The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) ****1/2
I know that The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) is widely regarded as the best of the Dollars Trilogy (as well as Sergio Leone's best film) and should be my favorite, but it's not and never has been. That honor goes to For A Few Dollars More (1965) (review). I think TGTBATU is an excellent film, features some of the best moments of the series (particularly the final standoff, which is one of the all-time great moments of cinema), and deserves all the praise it gets, but it just doesn't hit me the same way the second film does.
One of my favorites things about this series is Clint Eastwood’s mannerisms, which he maintains throughout all three films, centering around his signature cigars—the chomp, slight roll, and spitting out little bits (not that I endorse smoking). Lee Van Cleef is great as the baddie, Angel Eyes, but I still enjoy his character Mortimer from FAFDM more. Eli Wallach is an obvious scene stealer as Tuco and really makes the film work.
I do feel that Eastwood is relegated to the background a bit too often in TGTBATU though. And a lot of the Civil War stuff just doesn't do it for me. I've never felt it added much to the story, other than to take the characters from point A to point B. Many scenes hinge on events that happen around or directly to the characters, but others just make the movie drag, in my opinion. The seriousness and poignancy of some of the Civil War scenes always takes away from the amusing and entertaining tone of the rest of the film. When the film reaches the standoff at Sad Hill Cemetery in the finale it always feels like it gets back on track (the brilliant editing helps). Maybe it's sacrilege to say so, but I think TGTBATU would have worked fine with about 30 minutes shaved off.
Don't get me wrong—I really love this film. The third Dollars film features the best overall Ennio Morricone score (for this series)—the theme song is one of the most iconic pieces of film music ever written and many of the other cues are extremely memorable and vital to the film. Leone would go on to make his best film (also featuring Morricone's best score) two years later, Once Upon A Time In The West (review)—my favorite western.
Comments
Post a Comment