The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Review: The Western at Its Most Operatic
9/10 — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Pros
- Morricone's iconic score
- Brilliant final standoff
- Wallach's scene-stealing Tuco
Cons
- Overlong in places
- Few female characters
Three gunslingers, Clint Eastwood’s Blondie, Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes and Eli Wallach’s Tuco, race through the American Civil War to find buried Confederate gold. Sergio Leone made it the biggest and most stylised film in his Dollars trilogy.
What works
Leone’s wide landscapes and extreme close-ups give every glance weight, and Morricone’s score is arguably the greatest ever written for a Western. Eli Wallach steals the film with a funny, sweaty, desperate Tuco, and the three-way standoff in the cemetery is a masterclass in tension.
Where it falters
It’s long, and some of the war scenes drag. Its treatment of its few female characters is minimal at best.
Verdict
A grand, stylish, gloriously confident Western, and still the best of its kind.
