THE BAD AND THE UGLY THE GOOD Movie Review
Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo
1967 Sergio Leone
Unlike the other two films in his “Man with No Name” trilogy, Sergio Leone's Civil War tale is a full-blown epic. Using some of the same cast members, narrative ideas, and musical and visual themes, he mythologizes both the war and the West. Like all of Leone's work, the film should not be seen as realism. It's not based on any “real” America, but instead on images of America. As such, the film is an Italian interpretation of an American war with absolutely no regard for historical fact. When Leone—the quintessential 1960s filmmaker—looks at war, he sees only waste and destruction. Politics, religion, and morality count for next to nothing.
To anyone unfamiliar with Leone's imaginative use of conventional narrative techniques, the opening scenes are virtually incomprehensible. More than 10 minutes pass before the first word is spoken. But while he may be confusing viewers, Leone is also setting out all the information they need to understand his three-sided conflict among Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), the “Bad” of the title; Tuco (Eli Wallach), the “Ugly”; and Blondie (Clint Eastwood), the “Good.” Angel Eyes is hired by a bedridden, wizened Confederate to find a man who tells him that a fortune in rebel gold has been hidden, and that another man who goes under the name Bill Carson knows where it is. Meanwhile, Blondie runs a scam where he turns in Tuco to collect the bounty on his head and then rescues him as he's about to be hanged. Coincidence leads Blondie and Tuco to learn where the gold is, but Union and Confederate forces are in the way.
At first glance, the plot appears to be almost episodic, wandering off pointlessly for long digressions. But the truth is that Leone and his four co-writers never lose sight of their main themes. Every scene adds something, pushing the plot forward, while Leone uses the rest of his vast canvas to create a richly textured mythic amalgamation of the Old West and the war. The big set pieces are ambitiously staged and beautifully photographed by Tonino Delli Colli. From the shelling of the town, to the gun shop, crossing the desert (an allegorical descent into hell), the prison camp, the battle on the bridge, and, most memorably, Tuco's delirious run through the cemetery, they're instantly recognizable moments.
Seen strictly as a war story, the film gains another level of bitterness. For example, every military character who has even a word of dialogue is wounded or injured: the bedridden old man who hires Angel Eyes, a legless “half-soldier,” the camp commandant with a gangrenous leg, the massive corporal with a milky eye, the drunken captain at the bridge, and finally the dying Confederate boy who provides Blondie with his signature poncho. The only exception might be Angel Eyes, who assumes the role of sergeant for a time, but in the final shootout, it's revealed that he's missing the tip of one finger.
Though the film is undeniably part of the Eastwood “No Name” trilogy, stylistically and thematically, it fits easily with Leone's next film, Once Upon a Time in the West, another extravagant history. In these two films, Leone seems to be most comfortable with the touches for which he has become so famous—the extreme closeups, the extended conclusions (the final gunfight here is more than five full minutes of twitchy fingers and cutting eyes), the leisurely pace, and, perhaps most important, the fine acting he elicits from his cast. Though he gets third billing, Eli Wallach has as much screen time as his co-stars and his none-too-subtle clowning steals the film.
In the end, historical flaws notwithstanding, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly remains a valuable addition to the comparatively small body of Civil War films. If nothing else, it shows Americans how the war can be translated by a European imagination.
Cast: Clint Eastwood (Blondie, the “Good”), Eli Wallach (Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, the “Ugly”), Lee Van Cleef (Angel Eyes Sentenza, the “Bad”), Chelo Alonso, Luigi Pistilli (Padre Ramirez), Rada Rassimov (Maria, the prostitute), Livio Lorenzon (Baker), Mario Brega (Wallace); Written by: Sergio Leone, Sergio Donati, Furio Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni, Agenore Incrocci; Cinematography by: Tonino Delli Colli; Music by: Ennio Morricone. Producer: Alberto Grimaldi, United Artists. Italian. Boxoffice: 6.1M. Running Time: 161 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, Letterbox.