Off The Shelf Reviews: ‘The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

By CONNOR KEATING

Tiger Media Network

Welcome to Off The Shelf Reviews – the series where I review anything (excluding monster movies) that comes out of my DVD collection. To kick things off, we’re starting with a classic of Italian cinema: 1966’s “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”

The film follows three men in the midst of the American Civil War. First, there’s the pair of “friends” who are always looking to stab each other in the back, the clever and skilled marksman Blondie and his buddy Tuco, the wanted criminal. Then there’s Angel Eyes, the brutal bounty hunter who always finishes the job. The three learn of a $200,000 cash box buried in a cemetery. Angel Eyes is hunting Bill Carson, the man who knew where it was hidden, but discovers that Blondie and Tuco ran into Carson just before his death, and he told Tuco the name of the cemetery and Blondie the name on the grave where it’s buried. Now the three men have to work together, backstab and outsmart each other, and race to the cemetery for their prize.

The premise is pretty simple; however, it takes a bit for the plot to get going. The film has a runtime of 161 minutes, and much of the first half is spent setting up the characters and the dynamics between them. 

Blondie makes for a pretty good stoic protagonist. While he certainly isn’t a “good guy” as the title suggests, he has some code of ethics to him that is shown throughout the film. Much like the samurai he was based on (Sanjuro Kuwabatake from “Yojimbo,” which was the direct inspiration for “A Fistful of Dollars”), Blondie doesn’t just brute force his way through everything. He’s smart and knows when to hold information and deceive his enemies. Then there’s Tuco, Blondie’s partner in crime. He’s pretty much the exact opposite of him. Tuco isn’t as bright, he’s loud, and brute forces his way through things; however, he’s still very capable and dangerous. He gets the most development over the course of the film as he grows closer to Blondie, and runs into his own brother who scolds him for his life choices and causes him to reflect a bit. 

Finally, there’s Angel Eyes who makes for a great villain. He’s a bounty hunter who will take any job and make sure he sees it through. Unlike Blondie, he has no remorse. This is perfectly established during his introduction at the beginning of the film. The three of them are awesome and make for great characters. They’re cool, they’re dynamic, and they’ll do almost anything for the $200,000 dollars. 

That said, the film has a pretty long runtime and is a bit slow. There are a number of scenes that go on for quite a while, but I think it works. Never again will we get a soup-eating scene as suspenseful as Angel Eyes’ introduction. It was a lengthy scene with very little dialogue for the majority of it. And, of course, there’s also the intense standoff during the climax. Ultimately the drawn-out scenes work to better the film and raise the tension and suspense. 

One aspect of the film that isn’t talked about much is the fact that it takes place during the Civil War and that the war plays a pretty big role in the story and the themes. The film’s title is almost ironic, painting Blondie as inherently good, but he definitely isn’t. So there’s this theme running throughout the film of ‘nothing is as black and white as it seems’ and that can be felt in the war scenes. The union may be fighting for a better cause, but it’s war, and there are plenty of bad people on both sides, and there’s suffering on both sides as well. Tuco and Blondie disguise themselves as both Confederate and Union soldiers at different points in the film, so we get to see what it’s like for both sides. 

While the film has plenty of dour scenes, particularly around the war, it also has plenty of fun and action-packed sequences. One of my favorites has to be when Tuco walks into a gun store and just starts taking the guns apart and making his own revolver. The gun store owner really helps make that scene, he’s great. Blondie and Tuco also play off of each other well, giving us lots of great and funny exchanges.

The action scenes are unlike most today. Here, they tend to be slow and cautious, then erupt with sudden bursts of action as one character quickly draws his revolver and fires. What really carries a lot of the film though is the music. There’s a reason why one-half of the soundtrack is synonymous with cowboys, and the other half is synonymous with truck commercials. It’s all great stuff and very unique, helping it to stand out. 

So yeah, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” is a fantastic film. It has a simple but fun plot done in an interesting way with great characters who play off each other well, giving us one of the greatest westerns of all time. I give this film 9 “bullets left” out of 10. 

Connor Keating is a junior at Fort Hays State University, studying digital media and journalism. Connor is an old-school movie fan, particularly Japanese monster movies, and is an avid DVD collector.