an interesting comment from Imdb

[cigar joe]

The best cinematic meditation on greed since "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"..., 26 August 2000
Author: keihan (keihan@usit.net)


*** This comment may contain spoilers ***


Belfast-based comics writer Garth Ennis said it best: "There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend...those who dig Clint Eastwood movies...and dweebs." While I have to admit that my heart belongs to the opening act of "The Man With No Name" trilogy, "A Fistful of Dollars", there is no denial in my mind that "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" is actually the better film. Many directors have tried imitating it's style (including Don Siegel's substandard "Hang 'Em High" and Eastwood's own first Western offering as star/director in "High Plains Drifter"), but none have truly come close to the eccentricities on display here.

I have a suspicion that the storyline is actually based on historical fact. Consider this account from Joel Rose's "The Big Book of Thugs" under the entry of "The Reynolds Gang": They were organized in 1863 by Texans Jim and John Reynolds. They were briefly interned in a Civil War prison camp for Confederate sympathizers and after being released, began making robberies that, according to Jim Reynolds, were to help out Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy. The loot was buried somewhere in the area of Handcart Gulch and Spanish Peaks in Colarado Territory and later, after Jim Reynolds and four members of his gang had been executed by Colonel John M. Chivington of the Union Army, John Reynolds, dying from a fatal wound during a holdup, supposedly whispered out the location of his old gang's ill gotten loot. Unlike the movie version, it was never found.

Regardless of whether or not this was the actual basis for TGTBATU, it is nevertheless a film more grounded in history than a lot of it's comtemparies and, indeed, more than a few of it's successors. The Civil War is part of the backdrop, but it does so on a forgotten front of that war, the Western theater. Most high-school history classes would have us believe that nothing happened out West, but plenty did. In fact, the last skirmish of the war, if I'm not mistaken, was in New Mexico and, ironically enough, a Confederate victory.

The central of this film is greed. You don't just see it in the quest for the Confederate gold by Blondie, Angel Eyes, and Tuco. There are signs of it everywhere; in the hotel manager talking about how he'll be glad to get the Northerners in town for the money they'll bring in, Bill Carson appealing to Tuco's greed for a single sip of water, the gang of cutthroats who are systematically robbing the Confederate prisoners of their goods. Set up against the harsh desert backdrop, it exposes the ultimate folly of that greed (the best symbol of it perhaps being the cemetary where the gold is buried). A little over a decade before the Reagan era of "Greed is healthy, greed is good", this film provides the ultimate rebuttal to that argument. Greed has gotten just as many men killed, if not more, than patriotism ever did. Such a subtext makes "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" the cinematic child of John Huston's "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and the precursor to Oliver Stone's "Wall Street".

As great as Leone, Eastwood, Van Cleef, and Wallach are, there is one member of this team that pushs this film into the status of greatness: score writer Ennio Morricone. Not only does he manage to write one of the most recognized theme tunes on the planet, he also adds the extra tension needed to convey the drama with the necessary oomph, the best examples being in Blondie's torturous walk across the desert, Tuco's frantic search through the cemetary (my personal favorite and so good that Lucasarts did a slowed-down version of it for their western shooter, "Outlaws"), and, of course, the final three way shoot-out. He still composes scores for many other films to this day, I've been told. A good example of his most recent work would be the 1990 version of "Hamlet" starring Mel Gibson and directed by Franco Zefferelli. But I truly doubt that he'll ever be able to top the legendary work he did here.

[Groggy]

Interesting review. The last battle of the war took place at Texas, and it's a bit of a stretch perhaps to say "a lot happened" out west during the war (depends on your definition of a lot), but that's nitpicking.

"The central [sic] of this film is greed." Couldn't agree more, although I think the tying it into Reagan is a bit much.

[cigar joe]

I'll have to research the Reynolds Gang, see what I can discover.

It also depends on your definition of the West, a lot happened West of the Mississippi.

[The Firecracker]

"There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend...those who dig Clint Eastwood movies...and dweebs."

An interesting quote but very flawed.
GBU is not an "Eastwood movie". The director is the star.
In fact you could say I don't "dig" any of Eastwood's solo westerns.
They only achieve the title of throwaway movies you watch, maybe, once.

