The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

My journey into the Sergio Leone's trilogy reaches its conclusion with the iconic 1966 spaghetti western classic, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly which stars Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach. The first film was a perfectly paced, simple western adventure with colourful characters and the sequel expanded on this with a more personal story regarding Van Cleef's Col. Mortimer. Both were fantastic and distinct in their own way but now it was time to see what is arguably the most highly regarded western of all time.

Set during the American Civil War in 1862, Eastwood's gunslinger find himself on hunt for buried treasure but is up against Van Cleef's new character known as Angel Eyes who is a sadistic killer, and Wallach's cunning Mexican bandit. Leone fills 177 minutes with a broad range of interesting characters, epically filmed visuals that utilise practical effects and an engaging story all the while accompanied again by Ennio Morricone's brilliant score.

Yet despite everything this film has going for it and it's many achievements, I feel it's almost sacrilegious to say this one wasn't quite everything I hoped it would be. There is still plenty to enjoy, particularly Wallach's charismatic performance, and the action is suitably tense and thrilling when the bullets start to fly but Leone's decision to place this amongst the Civil War gives the film a different flavour from the other two over a rather long running time.

This feels more akin to a sprawling epic than the spaghetti western I had expected and so Leone does achieve in making each three films feel distinct with their own personality but perhaps it's the lack of a clear antagonist this time which, for me, undermines the conclusion. The first two films had the brilliant Gian Maria Volonté but here Van Cleef's Angel Eyes is missing a necessary degree of interaction with Eastwood's character to setup the finale in a way that really felt satisfying. Leone had the setup between Eastwood and Wallach but maybe he needed to devote more time towards Van Cleef.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly is a film I will revisit one day and I'm sure it will improve on subsequent viewings but I am surprised to find myself favouring A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More to this in terms of value for entertainment. Leone proves to still be a master of drama and his handling of the Civil War is fascinating to see as he mixes two genres together making for an exciting epic that still delivers a worthwhile experience on a colossal scale.