Love Sergio, but this one was wanting

Rating: 7/10 (18 May 2016)

I have no problem overall with the movie. The story is decent, albeit a little far fetched, but after all, this is fiction. But the movie is near 2 1/2 hours long. A half hour could be cut just by decreasing the amount of time the actors stare at each other. Sure, I know it's a Sergio technique, but it doesn't work well when there's little tension. When the bad guy is staring down the good guy in Once Upon a Time in the West or the Good, the Bad, the Ugly there's real tension there. Two unarmed guys staring at each other in an empty room, not the same thing. There are also disjointed moments in the film, like when Miranda's (Rod Steiger) kids are lying about dead in a cave. Didn't see that happen. And why did Mallory shoot his friend in the Irish pub? Again, overall a solid film. Classic? Nope, fell far short of that for me.