The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

⭐10/10

This fricken movie!! Sergi Leone, oh captain my captain! Ennio Morricone, I will go to war for you! Blondie, you are the sexiest man alive! Tuco, I was always on your side! Angel Eyes, you sonuvabitch, I will kiss you on the lips! 

This movie has perhaps the greatest final hour of any movie that doesn't take place in Middle-earth, and as it was coming to that final crescendo, and the music swelled, my dog woke up from her sleep and started howling in worship. That is 100% not a joke. She has never howled before and has never howled since, but she recognized the utter majesty of the final standoff. I knew at that moment that this was going into my personal pantheon of all-time greats. 

As I began watching, I completely admit i wasn't sold. It was kinda confusing, and kinda lacked logic in that same way I complained about in Fistful. Not only that, but Eastwood is named "The Good" and he's not only just bad, but does one of the more evil things I've ever seen. I'm fine with morally ambiguous characters, but he is such an ass, and in a movie with 3 villains, it was hard to find someone to cheer for. Still, it was stylish, funny, and has the greatest soundtrack of all time. 

Even as the movie was progressing, I still was unsure. I kept thinking I missed something, or was misunderstanding something, and I still think that's the case. Legend has that Leone never wrote screenplays, but just imagined his movies in his brain and then brought them to life. Yeah, it kinda shows, because this is not exactly a tight, flowing movie. But what it lacks in flow, it makes up for with style and flair and sheer filmmaking brilliance. This movie looks so good, and does so much with so little. Slooooow, lingering shots, or scenes with no dialogue but very full storytelling nonetheless. It really is brilliant in ways I didn't expect. 

That all culminates in the final hour which is incredible. It's funny because we get this war scene, and obviously there are no real special effects, and so I think Leone just set two groups off on a real battle and recorded it. It is chaotic and awesome, and then I think they do a very special thing where the violence of the civil war stands in stark contrast to the violence of our three villains. No matter your thoughts on war, it is clear that these men are fighting for a higher purpose, whereas our 3 villains are completely shallow and selfish. They accomplish great feats, but all for themselves. 

This all concludes with the final climax which is such an interesting examination of filmmaking. A modern climax is where the budget is broken and cities are leveled and a scheme is put into motion to take the monster down. This climax is 3 men staring at each other, wordlessly, for ten minutes, and I can't describe how gripping each second of that is. Pure cinema baby. 

There are other aspects of this movie I loved. I think Tuco is kinda the main character of this movie, both so loveable and hateable, and he has this heartbreaking and beautiful moment of backstory that I wasn't expecting at all. Honestly pretty moving for how unexpected it was. There were some interesting themes of violence and war that I found compelling. I won't say that this movie was a super deep, evocative piece of philosophy, but in a movie that screams style over substance, there was still some substance to work with. 

So I guess that's the review. A perfect western movie made by an Italian who didn't speak English and had never visited America, acted by 3 brilliant actors. And yet I can't feel like the music is actually the main character, and we owe so much, in the western genre and beyond, to the brilliance and badassery of the combination of all these things. Awesome, awesome stuff.