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The good, The Bad and The Ugly(1966)

Directed by: Sergio Leone
Produced by:Alberto Grimaldi
Starring:
Clint Eastwood
Eli Wallach
LeeVan Cleef
Music by: Ennio Morricone
Cinematography:
Tonino Delli Colli






The 50's and the 60's saw the Western genre reach its peak of popularity. Leading men like the legendary John Wayne and Gary Cooper had captured the imaginations of an entire generation.In the middle of it all, in a genre dominated by American directors and actors, an Italian production company hired an Italian director to shoot a western in Italian, with a pre-dominantly Italian crew. Funny how history is made in the most unlikely of ways.There was no righteous Sheriff, or the hero who was justice personified. This is a story of what men really are, and a story of the reality of those times, not the romanticized view of the Duke riding into the sunset with his lady-love.There was grit, greed, violence , treachery and deceit. Just makes you wonder , why didn't they think of this before???

This is the story of 3 men,living on their own terms, in a time when only the strong, the rich and the quick could afford to do so. Blondie( Eastwood) is a mysterious lone gunman, who makes a living out of collecting bounties on Tuco (Wallach), a criminal with a list of crimes to his name which is almost as long as his name itself, and subsequently helping him escape during his executions. We soon realise its a partnership born purely out of convenience,and they have a great deal of mutual resentment towards each other.And then there's Angel-eyes ( Van Cleef), the ruthless man-hunter, hot in pursuit of a missing gold cache belonging to the military.The entire movie revolves around the aforementioned demi-treasure. The path of these three men cross constantly during the mad dash for the loot, and uneasy alliances are made, and broken just as easily. They come face to face with the realities of their times, the horrors of a war where brother fought against brother. But above everything else, its an adventure of epic proportions, executed with utter perfection by these "outsiders" of the genre.

The Good... has , over two generations, become synonynous with the Western genre, and why shouldn't it? The casting coup that was getting the young American actor ,Clint Eastwood(fresh out of the sets of the moderately successful show Rawhide) to play the silent Blondie, the brilliant Eli Wallach as the
mad-as-a-rattlesnake's-armpit bandit Tuco, and Van Cleef as the ruthless, cold-blooded killer known as Angel Eyes. But for me, the major triumph in this movie is the background score provided by the legendary composer Ennio Morricone. Every score is inch perfect in going along with the movie's mood, with a special mention of the background score during the climax, and Oh! What a climax it is.The story-telling is near flawless, the action, though in spurts, is extremely intense .The acting , especially by Wallach, is top notch and the camera work is precise and full of flair.The only slight flaw i could think of is the pacing which is a bit off in the build up to the climax(if you have seen it, you know which part i'm talking about).

All in all, this movie is a masterpiece, a true classic. Westerns have had better stories, better acting, better direction (The Unforgiven), but thay have never been as entertaining,enticing as this one. Ill Buono, Ill Bruto, Ill Cattivo rightfully takes its place alongside other landmarks of the visual medium, as movies we look back at and say" they don't make 'em like those anymore" .