Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo

Plot synopsis:
The film tells the story of three men who pursue, often at the expense of others, information about the location of a buried treasure of coins. The first character introduced in the movie is Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez (the Ugly) - called Tuco - (Eli Wallach), who has a bounty on his head for numerous crimes. Tuco has a partnership with Blondie (The Good, played by Clint Eastwood) in which the latter turns him in for the reward money which the two then split after Blondie saves Tuco from hanging at the last moment. Meanwhile, a third character called Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef, playing the Bad) has learned of a hidden trunk of gold owned by a Confederate soldier named Bill Carson. He sets off to find the gold.Soon, Blondie grows tired of his relationship with Tuco, and leaves Tuco in the desert with no water. Tuco survives and is intent on exacting revenge on his former partner. He finds Blondie, and turns the tables by planning to abandon him in the desert. However, before Tuco can complete his torture in the New Mexico desert, a runaway stagecoach full of dead and dying Confederate soldiers appears. Bill Carson, the man with knowledge of the whereabouts of the gold, dying from thirst, persuades Tuco to get him a drink by disclosing the name of the graveyard where the loot is located. As Tuco goes for the water, Carson dies, but not before revealing the name on the grave to Blondie.Dressed in the uniforms of the dead soldiers, Tuco takes Blondie, near death, to a local Catholic mission run by his brother, a priest. While Blondie recovers, Tuco and his brother (Luigi Pistilli) confront each other about the mistakes each has made in life. After leaving the mission, the two, still impersonating Confederate soldiers are captured and taken to a Union prison camp. Angel Eyes has followed the trail of Bill Carson to the prison camp and is posing as a Union Sergeant.Angel Eyes and his colleague Wallace beat and torture Tuco until he reveals the location of the cemetery. When Angel Eyes learns that only Blondie knows the name, he changes tactics. He proposes a partnership, and accompanied by five or six other killers, they leave to find the coins. Tuco escapes while being transported from the camp by train, in the process killing Wallace. At the nearest town, Tuco encounters a bounty hunter (Al Mulock) he had wounded at the beginning of the film, who seeks his revenge. As Tuco shoots the bounty hunter, Blondie, who is in the same town with Angel Eyes, recognizes the sound of Tuco's gun, seeks him out, and he and Tuco resume their old partnership. Together they kill Angel Eyes' gunmen along the main street, but Angel Eyes himself escapes.Tuco and Blondie stumble on a battle between the Union and the Confederates, fighting for a bridge of questionable strategic value. Since the cemetery is on the other side of the bridge, they decide to destroy it and force the soldiers go somewhere else to fight. While they are setting up the dynamite, Tuco reveals that the cemetery is called Sad Hill and Blondie reveals that the coins are buried in a grave marked by the name of Arch Stanton (Adam S. Gottbetter).On the other side of the river Tuco deserts Blondie by horseback and finally enters the nearby graveyard.Tuco frantically searches around the graveyard for the grave of Arch Stanton. Eventually Tuco finds it, but before he can begin digging he's held at gunpoint by Blondie, who in turn is held at gunpoint by Angel Eyes, who has finally caught up to both of them. However, Blondie reveals that Arch Stanton's grave contains only a decomposing corpse.Blondie then leads the three of them into an empty patch of land in the middle of the cemetery. He writes the name of the real grave under a stone which he places in the center.At the conclusion of a three-way shootout, Blondie shoots Angel Eyes and Tuco finds his gun empty, having been unloaded the previous night by Blondie. Blondie then reveals that the real location of the coins is a grave marked "Unknown" right next to Arch Stanton. Tuco digs up the loot from the grave only to find himself once again staring down the barrel of Blondie's gun, who now holds a noose in his hand. After placing Tuco into the noose, fastening it to a nearby tree and making Tuco stand on the unstable wooden cross of one of the graves, Blondie takes half the coins and rides away while Tuco cries for help. In a dramatic twist, Blondie turns around to shoot the rope above Tuco's head, as he used to do in their times of partnership, freeing him one last time before riding off as Tuco screams in rage.

Tags: murder, western, thought-provoking, violence, cult, atmospheric, good versus evil, psychedelic, humor, suspenseful, historical

Review:
A sprawling Western epic that follows the adventures of three gunfighters looking for $200,000 in stolen gold, Sergio Leone's `The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' is a masterpiece, one that continues to get better and better with each viewing.
(Watch the scene when he gives a dying Confederate soldier a puff of his cigar - powerful, and it sums up everything that the Man With No Name is all about, without saying a single word.)  Eli Wallach (`The Ugly') is Tuco, and he's easily the most complex - if not the best - character in the film.
