Day 33 Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly) [1966]
Screenplay Agenore Incrocci, Furio
Scarpelli, Luciano Voncenzoni & Sergio Leone
Director Sergio Leone
Cinematography Tonino Delli Colli
Music Ennio Morricone
Leads Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli
Wallach
Production Produzioni Europee
Associati (PEA), Arturo González Producciones Cinematográficas, Constantin
Film, United Artists.
IMDb 8.9/10
Rotten
Tomatoes 97%
As
I said on day 12, when watching a film made before 1980, I tend to prefer war
films and Westerns. In this blog, Easy Rider is the only film that has
bucked that trend, but it’s not a concrete rule and I’m sure there are a
hundred films at least pre-1980 that I would love, that don’t involve cowboys
or soldiers. However, don’t they just make it so much better? That childhood
love of cowboys versus Indians and toy soldiers that whirs back into life whenever
I watch a film like this. Obviously, they are not as fun now that I have
learned about the historical atrocities of war and of the decline of the Native
Americans but that’s a discussion for another time. How can I talk about this
film without talking about the legendary Ennio Morricone? The theme in this
film is surely one of the most famous in movie history as well as popular
culture. He uses gunshots, whip cracks and other such sounds to create a
soundtrack that perfectly accompanies this gritty Spaghetti Western. The acting
is also top notch. Clint Eastwood as ‘Blondie’ (the good), Lee Van Cleef as ‘Angel
Eyes’ (the bad) and Eli Wallach as Tuco (the ugly) are all great. Eastwood
plays his usual cool, calm leading man, and Van Cleef plays an assassin of
sorts with aplomb, but Wallach was the best for me. He is funny and oafish, but
at the same time continues to work his way out of tricky situations. My
favourite part of the film is the stand-off at the end, it’s brilliantly
written and I was engaged from start to finish, once I had gotten past the
dubbing and worked out why some people’s mouths matched what they were saying
and others didn’t. Morricone, Wallach and Leone for the win.
Acting 3 / 4
Writing 3.5
/ 4
Cinematography 3
/ 4
Music 4
/ 4
HWF rating 3.5
/ 4