[sergios specs]

 I couldn't agree with you more regarding Clint Eastwood's westerns, although i do find Josey Wales watchable. However that is because of the Chief. Eastwood is an ok director i guess, but he is not in the same league as Leone. I mean, have you ever watched Joe Kidd? All the way through i mean. If you haven't DO NOT BOTHER. If you have, well you know what i mean

[cigar joe]

Don't let TucmcariBound here that he'll go apoplectic 

[dave jenkins]

The central of this film is greed. You don't just see it in the quest for the Confederate gold by Blondie, Angel Eyes, and Tuco. There are signs of it everywhere; in the hotel manager talking about how he'll be glad to get the Northerners in town for the money they'll bring in, Bill Carson appealing to Tuco's greed for a single sip of water, the gang of cutthroats who are systematically robbing the Confederate prisoners of their goods. Set up against the harsh desert backdrop, it exposes the ultimate folly of that greed (the best symbol of it perhaps being the cemetary where the gold is buried). A little over a decade before the Reagan era of "Greed is healthy, greed is good", this film provides the ultimate rebuttal to that argument. Greed has gotten just as many men killed, if not more, than patriotism ever did. Such a subtext makes "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" the cinematic child of John Huston's "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and the precursor to Oliver Stone's "Wall Street".

This is the classic writing-the-article-on-the-way-to-the-game approach. The author had his thesis ready at hand and was using it regardless of what actually transpired on the field. GBU stands in sharp contrast to Sierra Madre: the latter shows the dissolution of a partnership and the personal destruction of its members under the corrosive effects of greed. GBU, on the other hand, presents men who begin and end the same way, wanting gold. There isn't much character development in GBU: the Good remains Good, the Bad remains Bad (but dead), the Ugly is still Ugly. The search for treasure doesn't really affect who the characters are.

Greed is used very differently in the two films. In Sierra Madre it is the film's central concern, part of its theme (something along the lines of "Greed Destroys"). In GBU, greed is just a stage property: a necessary part of the landscape put there simply to keep the plot ticking away. The 200,000 dollars is, in Hitchcock terms, the MacGuffin, a means of initiating events. The gold is important to the characters (it provides them with a goal), but not to our understanding of the picture.

As such, Leone has little to say about "greed." He neither condemns nor approves it, he merely reports its existence (Angel Eyes comes to a bad end, but does Blondie suffer for his greed? Does Tuco?). SL has other things on his mind, though. One theme that comes through loud and clear is the sheer waste of human life in modern warfare. I say modern warfare because Leone is not a pacifist and in fact extols the virtues of personal combat. But the increasing mechanization of war has made personal combat impossible--it results in impersonal destruction without the opportunity for personal endeavor of any kind . (BTW, the American Civil War is sometimes considered the first modern war because of such things as greater mechanization, trench warfare tactics, etc.) Tuco and Blondie--even Angel Eyes--are contrasted with the rank-and-file who are marching their way to early death. The "outlaws" have opted out of the system; they may not end up any better off than the suckers, but at least they have a shot at a big payday. The soldiers, we are reminded time and again, are fighting for nothing ("How much did they give you for your arm?" Tuco asks one amputee). In the view of the film, the three principals are shrewder than any of the other characters they meet, and it is their gumption (as well as the gold/goal that motivates them) that sets them apart.

Greed indeed!

[cigar joe]

dj you are certainly getting milage out of that post,  , the main reason I pasted it here was for the Joel Rose's "The Big Book of Thugs" under the entry of "The Reynolds Gang": " citing. 

[dave jenkins]

dj you are certainly getting milage out of that post,  , the main reason I pasted it here was for the Joel Rose's "The Big Book of Thugs" under the entry of "The Reynolds Gang": " citing. 

Sure, but I just couldn't let that other crap go.

[Groggy]

Also, Don Siegel did NOT direct Hang 'Em High!

[dave jenkins]

Also, Don Siegel did NOT direct Hang 'Em High!

Hell no, everybody knows it's a Ted Post film (which explains why it's so TV-like).

[Groggy]

Hell no, everybody knows it's a Ted Post film (which explains why it's so TV-like).

I was going to say sucky, but TV-like works too, I guess.

[The Firecracker]

I mean, have you ever watched Joe Kidd?

I've tried on two occasions to finish it but I always end up falling asleep in the scene where Eastwood kills the Mauser wielding lackie.
I am aware of the buzzy ending with the train ramming into the saloon. I would like to see it but don't want to sit through the whole movie to do so.


OJW is great, and remains that way into the beginning of the third act.
The movie loses track of its story and becomes a movie about family (I think).