Happy new year!—I have picked 52 brand new-to-me movies for 2019! When tasked with organizing them, I sort of thematically matched them to last year’s list as I enjoyed the modulation of my genre-hopping. I figured a Clint Eastwood western would sort of parallel last year’s opener, “Lawrence of Arabia”, with each film being a classic, desert-epic with brooding, confident men staring into the distance. As I now know, their similarities end there, but in all the best ways!
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” is a Spaghetti Western that takes place during the American Civil War. In it, after the characters have been introduced, the Bad reveals he’s on a quest for a $200,000 cache of Confederate gold, killing for information on its whereabouts. Meanwhile, The Good meets the Ugly, a wanted man, and they team up to scam frontier towns. However, the Good betrays the Ugly, who then catches up to the Good to kill him—that is until they each learn about the gold. Fascinatingly, they both learn a separate fact about the gold’s location, and need each other to find it, so a tenuous truce is formed. They are in route to the treasure until they are captured by the Bad, escape, become trapped by a bridge battle, explosively subdue that battle, and then arrive at the gold’s location—just as the Bad does. *cue Mexican standoff*
What a whirlwind and a great way to start this year! Though my synopsis betrays the film’s epic ness, trust me when I say I loved this film. From Eastwood’s classic, stone-faced delivery to the stellar action sequences, occasional hilarity, character developing micro-acts, and carefully constructed tension, this film was great. Sergio Leone and cinematographer Toninio Delli Colli’s use of the frame was both beautiful and surprising, often playing with audience expectations. And Ennio Morricone’s score was one of the best and most impactful film scores I’ve heard during this project, rousing me like no music has since “2001”. I’ve heard it my whole life and never knew it connected to this film.
Sadly, it wasn’t until after I watched “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” that I learned it is officially-not-officially part three in a trilogy (the “Dollars Trilogy” or “The Man With No Name Trilogy”). I wish I could have dissected them in order but they don’t seem to really lean on each other, so it was ok. Other than that, and the pretty bad dubbing over Italian actors, this film was practically perfect. It was a great introduction to 2019 and, like the conclusion of the film, pure gold.