Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The [2-Disc Collector's Edition]

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Of the various spaghetti Westerns Clint Eastwood starred in--the ones he made in Europe in the sixties that made him famous--it's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" from 1966 that stands out from the rest. It's not just the longest, it's the best of the bunch, and it's also one of the better Westerns ever made, period.

"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" was the third of writer-director Sergio Leone's trilogy that featured the character MGM's PR department later dubbed "The Man With No Name." More than "A Fistful of Dollars" or "For a Few Dollars More," it's this finale of the trio that helped Eastwood become a household name and a worthy successor to John Wayne in the ranks of Western-movie icons. MGM's newest, two-disc Collector's Edition finally gives the film the credit it's due.

The distinctions of this latest incarnation of the movie on DVD are that the picture and sound have been improved, and the film itself has been restored to its original length. An accompanying featurette tells us that the film premiered in Rome at 178 minutes but that it was cut to 161 minutes for American distribution so it could be shown more times during each day of its run. To also complicate matters, for TV it was often cut further, rendering the already loosely constructed plot practically unintelligible. Leone was furious with the cuts but could do nothing about them. The additional minutes were restored to the present print in 2002, with Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach asked to dub over scenes that were heretofore only available in Italian. To ensure that this version was as close as possible to what the late director had in mind, the original Italian première reels were used to prepare the new, restored DVD transfer.

Quentin Tarantino has said he loves Leone's movies. Leone, in turn, was said to love Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's samurai pictures, even basing some of his films on their plots. Kurosawa indicated his own love of Hollywood Westerns, especially those of John Ford, and used much of the Hollywood Western style in his action yarns. Anyone familiar with these directors can see at a glance how each man borrowed from the other. So it is that Tarantino's "Kill Bill" reflects a lot of both Kurosawa and Leone, with all of them harking back to Ford. Art continues to imitate art, as art and artists have always been doing for ages.

If you have never seen "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," and there must be at least a couple of you out there who haven't seen it, be prepared for a slim plot and a lot of visuals. Leone loved to take his unhurried time telling a simple story, which is both an asset and a possible liability of the film. Often, Leone takes so much time building up a scene and creating suspense, finally coming to a climax and then starting all over again, it seems almost ludicrous, as though he were merely parodying himself. Spread over three hours, this kind of leisurely pantomime might become tiresome for an audience not accustomed to it. But for the patient viewer, the results are almost always worthwhile, especially in retrospect and upon subsequent showing.

So what is "Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo" about? Actually, not a lot. Most of the first half of the picture is taken up with an introduction of the characters and a small exposition of the plot. The "good" would be Eastwood, of course, whose actual name in these films is Blondie. Sorry to remind you. He's only the presumed "good" guy, in any case, because in reality he's anything but the straight-arrow, good-guy hero we might expect. He's the lone gunfighter, naturally, cool, quiet, intense. But he's not so much good as he is not quite so bad. He's more than willing to let his partners die if the money's right or the partner's not. It's this amoral quality we usually forget about Eastwood's character, but it's what makes him so intriguing and turns the usual heroic Western stereotype upside down. Indeed, it's what makes the whole movie so intriguing, this reversal of clichés.

The "bad" of the title is a guy who's not so much plain, old bad as he is really, really bad. He's Angel Eyes, played by veteran movie heavy Lee Van Cleef, the same Van Cleef whose credentials as a baddie go all the way back to "High Noon" in 1952. How bad is Angel Eyes? He's a hired killer who always carries through on a job. When we first meet him, he guns down a father and his son and then.... Well, I don't want to give too much away. Just trust me: He's one bad hombre, a fellow who never takes his eyes off his prey. In fact, its Van Cleef's eyes, that penetrating stare, that gives him his meanest and most enduring aspect.

Blondie's partner when the movie opens is Tuco Ramirez, the "ugly," played by Eli Wallach. But as with the other two main characters, the description is deceiving. Tuco is not so much ugly in the physical sense as his actions are ugly and reprehensible, despicable, contemptible, really low down. Tuco is a Mexican bandit who is the film's designated colorful character. He and Blondie work a con: Blondie brings him in a wanted man and collects a reward. Tuco gets about to be hanged, and Blondie rescues him in the nick of time. The two run off with the reward money. At least, that's the way it works until the two have a falling out. While Blondie is laconic in the Gary Cooper mode, Tuco talks constantly. His line to the sheriff when Blondie brings him in is "The hell with all your sheriffs and deputies and all who gave birth to you!" Wallach's character is a bizarre and gritty twist on the old comic sidekick in Westerns, and he is a continual delight.

So perhaps "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is misnamed. If truth-in-advertising laws were applied to movie titles, this one might be called "The Not Quite So Good As He Ought To Be, the Really, Really Bad, and the Truly Reprehensible." It doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it.

Anyway, once we finally get to know the three main characters, the plot thickens, having to do with a chest full of gold worth $200,000 that all of them are eventually after. It's not really much of a plot, though, as I've said, just an excuse to put the three characters into various situations and watch their greedy reactions.

The time setting for the story is the Civil War. But don't let this fool you. The locale is still the Old West, the Texas-New México border, in fact, where in real-life Major-General Henry Sibley led a Confederate corps of some 2,600 men to attack the Union forces out West. The Civil War, therefore, plays an important role in the movie, constantly reminding us of the conflicts in microcosm going on among the good, the bad, and the ugly peoples of the world. And as the War becomes more important, about halfway through the story line, the movie takes on a slightly melancholy tone, and its proportions become more epic than before.

Most everything about the film is memorable, thanks to the actors, certainly, but also to Leone's unique style and to composer Ennio Morricone's now instantly identifiable music. Starting with Leone, he owes a lot to John Ford, it's clear, especially in his use of long, panoramic shots. Ford had Monument Valley, Utah, at his disposal; Leone has all of Spain. But it's not just the wide vistas that stand out. Leone almost always starts out with a long shot and then immediately cuts to a close-up. By comparison there are few medium shots. So, we get alternating long and close shots, which tends to get a little irksome after a while but works well enough in the short run; since the movie is primarily a series of set pieces, that's OK. Then, too, there are Leone's introductory shots, for example, showing Eastwood's character only from the rear when he's introduced, head and shoulders, the way Steve McQueen liked to be visually announced in his movies. It emphasizes the mystery and the power of these men. Moreover, there is the business of Leone's building suspense within a scene by taking his own good time, sometimes pulling off climax after climax within the same sequence. You either like it or you don't; it's an acquired taste. A final note concerns Leone's constant juxtaposition of the beautiful and the brutal, his showing gorgeous scenery, for instance, or playing serene music while torture or killing is occurring. It's a tendency Tarantino picked up on and uses in most of his own movies.

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