All impulse and rage, Tuco spins wildly throughout the movie, stealing, lying, pretending to be Clint Eastwood's best friend in one scene, trying to kill him in another - Tuco truly represents `the ugly' side of people.The movie is long, but there's not a wasted scene in the film.
I wasn't sure if I was going to comment on this film because everything has already been said by the hundreds of other people who have posted their thoughts, but I decided that I should really put my two cents in since this is my favorite movie.This film, in my opinion, is not only the greatest spaghetti western of all time.
The movie is long, but Leone's direction is so good that you will love the fact that you can enjoy this movie for three hours.Lee Van Cleef is my favorite spaghetti western actor, and he is incredible as "Angel Eyes." It is the part he was born to play.
As I write this, I wish I had my own copy of the film, just so I could see this scene again.Not just a great western, but easily one of the best movies of *any* kind ever made..
It is the tacit amicability between Blondie and Tuco and their mutual hostility towards the evil Angel Eyes owing to the vestiges of virtue present in them, redolent of their moribund morality, which gives the story, the impetus and the characters, a screen presence that is not only awe inspiring but also unparalleled.Sergio Leone's magnificent and ingenious direction in synergy with Ennio Morricone's surreal music, Tonino Delli Colli's breathtaking cinematography and Joe D'Augustine's punctilious editing makes the movie, a treat to watch and ineffably unforgettable.
The career-making performances by Eli Wallach (hilarious), Lee Van Cleef (chilling) and Clint Eastwood (cool) are nothing short of iconic, and the film's finale is so good it will send shivers of cinematic joy down your spine.
And hey, there's even a huge Civil War battle to provide a change of pace from all the small-scale action.Ultimately, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is probably just a potboiler of a film, without too much to say about, for example, the human condition.
Eli Wallach's performance, Leone's direction and Morricone's music alone are enough to elevate it to classic status - and the fact that everything else in the movie is great, too, helps elevate it to the level of perhaps the greatest action film ever made.And to think, I missed all that the first time through....
Of course we have the Bad who is a ruthless killer who also wants in on the doe.The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is a terrific film and I thank all the IMDb users for their useful comments and that pushed me to finally rent this western classic.
With the Good, the Bad and the Ugly he continued his upward trajectory and rounded off his dollars trilogy in style.This picture was Leone's most stylised and grandiose to date, and brought all the themes and styles he had been developing in his earliest films to perfection.
It's not until we have seen him betray and abandon Tuco that we get his freeze-frame and title "the good"  obviously a fairly ironic label given the way he has just acted.Leone's trademark long drawn out face-offs  exaggerated versions of the shootouts of John Ford westerns and the sword duels of Kurosawa's samurai films  are also brought to a peak here.
The good guy Van Cleef obviously proved more popular, as in the dozen or so other spaghetti westerns he made for other directors he was invariably cast as the hero.Just time for a final word on the recent (2003) restored edition.
Now in the far future (2016) I watch QT do his knock-offs, and the young audiences (who have never seen the originals) think his are the originals, and everything else the knockoffs.(Reminds me of the Old King Cole nursery rhyme -- "pulled out a plum and said What a Good Boy Am I" -- another reference lost on those living the age of portable devices.) For those who actually care about the history of film: * Leone invented a brand new genre called the Italian western.
His first, Fistful of Dollars, recycled a Japanese story (Yojimbo), recycled an American ex-pat whose Hollywood career was officially over (Eastwood) and introduced one of the greatest music composers of the modern film era, Ennio Morricone.* next came For a Few Dollars More, an original story, which locked into film history Leone's trademark use of closeups and sound editing, and brought out of mothballs Lee Van Cleef, one of the greatest "faces" in the history of the western.
Most people choose 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' as the best of Sergio Leone's superb spaghetti western "trilogy" (I'm putting trilogy in inverted commas because the three movies actually have no connection to each other, and Clint Eastwood, despite the "Man With No Name" tag,  plays a different character in each).
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly isn't one of those films that is thought provoking, but it is one of the best simply because for 3 hours it is very entertaining, and a thing of beauty..
Clint Eastwood is at his best as the 'Good' (even though he's not strictly a good guy but more a bad guy with an honor code), Lee van Cleef is so truly evil that you'll long for his downfall with a passion, and Eli Wallach steals the show as the 'Ugly', turning him into a character that you'll root for even though he's quite clearly the least trustworthy character you'll ever meet.These wonderful characters engage in a quite complex plot full of twists and turns, as they are constantly trying to outwit and outshoot each other.
