What Makes The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Great.

Sergio Leone's finale in his Spaghetti Western Trilogy is nothing short of masterful. It encompasses the elements of Leone's previous Westerns and adds even more into a film that Re-defined the genre and established elements that have stayed with us thanks to Leone's innovative filmmaking techniques, amazing characters, and one of the best scores of all time.

In the backdrop of the Civil War, the film follows three men in their attempt to uncover a lost fortune of confederate gold. The three must contend with the chaos of the war and each other in an attempt to reach the cemetery that contains the fortune.

Featuring one of the greatest trios of all time, the actual good, bad, and ugly are all highly memorable and engaging thanks to the performances of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach. This is a film with no hero in this world of distrust and savagery. The drive of the three characters is greed, no development or event that chances their goals or their outlook whatsoever. The bad "Angel Eyes" is a ruthless but also intelligent killer who is very much the antithesis of Eastwood's good. He is a drifter much like Eastwood's good but is willing to go to crueler means to get what he wants or live by his own code of "always finishing a job". The Ugly "Tuco" is wanted for a list of crimes that are almost as tall as him. Tuco is indeed a "Rat" as he is called in the film by Eastwood, as seen in the means by which he gets by. He uses people as a means of getting what he wants, and once as they outlive their usefulness, he is quick to betray and kill them at the drop of a hat (His relationship with Eastwood is a perfect example of this). He has Eastwood wander through the hot desert at gunpoint with no water for hours and takes a sick pleasure out of it. Then when he learns that Eastwood knows the name of the grave where the gold is buried, he does a complete 180 and comforts him and tries everything in his power to save his life. The Good "The Man with no Name" or "Blonde" is the closest thing we have to a hero to the story. He is the classic cool and calm antihero. The way he is always is the smartest and quickest in the room with Eastwood's composure and delivery make The Man a cinematic icon. One of the most pivotal and powerful scenes in the movie involves The Man when he spots a dying Confederate soldier and comforts him with a cigar and blanket in his final moments. Throughout the film, the characters have been rather indifferent to the suffering and violence that is going on around them, but this one exchange forces The Man to confront the great tragedy of all this destruction and it's this showing of compassion that truly makes him The Good.

Another aspect of the film that makes it a masterpiece is the sheer scope of it all. Just short of 3 hours long, the variety in set-pieces. The portrayal of the mostly untamed southwest is captured brilliantly. If you ever get a chance to see this on the big screen, do it, The work of cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli is too beautiful to miss on the biggest screen possible. The music by Ennio Morricone is nothing short of legendary. Much like how Speilberg cites John Williams has a big part to why Jaws works, the same can be said for Morricone. The score is as much a character in this film as the actual ones and the life it brings to the movie throughout cannot be denied, rather epic, intense, or even somber it is a soundtrack that has deservedly become just as famous as the actual film. In that final standoff between the three leads, the music, the cinematography, and the editing by Nino Baragli and Eugenio Alabiso all come together in a brilliant showcase of what is still to this day one of the most intense and memorable sequences in the history of cinema. It is a sequence that young filmmakers are still studying and taking inspiration from to this day (just look at some of Tarantino's work).

Through multiple views, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly continues to be a rewarding experience. If you think westerns are boring and all the same, then you haven't seen this movie, so get on it.