The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly is truly a masterpiece of both Western/Adventure epic movies and filmmaker in general. The main plot of this movie revolves around three men: The Good, “Blondie” .or “The Man With No Name” (Clint Eastwood); The Bad, Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef); and The Ugly, Tuco (Eli Wallach). They all have very different personalities but are alike in one aspect—they all want the $200,000 in Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. Both Blondie and Tuco have different information leading to the gold so they are forced into working together while continuously being pursued by Angel Eyes.
For me, the best part about this movie is how well their titles fit with their characteristics. The Bad is evil personified and is willing to do anything to get the gold, even if it means killing indiscriminately. The Good is not what many would consider “good” today, but he does have a sense of honor and fair play which was lacking in the Old West. Also, the scene where he shares a puff of his cigar with Confederate soldier is powerful, and it sums up everything that the Man With No Name is all about, without saying a single word. Finally, the Ugly is definitely the most complex and central figure of this movie. Unlike Angel Eyes who is just evil, Tuco is a product of a very terrible environment. He worked hard keeping his family together but eventually took the more difficult route of being a vigilante (as opposed to his brother who became a priest). He really represents the ugly side of people, not good or bad just doing what one must to survive.
This is definitely one of my favorite movies of all time and I highly recommend it to anyone anywhere. There is hardly a Western cliché that is either given a unique twist or utterly destroyed by the director’s (Sergio Leone) storytelling.
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