Lee Van Cleef seems as deadly as the great Eastwood himself as "The Bad" guy.Cinematography - not as continuous as one would like - but manages to convey the tension in the dueling scenes very effectively.Also, the music - Ennio Morricone at his best!
The film takes part of ¨the man without name¨ trilogy united to ¨For a fistful dollars¨, and ¨ A few dollars more¨.The movie centers about the ugly (Eli Wallach) , the bad (Lee Van Cleef) and the good (Clint Eastwood) in search for a Confederate treasure buried on a cemetery whose tracks have got the three enemies and is set during American Civil War.It's too much violent but is neither tiring, nor boring, but entertaining.
Shot in the deserts and landscapes of Spain : Burgos and Almeria , with 1,500 Spanish soldiers as extras .Eli Wallach is very well , as he steals the show , he interprets a humorous and greedy murderous thief , Lee Van Cleef plays a villain and ominous killer and Clint Eastwood makes a dirty and wry 'man without name'.This quintaessential 'Spaguetti' originated great influence of wide range in Western .
Well suddenly I'm having an Eastwood movement and sinking myself into Westerns for the first time in my life and it only made sense that I start with what some critics and fans call "The Greatest Western ever made." In some respects I agree with that because it embodies everything that the Western is...even if you have never seen a Western you know the way they are supposed to go and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly encompasses every aspect of the stereotypical Western.
The whole film must be watched for Wallach's Tuco alone.This is my first taste but not my last of Eastwood Westerns and Sergio Leone who apparently is the be all and end all of Action western directors.
With a volatile mix of myth and realism The Good The Bad And The Ugly is the best of the spaghetti westerns and the greatest western ever made.This is Clint Eastwood's 2nd best movie (the best is UNFORGIVEN) Elli Wallach was excellent as Tuco, he is the real star of the movie, he had the best lines .
Lee Van Cleef plays the bad guy to perfection.Sergio Leone is at his very best here.And Ennio Morricone's music is outstanding like always.
A pure western.Will always be remembered for its great music and the personality of Clint Eastwood.In fact this was the film in which Clint Eastwood made his name.Both Lee Van Cleef & Eli Wallach put in sterling performances.The direction is exceptional The real merit of this movie is that it brings to light the exact situation in the USA around the period 1864-65 when the confederates were losing the war.There was confusion & chaos all around & no real authority.Hence the proliferation of a number of bandits and outlaws.The photography and direction are breathtaking and there is areal attempt to bring out the characters of those who dominated the period.Life could be extinguished at any moment & a man had to live by his wits and by his guns.Women were fair game to any outlaw.Hanging and capital punishment were routineThis was the real United States of that period and they could practice this culture in isolation,as the communication & technologies of the period were highly limited compared to today..
Please watch this classic before you die.R.I.P Leone and thank you for blessing your fellow humans such a great gift.P.S: Eli Wallach + Lee Van Cleef + Clint Eastwood = the most bad-ass narrow- eyes gang in Hollywood..
Sergio Leone's 1966 Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly unfolds under this hostile, violent and hate filled umbrella of Civil War America; a fitting backdrop of ongoing warfare and hostilities to which two American men and a Mexican bandit strive to find a large box full of valuable coins buried out in the big country somewhere behind Confederate Army lines.
His ability to essentially construct a number of small, minute set-pieces amidst this wide-open and dusty, hostile setting is immaculate; but the change of tact he applies later on towards the end of the film in capturing a Civil War battle between the North and South is just as impressive; portraying a larger fight sequence as the inevitable showdown between the film's three main players draws nearer and that sense their showdown will be of a similarly epic proportion, despite it being just another gunfight and despite the fact all of those thus far have been between grossly outmatched participants.Leone is all for spectacle and action to propel the plot, but his ability to capture the little things; the terrain and just the sounds that it omits is wonderful.
The good The bad and The ugly ticks all the boxes when it comes to doing things right, directors from today need to remember how geniuses like Sergio Leone crafted pieces of art like the good the bad and the ugly, with an fantastic story, brilliant actors, incredible script, suspenseful action scenes, beautiful cinematography and one of the finest soundtrack of all time, not only is 'the good the bad and the ugly' the greatest western of all time...
The man behind that was Tonino Delli Colli, the cinematographer for some other of director Sergio Leone's legendary movies beyond this one: Once Upon a Time in the West, and Once Upon a Time in America (and well as the astonishing Life is Beautiful.) But overall, for its content, its plot, its message (if that matters), is TGTBTU a great film, a masterpiece?Well, the movie is smart.
