The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was shot in Spain and except for the three leading parts and perhaps a few others, the actors are Italians. So are the people behind the camera. The original title of the film is in fact "Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo", but it is the American version that is known all around. No wonder Sergio Leone's westerns are called spaghetti westerns.

Eli Wallach plays the ugly bandit, Lee Van Cleef the bad gunman and Clint Eastwood the good bounty hunter, though he may not be good by our standards. But in a world of cruelty and everyman for himself he reveals a humane side.

All three are hunting for a treasure that has been stolen from the Confederate army. More than once they ally themselves with each other only to break the alliance shortly after. Their only concern seems to be to get the treasure all to themselves.

The backgound of the story is the American Civil War, and when it pops up as a subject, it is interesting to see how Leone, an Italian, treats it.

The story, which is quite simple, drags on for too long, but for the first two hours I did enjoy Leone's way of telling his story, of building up suspense, and of using the super close-up. The dry one-liners also livens up the film. Ennio Morricone's characteristic soundtrack is one of his best.