The good, The bad, The ugly, The blue, The grey, The civil war, The questions, The answers, The showdown, The reason?? THE GOLD!!
Clint Eastwood returns as the invincible cigar puffing man-with-no-name in this great all time western. The movie was released in 1966 and starred clint in his third western with the Italian director Sergio leone. Eli wallach starred as the greedy, double crossing bandit Tuco.He was ’the ugly’. Lee Van Cleef (Angel eyes) starred as the merciless crook and then officer in the union army.He became ’the bad’. The movie was the final one of Leone’s triology starring Eastwood as the man with no name. The previous ones being ’Fist full of dollars’ and ’For a few dollars more’. The movie instantly made Clint Eastwood a hot property in Hollywood.
The plot of the movie revolves around money and the three men fighting for it. Eli wallach as Tuco, Clint Eastwood known just as blondie and Lee Van Cleef as ’Angel eyes’ know about the gold. The gold is hidden in a cemetery and nobody has complete information about its whereabouts.
Tuco knows just the name of the cemetery while blondie knows the name of the grave in which the gold is hidden. Angel eyes gets some of the needed info from Tuco. The movie then goes through different twists and it is left for us to see in the final shootout which determines who gets the money.
Though the movie goes through many twists the main objective of the movie remains same. The money is evident in every scene. Leone makes great use of long silences , deep stares and close ups to a great extent and with very good results. The final shootout is a masterpiece making the movie an absolute must-watch. Leone contradicts the fact that only the most good and virtuous men have to get rewards. Leone also makes very good use of far off landscapes and there is great camera action in the movie. He has depicted the civil war of the united states very beautifully in the plot. Leone takes his own time while unfolding the plot and hence pulls the movie for about 3 hrs. The movie doesn’t get boring though. The performance of Clint Eastwood is excellent. He was and is the guru of style. Eli Wallach and Van Cleef too have done a wonderful job.
The music need not be spoken for. Ennio Morricone has made use of the war cries to make one of the best musical scores of his life. The music is resplendent being perfect to the plot and scenes. It is the perfect topping.
So, there it is - The good, the bad and the ugly. If you have seen westerns but not yet seen this one you have missed a great movie!! So it remains for you to see who survives that final showdown..............