Whatever his aura over time, Clint Eastwood is no great actor, not in my book, and here he is easily out shined by Eli Wallach, who plays a less attractive type, and by Lee Van Cleef, who plays a more attractive one.
In the end all this adds up to make The Good the Bad and the Ugly in my opinion one of the greatest films of all time..
The performances are all iconic with scene-stealer Eli Wallach the standout.The earlier films in the trilogy don't have the same tremendous sweep and scope.The dry and dark humor also elevates this classic to greater heights.Although I'm always somewhat annoyed by the acting of the Italian supporting cast, with their excessive macho laughing and some assorted weird characters,it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of these movies."The Good,the Bad and the Ugly" is in my opinion one of the best westerns ever made..
The classic 'Good Versus Evil' situation that is such a frequent theme in film (And coincidentally, more often in westerns) is slightly blurred in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and I personally think there is no definite and it is left up to the viewer to decide.This movie is simply essential viewing, an all-time classic and much deeper than would first appear.
Its a tense and edge of seat classic The music is nothing short of perfect, this is by far Ennio Morricone's best work and the music creates the films now clichéd stereotype which was such (and still is) a success in the 60's when it came out.In Conclusion, Don't be scared off by this movie because of its genre, I've never liked westerns but this was thoroughly entertaining a must see 8.9/10.
Then came these movies, with THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY being the last and the greatest of the three Dollar films.
And finally, on adding this film's perfection in other filmmaking aspects like cinematography, editing, set pieces, every minute detailing & the final showdown, we have a cinema that's simply the best.Immortal for its contribution to western genre, The Good, the Bad & the Ugly is a stunning work of expert filmmaking whose significance to art, culture & cinema will never be forgotten.
Sure the music helps a lot, but it's the directing by Sergio Leone that really makes this scene so intense."The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" is most definitely one of the most important films of all time and it certainly has earned its immortality in the realm of the cinema.
'The Good', Eastwood's character, begins the film by double crossing his partner (Eli Wallach's conflicted Tuco, 'The Ugly') and leaving him in the desert.
He creates a feeling of both intensity and humor by portraying the three key characters with one trait only; The Good (Clint Eastwood), The Bad (Lee Van Cleef), and The Ugly (Eli Wallach).
Wallach, a western veteran, plays Tuco with great viciousness and humor, making him likable and unlikeable at the same time; he truly is "ugly." Leone and his cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli pack the film with great shots of the west, from the tired sands of the desert, to the endless graves of a cemetery (which was actually located in Spain).
'Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il' was at its release in 1966 a very unconventional Western epic that follows the travails of three gunfighters looking for $200,000 in stolen Confederate gold.Also known as 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', it was Italian-born (Rome, 3 January 1929) Sergio Leone's third so-called spaghetti Western after 'Per un pugno di dollari', aka 'For a Fistful of Dollars' (1964) and 'Per qualche dollaro in più', aka 'For a Few Dollars More' (1965).It is generally considered one of the best films of its kind ever made, a masterpiece, one that almost inexplicably continues to get better with each viewing.
Eastwood dedicated this movie to Sergio Leone who died 30 April 1989 in Rome, and who had believed in him early in his career.Call it 'Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il' or call it 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', but after seeing it you'll call this movie absolutely brilliant at MANY levels, including the one mentioned above by Kitchener.It is a classic like no other, and is easily one of the best Westerns and films of its kind ever made..
After Blondie and Tuco chance upon a dying Confederate soldier who reveals to them the whereabouts of a fortune in gold, the pair come to the attention of Angel Eyes, who will do anything to lay his hands on the treasure.The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the third film in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, is an epic spaghetti western that benefits from iconic central characters, an undeniable sense of cool, and, of course, that classic Ennio Morricone soundtrack (Waaawawah, waa waa waa!).
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1967)There are a number of great things about this movie.
The only aspect that I still have a high regard for in here in the music, now considered probably one of the "classic" soundtracks.However, the three main characters - the men who dominate this film - played by Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef - are really nothing but overly crude and excessively violent morons.
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966) **** Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef.
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966) **** Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef.
It runs for just under three hours, the pace of the film is quite good for a very long film, as Leone's direction is really top-notch that it just doesn't seem to matter as this film is really compelling and dense that you could watch it over and over again and it would still seem fresh.The performances are excellent, Clint Eastwood as the quietly spoken Blondie (the good), Eli Wallach as the humorous Tuco (the ugly) and Lee Van Cleef as the menacing Angel Eyes (the bad).