The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Directed by: Sergio Leone

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef

What an awful title. None of the main characters are really good, and by the same token, they all follow their own moral codes of conduct, so none of them are really evil either. And they’re ALL ugly. And dirty. But seriously, this is a great film. Fucking classic, in every sense of the word.

There’s a hidden cache of gold buried in the western desert. One man knows who to follow to get there, one man knows the location of the gold, and one man knows that he really, really wants a lot of gold. This is their awesome story.

It’s kinda hard to summarize this film, which is fine, because I don’t really feel like giving much of it away in the first place. Well, what is there to say about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? It’s one of the greatest westerns ever made, it has a ridiculously great and influential soundtrack, there’s a stellar cast of main characters, the plot is interesting and well-paced, and the characters are fleshed-out, complicated, and realistic. There’s basically nothing to not like about it. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because I have a hole where my heart should be, and it prevents me from liking things. Okay, that and it’s really long, and I’m just not that big of a fan of westerns. It’s still fucking great, and you should still fucking watch it.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Directed by: Sergio Leone

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch

I’m working on a western-themed project right now, so I figured I’d go ahead and watch a bunch of classic westerns. It’s not usually the genre I’m into, but hopefully after watching all the greats, I’ll get a better perspective.

In the old west, there’s a town with two major crime families, which Clint Eastwood walks into. As a gun-for-hire, he comes up with a plan to set both families against each other so he can take the spoils while they’re busy killing each other.

This is a pretty good movie. It’s a lot slower than I expected for some reason, but it’s used to very good effect. Just the fact that there are lots of long cuts and there isn’t all that much dialog would usually mean that you’re not going to be interested, but it’s timed perfectly. It’s a pretty good movie, I recommend it.