The Good, the bad and the Ugly

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Carli</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Director: Sergio Leone</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Clint Eastwood</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Eli Wallach</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Lee Van Cleef</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Rada Rassimov</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>Bottom Line:</B>  </div> <div> "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is a riveting epic Western, directed by the influential Italian auteur, Sergio Leone.  The plot concerns a trio of men who are out to retrieve a stash of gold that was buried in a cemetery. This film was one of he most important early cinematic vehicles for the "Rawhide" television show star, Clint Eastwood.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> </div> <div> "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" features three plot threads, which follow the adventures of three men and eventually intersect. All them are looking for gold, stolen from the army payroll. Clint Eastwood (labeled "The Good" in the intro) is a cool bounty hunter who is nicknamed "Blondie." He is motivated by greed just like the other two main characters but he is less sadistic. Lee Van Cleef ("The Bad") is Angel Eyes, an amoral murderer for hire with no political agenda who disguises himself as a union soldier. Tucco ("The Ugly" of the title) is a savage and gullible dullard who double-crosses Blondie. Eventually there is a final showdown for the gold, and not all of the main characters will survive.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More:</B> </div> <div> Between 1963 and 1973, at least 400 spaghetti westerns were made.  Many of them were made by Italian directors with at least some American cast members, and they were often shot in Spain. Although he only made five of them, Leone established himself as the quintessential director in this genre. The pinnacle of the genre probably was Leone's "Once Upon A Time in the West," the movie he made after this one.</div> <bR> <div> "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" differs from the old classic Westerns in one important way. In most of the John Ford and Howard Hawks Westerns, there is a clear line between good and evil. But in Leone's world view, moral distinctions collapse. Eastwood's character is not much better than the man who is labeled "the bad" in the introductory sequence is. At one point, Blondie even implies that only power matters when he says: "In this world, there are two kinds of people-those with loaded guns and those who dig."</div> <bR> <div> The film and Eastwood's archetypal character were enormously influential.  Sam Raimi's "The Quick and the Dead" has Leonesque lighting and camera angles. Sharon Stone's Eastwood-like performance in that film, and Hugh Jackson's under emoting take on Wolverine in the X-men films were clearly inspired by Eastwood's character in the spaghetti westerns.  Also, the entertaining but somewhat obscure film, "My Name is Nobody" is a parody of Leone's Westerns.</div> <bR> <div> This print was masterfully restored and it includes a scene that is not in either the Italian or American version of the film. The scene shows Eli Wallach's character recruiting three fellow bandits to help him catch the Man with no Name (in the scene, he is called Joe).  The scene really doesn't change the film that much but it's a nice bonus. Coming up soon will be a restored version of another classic spaghetti western, "Duck You Sucker," which will include three minutes of extra footage added to the ending,</div> <bR> <div> "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" does not have an exceptional plot, but the style is so impressive that it qualifies as a near masterpiece.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="621" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> Not Rated</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> Vittorio J. Carli © 2003</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>vito@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>