The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[WARNING: MAY CONTAIN PLOT SPOILERS]

One late night in the early 1980s, I was channel-surfing on my minuscule black and white television and came upon the very beginning of an interesting-looking Clint Eastwood western that I hadn’t seen before. Knowing that I’d have to be at work the following morning, I decided to go ahead and watch this movie and go to bed immediately afterward. This turned into a disaster, at least in terms of getting any sleep that night, because the movie I was watching was The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. And it lasted nearly four hours (including all of the interminable commercials)! But it really was a terrific movie, in spite of its never-ending nature. Like other “spaghetti” westerns like A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, Eastwood plays a quiet, brave, scheming, and sharpshooting drifter from the Midwest who wears the rough and dangerous wild west lifestyle as if he were born to it. In this movie, the plot centers around the struggle between three tough, ruthless individuals (including Eastwood’s unnamed character) to find hidden treasure that was earlier stolen and buried by some Confederate soldiers. Which brings me to what makes The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly such a great movie: while the three are engaging in their exciting, brutal quest, in the background the U.S. Civil War is going on unabated. And as the movie chugs along, the War’s role in the plot increases until it becomes clear that the overriding message this film means to convey is the futility and horror of war. The musical soundtrack was outstanding and appropriate, too. And the ending to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is truly a classic in the history of cinema, spoofed many times since. As to the title’s meaning, Eastwood played the “Good”, Lee Van Cleef played a ruthless, cruel paid assassin called Angel Eyes as the “Bad”, and Eli Wallach as Mexican bandit Tuco played the “Ugly”. Although Eastwood got top billing, it was Wallach who stole the show with his unforgettable performance.

Although it was pure fiction and filmed in Europe, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly showed the hard edge of life in the southwestern U.S. during the Civil War. The movie contained several flaws, which I enjoy laughing at every time I see them! I liked it so much that I got the DVD (without the obnoxious commercials). In spite of the movie’s extraordinary length, there is an even longer, uncut version occasionally shown on television that I recommend the most. Just make sure you’ve had enough sleep before watching!