Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Year: 1966

Grade: A+

Country: Italy

Director: Leone

Review

features one of the best scenes in cinema history. everything from the canon blast (when eastwood fires the canon at wallach) onwards is just great. wallach running around the cemetery with morricone’s score blaring, the arrival of van cleef, the ensuing showdown in the circle…it’s all great and so perfectly set to music. pure cinema. of course the rest of the film isn’t too shabby either. the whole thing takes place during the civil war in the wild west. individual outlaws still rule the landscape and the government is in a state of turmoil. this is what westerns are all about. also loved how leone chooses to show (or not) things that are in, or just outside of, the frame. the first shot is of a western landscape and then a grizzled looking guy leans up into the frame. in the end eastwood is going to make wallach dig for the treasure when, from behind the camera, a shovel appears and is thrown between the two of them. van cleef emerges and is revealed. it’s as if things don’t exist unless leone chooses to show them.