The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.
THE SUMMARY: A gunslinger, an outlaw, and a hitman all compete and cooperate trying to recover a secret stash of Confederate gold in one of history’s most infamous westerns. There are few things I greatly admire about the movie, and many things I respect, but overall its length and age make for often tedious viewing by modern standards.
THE BEST:
Absolutely legendary soundtrack: Even if you’ve never seen the movie, you know the theme immediately. There are many metrics by which to measure soundtrack quality - the composition, the style, the tone it sets, the memorability of the melody - whatever your criteria, this movie’s soundtrack is among the best. The main theme is what everybody remembers, and for good reason, but ‘The Trio’ and ‘The Ecstasy of Gold’ deserve honorable mention.
The bathtub scene was great: While it was Clint Eastwood who became the icon in part through this movie, his performance actually wasn’t all that compelling to me. I understand he was supposed to be a mysterious, cold character, but I found much more entertainment in Tuco. I especially loved the bathtub scene - Tuco is wandering through a war-torn town, trailed by a bounty hunter, and just when the bounty hunter thinks he has Tuco trapped and starts congratulating himself, Tuco hits him with the revolver from under the suds. ‘When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.’ It was my favorite scene and my favorite line in the movie, and that line was actually unscripted. The actor improvised it, and the director liked enough to leave it in the movie.
The bridge battle scene is impressive, even today: Especially for a movie over fifty years old, the bridge battle scene was big in scale and believable. The men scrambling for cover, the cannons firing, the incoming artillery, the wounded being carried out, plus the actual explosion of Tuco and Blondie blowing up the bridge - it all looked convincingly real. It was a scene that looked as good as many war movies made decades later.
I learned a little history: Not that I’m a Civil War scholar, but I was not aware of the ‘New Mexico Campaign’ in spring 1862, the setting of this movie. The Confederate Army had hoped to seize control of Colorado gold fields and ports in California. Confederates did earn several battle victories, but ultimately heavy causalities and scarce resources led the commanding General Henry Sibley to retreat back to Texas without achieving the campaign’s goals.
THE WORST:
Way, way, WAY too long: It’s the only negative thing I can say about the movie, but it damages the movie significantly to me. It’s nearly three hours long, and there’s no justification for it. There are drawn-out unnecessary scenes of bleak and boring landscapes, there are plot points explored at length that don’t serve significant purpose to the main plot of finding the gold (Tuco’s brother at the monastery, the forever-long opening scene with Angel Eyes and the Confederate soldier, the even longer dehydration march). Each character and his motives could be established in a fraction of the time, and it’d make for a better movie. The latter half is much more enjoyable than the first half - everything I loved in this movie happened later.
The length and the pace dilutes what should be an enjoyable movie for me. I love the gunslinging. I love the music. I love the setting. I don’t love sitting around for big blocks of time waiting for the plot to progress or for something interesting to happen.
THE RATING: 3/5 Wickies. Moments of legendary greatness spread way too far apart.
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NEXT WEEK: Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
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