Classic 60s Movie: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Rick Dyke.
Movie Title: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Year: Released in Italy — December 22, 1966 / Released in U.S. — January 24, 1968
Writers: Luciano Vincenzoni & Sergio Leone (story); Agenore Incrocci, Eurio Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni, Segio Leone, Mickey Knox (screenplay)
Lead Actors: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef
Director: Sergio Leone
Plot Summary: A bounty hunter and his criminal partner form an uneasy alliance as they race against a brutal killer to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.
Why I Think This Is a Classic 60s Movie: By the 60’s the Western was definitely changing. This change had already started with films like The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by John Ford. No longer is the story strictly about the good guy in the white hat versus the bad guy in the black hat. Just like in the world at that time, it was sometimes hard to distinguish between the two. Clint Eastwood plays Blondie, “The Good”, who is a bounty hunter that scams the law, and then he betrays his partner. In this story, just like in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Bonnie and Clyde, the “heroes” of the story are criminals that operate outside of the mainstream of society.
Violence is prevalent. The 60’s saw the rise of violence in films like Bonnie and Clyde and The Wild Bunch. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is extremely violent. As stated before, this is a direct reflection of the violence from the Vietnam War that people were seeing on their televisions each night.
Thanks to the three Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, Clint Eastwood became the biggest box office film star in the world by the late 60’s (announced in Life magazine in 1971).
The word masterpiece is used often, and many people prefer Once Upon A Time in the West or Once Upon a Time in America from Leone, but in reading reviews I saw the word masterpiece many times while referring to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I believe it is a masterpiece and it is one of my favorite films of all time. For pure dramatic storytelling, it is hard to beat this film.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie: Leone does a great job at creating memorable moments in the film. The shootouts are very creative. They are much more visual than just one person out-drawing another. For example, Blondie must load his gun quickly, which he is cleaning, before several gunmen break into his room to kill him. Another is when Tuco is trapped in a bathtub by a gunmen who vows vengeance on him, but ultimately Tuco shoots him with a gun hidden in soap suds.
There are moments of great pathos in this film, which magnifies it beyond a surface-level western. The two best examples are: Tuco’s argument with his brother, a priest, over who took the correct path in their lives; and Blondie’s touching moment of giving a last cigarette to a dying soldier.
There is a long scene where Tuco has escaped death in the desert and he needs a gun for vengeance on Blondie. He goes into a gun shop and proceeds to put together a pistol out of pieces from several other pistols (by the way, all these pistols were not made until after the Civil War). He shows his shooting prowess on a gun range, then he proceeds to use his new gun to rob the gun shop owner of his money.
The lead-up and the closing climax scene are great. Blondie firing a cannon at Tuco as he rides away. Tuco finding the cemetery and running through the grave markers looking for the correct site. Blondie forcing Tuco to dig up the grave site. All leading to the final 3-way gun battle in the center of the cemetery. The music, the dialogue, and the visuals all working together to build tension for the final showdown.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie: This is a very visual film and the dialogue is sparse. There is no dialogue in the first 10 minutes of the film. The best dialogue is the quips, insults, and philosophical phrases uttered by the characters.
Tuco: [trying to read a note] “See you soon, id… “ “id… “ “ids… “
Blondie: [taking the note] “Idiots”. It’s for you.
— —
[Tuco is in a bubble bath. The One Armed Man enters the room]
One Armed Man: I’ve been looking for you for 8 months. Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you. Now I find you in exactly the position that suits me. I had lots of time to learn to shoot with my left.
[Tuco kills him with the gun he has hidden in the foam]
Tuco: When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.
— —
Tuco: If I ever catch you…..l’ll rip your heart out and eat it! I’ll skin you alive! I’ll hang you up by your tongue. I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!
Blondie: Tut, tut. Such ingratitude after all the times I saved your life.
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie: The cinematography in this film is incredible. Leone moves from intense close-ups to sweeping vistas. Each shot is framed perfectly. One Leone trademark is his close-ups. Tight shots on faces, or even just eyes, are used to magnify the intensity of the scene.
Another typical Leone touch is his approach to violence. The tension builds to the climax of the violent gunfight. The sound of boots coming down the hallway. The close-ups of guns, or hands near their guns, and of faces. The buildup takes time, but the violence is over quickly.
The characters of Blondie and Tuco, played by Eastwood and Wallach, are foils to each other. Blondie is a quiet, laconic, self-assured loner, while Blondie is loud, profane and very energetic. They play off each other throughout the entire film.
Leone does a great job of blending the action of the characters into the grand sweep of the Civil War happening around them. The battle over the bridge is an incredible set piece of epic proportions that is extremely effective in showing the senselessness of deaths during war.
You have to mention the score to this film. Ennio Morricone created the perfect music for this drama, and the title song has become iconic.
Trivia: The three principal actors are the only ones who speak actual English in the film: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, with the exceptions of Al Mulock (the one-armed man) and John Bartha (the sheriff). Everyone else in the film is really speaking their native language, mostly Italian and Spanish, and was later dubbed into English. Because Sergio Leone spoke barely any English and Eli Wallach spoke barely any Italian, the two communicated in French.
Although Clint Eastwood is usually top-billed in this film’s credits, Eli Wallach has the most screen-time.
Though no specific year or date is stated in the movie, at least part of it takes place during the New Mexico Campaign of 1862. This is confirmed when both the hotel-keeper and Tuco mentions the retreating Confederate General Sibley (the historical Henry H. Sibley) and the advancing Union Colonel Canby (another historical person, Edward Canby). This is consistent with the campaign that took place between February-April 1862 in the Union Territory of New Mexico and the Confederate State of Texas.
Ennio Morricone’s iconic theme music was designed in places to mimic the sound of a howling coyote.
Orson Welles warned Sergio Leone not to make this movie on the grounds that Civil War pictures were box office poison.
Thanks, Rick! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
We already have a set of classic 70s movies, 80s Movies and 90s Movies. This month, we’re working on 60s Movies.
For the original post explaining the series, go here.