THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

"Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're gonna have to earn it."

Sergio Leone's epic 'Man With No Name' trilogy came to a triumphant, booming close in his 1966 masterpiece THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef are all in peak condition, and are as entertaining as any trio of characters in the illustrious history of westerns. While Eastwood has gotten the most credit as well as top billing for the film (after all, it did propel him in to the echelon of living legend), the real star of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY is Eli Wallach. Over the three Man With No Name films his character Tuco became more and more dispicably entertaining, until he finally stole the spotlight in the climax. Wallach is over-the-top, both in actions and physically characteristics. The other two characters compliment him perfectly; with Van Cleef playing the icy cool and equally cruel Angel Eyes, and of course Eastwood's eternally badass Blondie.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY is basically a chase film at heart. It is about these three crusty caricatures chasing down a hidden purse of $200,000 worth of gold buried in a graveyard. The only thing that keeps these three from killing each other is the fact that they need the information the others have, or else no money. Leone masterfully orchestrates his 161-minute epic into what seems like completely different stories. The antics and scenarios are priceless, and there are plenty of them. The story switches from headhunting, Civil War battles, vicious executions, vintage shoot-outs, and chases through the desert, but you can hardly tell by how fast the story as a whole moves along. Leone masterfully shot and edited this spaghetti classic, and its status as one of the most entertaining and influential westerns made in the second half of the twentieth century is obvious from the beginning to the end.

A+