Trev checked in seven months ago with a post on this classic Spaghetti Western, and for the most part I can just co-sign with the various things he mentioned. (Here's his post.) This movie isn't even three hours long, yet it took me four sittings across nearly a week to get through. But was that because it was a shitty, dated movie that bored me to sleep? Or was I just really tired? Perhaps some combination of the two? You know what, fine, I'm gonna do this:
The Good
Director Sergio Leone is one impressive cinematographer. Though noticeably dated in that blurry and faded way that film gets after a while, this is a beautiful movie. Most shots take place in the exterior of the Old West (well, Spain) and are framed perfectly to maximize a balance of wide open wonder and tense suspense. Also of note is the film's iconic score. (You've heard it, even if you don't know you have. Check Trev's post for a sample.) And while the film is and always has been known as a Clint Eastwood movie, the true star of the movie is absolutely and unquestionably Eli Wallach, who plays Tuco ("The Ugly"), a devious but affable bandit who gets more screen time than Eastwood and possibly more dialogue than the rest of the characters put together. Tuco was involved in every single one of the movie's most memorable scenes, and while Eastwood's Blondie ("The Good") is ostensibly the film's protagonist, I have to consider Tuco its heart, soul, and all-around hero.
The Bad
The film's biggest shortcoming is its plot. Trev accurately described the movie's central conflict as "a mad dash for buried treasure," and at three hours in length there's a whole lot of time to kill. I'll admit, that time is killed pretty excellently with a bunch of memorable scenes and double-crossings and minor obstacles, but ultimately we spend close to two and a half hours - without much dialogue, as Leone and his crew were Italian and his three main actors were all English-speaking Americans - just to get the three title characters to come together for their buried treasure. It's a fun ride, but one void of any character development or witty banter. The whole thing feels a lot like a Quentin Tarantino movie (Tarantino once called this the "best-directed" movie he'd ever seen, so its influence on his work is pretty clear) without any trademark Tarantino conversations and segues. Most glaringly of all, the film's antagonist - "The Bad" - is one of the most weakly-developed bad guys in any film I've ever seen. Early on, he kills a man in that man's home for murky reasons. He is then not seen until midway through the movie, masquerading as a soldier in the Union army. He wears a black hat and scowls something fierce, but man, he is one hollow character.
The Ugly
The following points shouldn't really be taken to reflect the film's "ugliness" as much as just some interesting ways in which it is quirky and dated and odd. I've gotta start with the sound. Because the three main actors spoke English and the rest of the supporting actors and extras spoke Italian or Spanish, Leone had everyone just speak their native language during shooting. Leone also shouted directions at his actors during shooting, and for these reasons in tandem decided to just have everyone dub their lines back in in post-processing. This made the film feel noticeably shoddy and low-budget, even though it was neither of those things. In addition to the voice dubbing, there were some flat out odd choices made by Leone, in my mind. For instance, at the film's climax, when Tuco stumbles upon the graveyard where the gold is buried, as he's running toward it, a dog appears and just starts chasing him. It's a dog we haven't seen before, and never see again. As it turns out, it's a dog Leone released unbeknownst to Wallach, the actor playing Tuco, as he wanted Tuco to look genuinely alarmed and surprised or something. First of all, forget about the levels of distrust that must foster between actor and director - there's a dog just running around blatantly in one of the movie's most pivotal scenes. What an odd choice. While I'm on the subject of actor-director distrust though, apparently Wallach nearly died three separate times while filming the movie. I'll keep the list brief and void of context, but once he was nearly decapitated by a speeding train, another time he wound up riding on a spooked horse for a mile with his hands tied behind his back, and a third time he drank acid out of a bottle he expected to be filled with water. Damn!
All in all, it was a decent movie, and about as good as anything I've seen from the other side of 1975 or so.
Sounds like we have very similar takes on it... but what about Ennio Marricone's score? That, to me, is one of the best aspects of the entire film.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you've seen it yet, but "Once Upon a Time in the West" deserves a watch. It's not only Sergio Leon's best western, but probably his best movie in general. You don't get Eastwood. Instead you get Charles Bronson playing an erie tune on his harmonica (appropriately the name of his enigmatic character) before wasting bad guys. And as for the story and characters... they're far better developed in this film than in any of Leon's other westerns.
Give it a watch. I remember it being a little on the long side like the rest of his films, but it was compelling enough for me to down it in one take. Better yet, see it in print on the big screen. I'm sure the Boston Landmark or another art house theater puts classics like this up every so often... and this is definitely one of those movies with such stellar cinematography that it deserves to be seen in a larger than life experience.