If you think of A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More as the tasty appetizers in Sergio Leone's celebrated "Dollars" trilogy of Italian "Spaghetti" Westerns, then The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a lavish full-... more »course feast. Readily identified by the popular themes of its innovative score by Ennio Morricone (one of the bestselling soundtracks of all time), this cinematic milestone eclipsed its influential predecessors with a $1.2 million budget (considered extravagant in the mid-1960s), greater production values to accommodate Leone's epic vision of greed and betrayal, and a three-hour running time for its wide-ranging plot about the titular trio of mercenaries ("Good" Blondie played by rising star Clint Eastwood, "Bad" Angel Eyes played by Lee Van Cleef, and "Ugly" Tuco played by Eli Wallach) in a ruthless Civil War-era quest for $200,000 worth of buried Confederate gold. Virtually all of Leone's stylistic attributes can be found here in full fruition, from the constant inclusion of Roman Catholic iconography to a climactic circular shoot-out, along with Leone's trademark use of surreal landscapes, brilliant widescreen compositions and extreme close-ups of actors so intimate that they burn into the viewer's memory. And while some Leone fans may favor the more scaled-down action of For a Few Dollars More or the masterful grandiosity of Once Upon a Time in the West, it was The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that cemented Leone's reputation as a world-class director with a singular vision. --Jeff Shannon« less
Eli A. (yodog) from CATONSVILLE, MD Reviewed on 5/11/2011...
Love it!!!!!!
0 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Movie Reviews
Excellent
David J. Martin | Houston, TX USA | 09/27/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Classic movie on BD. Whats to say? Loved it, they did a terrific job with this transition. The movie looks excellent, the DTS-MA sounds great. A must have for you movie enthusiasts"
Clint Eastwood's Best Movie
Carrot Top | 08/23/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is Clint's best movie EVER! Not my favorite western, but still pretty awesome. If you're a western fan and you haven't seen this masterpiece, BUY IT NOW!!!"
An Epic Masterpiece!!!
Robert Beck | Spring,, TX United States | 07/29/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An epic masterpiece of tremendous proportions. Sergio Leone is a genius at directing this movie and employed innovative usage of extreme close-ups, unusual camera angles, extended sequences and amazing action that changed how films were made after that. What keeps us coming back to this movie time and time again is the wry humor and the MUSIC!! Along with Jaws, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly elevates itself to the level of the greatest motion picture score of all time. It has become a cliché now when the opening whistle melody embodies the Western shootout in movies, TV, commercials, you name it. Keep in mind, before this, the western ideal for music was always the large orchestral scores with sweeping melodies ala Copland, Korngold, Moross, Elmer Bernstein, etc. Ennio Morricone used electric guitars, whistling and hyena howls!! Talk about innovative!! The Ecstasy of Gold sequence is a cinematic clinic on how to unite editing with music."
Greatest. Western. EVER.
Andrew Babino | Gotham City, USA | 07/14/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sergio Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY killed off the classic Hollywood pretty-boy Westerns in a hail of hideous hot lead and dragged the genre back into the dusty gutters of the back country where it belongs. John Wayne would soil himself at the sight of Clint Eastwood's steely, unholy stare even as he was blown away by a few well-placed pistol shots.
Unlike the Westerns of previous days that went out of their way to make the West look like a fun and beautiful place, THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY takes us to the harsh, hot, and horrific badlands of some godforsaken land where the laws of society and at times even the laws of physics don't apply. A place where the villains are downright demonic and even the heroes are a bit morally ambiguous. Even Clint Eastwood's "Blondie" character is really only in it for the money.
Set all of this rawness against the most fantastic score ever composed for a Western, and you're left with a three-hour mind trip of a movie that will leave you disgusted and dying to watch it again.
"Hey Blondie! You know what you are?! Just a dirty son of a *****!!!""