The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Monday, March 24, 2008

Since I just watched the first two parts of Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy," I figured it was high time to pull out my old copy of his old west masterpiece, which I hadn't seen in a good 4 or 5 years.

Is this my favorite Western of all time? Quite possibly. Clint's Unforgiven would be a strong contender. Maybe Howard Hawks' El Dorado? I'd have to see it again.

I'm going to do some Leone follow up soon by watching his 3hr 45 minute Once Upon a Time in America, hopefully this weekend. I suppose the next logical step should have been to watch Once Upon a Time in the West, but I've seen it before and honestly wasn't a huge fan. It had its moments, and maybe one day I should give it another shot, but right now I think the 10 hours or so I will have dedicated to Leone over the past few weeks is Kommittment enough.

For me, GB&U is the perfect culmination of Leone's high energy, over-the-top, almost satirical style, perfectly melded with an epic scope and some moments of surprising beauty and that lyricism I like so much. For me, Once Upon a Time in the West got a little bogged down in it's more serious ambitions, and doesn't provide enough entertainment (although the moments of payoff are pretty good). GB&U strikes the perfect balance between Leone's unique sense of action and adventure with some more serious or poetic moments.

I never put much thought into the title, other than the obvious fact that it refers to the three leads. This time, I wondered if maybe it's a little ironic. Because Clint Eastwood's character isn't really a good guy when we meet him, despite what his title says during his introduction. He's just as amoral, violent, manipulative and greedy as the other characters, going after all that money. It's just that Lee Van Cleef is a little worse, and Eli Wallach isn't very good looking. They are all bad people.

I thought maybe Leone had his tongue in his cheek to a certain extent, trying to maybe make a cynical point about human nature. Because for a while, Clint is really only "the good" because he's a little cooler and better looking than the others, and because he's Clint fucking Eastwood and he's the main character. But then later, he has some moments that suggest some redemption, or at least a sense of humanity that the others are lacking. Like that little moment he has where he gives the smoke to the dying Confederate soldier. And then he does spare Eli Wallach at the end and let him keep his share of the money (although only after seriously fucking with the guy first).

As great as Clint and Van Cleef are, I suspect that most would agree with me that Eli Wallach's character Tuco is the best. Yeah, he's an amoral, hot tempered asshole, but he's just as badass as the others, he's way funnier, and he has to take a lot more shit than the others do. It's like how Daffy Duck is way better than that smug prick Bugs Bunny. OK, Daffy's a bastard, but he suffers a lot more abuse, so our sympathy is with him.

This is a great movie all the way through, but the last 20 minutes or so, once they reach the graveyard, are perfect. I can think of few films with a climax this awesome, and it's still astonishing how well Leone really build the suspense and draws things out until the final payoff. Great movie.