars' faces.

Finally, *The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly*, literally comes down to the faces of Eastwood, Wallach, and Van Cleef, as the mutual antagonists perform a three-way duel in an old graveyard. The scene has since become of the most imitated and parodied in the history of cinema. The score intensifies with quickening film cuts from face to face, capturing each set of squinting eyes, each hand reaching for a gun. Truly one of the best western trilogies of all time, and of the best movies of all time.