Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Filmed in Spain by Italian filmmaker, this is the best Western ever made. With Hollywood actors but fittingly, not made in Hollywood, it was despised by the mainstream at the time, but also recognized for its genius and is the most famous part of the most famous Western trilogy. Building on a rich Italian storytelling and film making tradition, with unforgettable score, this movie has justly taken the place it now holds. If you have not seen it yet, do it. Equally subversive and authentic, this is just one master piece nobody should miss.

As a person "of a certain age", and a true movie buff, it is now startling to me that I managed to miss experiencing this gem until 2018. It is truly a masterpiece. And, as said "movie buff", am somewhat embarrassed to admit this ignorance. Stunning is not a cliché when applied to TGTBTU. And omg that classic, iconic score.So, expecting to see a plethora of Oscar nominations/wins, was stunned to learn on IMDB that there was not even one of either! This compelled me to search Wikipedia to understand how this omission occurred. It became clear quickly. Simply put, 1967 was a big year for Hollywood. And the oscars were at that time limited to only 5 nominees per category. Best Pictures: "In the Heat of the Night", "The Graduate", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (all truly worthy of the honor), and "Dr. Doolittle".Excuse me? "Dr. Doolittle"??? Over THIS? Well, it was indeed the psychedelic 60's.

This epic features a coherent story, complex characters, iconic performances, mesmerizing landscapes, one of the greatest movie endings ever, and a timeless score by Ennio Morricone. It's easily one of the best (if not the best) westerns of all time, If you haven't watched it yet, I envy you, because that means you haven't enjoyed the most entertaining 3 hours in your life yet. (9/10)

As Sergio Leone was cementing himself as a great director after the excellent Yojimbo remake 'Fistful of Dollars' and the incredible 'For a Few Dollars More', with 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' he has managed to reach his quality climax. With a lot of close ups, gorgeous landscape cinematography & stylish drawn out tenseful gunfights all of Leone's trademarks are clearly visible. Yet why is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly even better than his other masterpieces? The three main characters are ofcourse the stars of this show, with each putting in an exceptional performance, especially Eli Wallach as the eccentric bandit Tuco. Clint Eastwood & Lee van Cleef's natural acting talent show that there is no need for useless dialogue to insult the viewers intelligence, facial acting is an even more impressive kind of acting, and with van Cleef and Eastwood, they had the two best in the business. The little dialogue also gives the viewer a chance to listen to the absolutely incredible musical orchestrations by Ennio Morricone, which is always in a natural kind of harmony to Leone's direction skills, resulting in absolutely graceful scenes that delight the eyes. The dialogue that is there always seems to further the story or enhance character development ( specifically in Tuco's case ), and not insult the viewers intelligence. It even includes a parody on one of the most common Hollywood clichés when Tuco says: 'When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk!'.Unlike Leone's previous films The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is set during the American civil war between the Union and Confederacy, and a lot of small subplots feature this war. Leone shows a sarcastic view on the purposelessness of the civil war in this film by putting the three main characters in its midst while maintaining its own personal story about greed. The alcoholic Union captain shows this perfectly, with his fed up view about the brutality and the senseless deaths of the civil war, or Angel Eyes's trip through a confederate hospital showing all the wounded as Morricone's dramatic music plays. As for morals, we see the nametags of the title of the movie added to the three characters, yet don't really see all three of them as more than common thugs at the start of the movie. However, the civil war changes this, showing Blondie a man of compassion when faced with a dying soldier, to whom he shares his cigar. A little gesture of great moral worth. Also showing Angel Eyes's indifference with his stolen identity as a fake Union sergeant only to further his own personal greedy agenda. Tuco is shown after the meeting with his brother to be forced into the way he is now, and even though he is a vulgar, dirty, ugly ( no pun intended ) character Leone manages to make him likeable when he is influenced by greed. Thus one of the greatest decisions Leone made was having the setting during the civil war, as its part in this story further enhances character development and brings up questions about the senselessness of it all. The blowing up of the bridge could be seen as the greatest ironic statement of Leone against war.Yet the primary story still consists of finding gold in a certain cemetery, as a personal study of greed. This concept alone might not seem so spectacular, but Ennio Morricone's haunting score, the beautiful desert landscape cinematography, stylish gunfights and the brilliant acting results in an incredible primary story aswell. It is one of the films with some of the greatest final 15-20 minutes ever put to screen, resulting in a large payoff deserving of such a quality film. In the end we truly begin to understand why the tags 'Good', 'Bad' and 'Ugly' are stated in the beginning of the film, as all of the characters have evolved to their respective states during the affairs in the civil war. This is excluding Angel Eyes, who is shown to be evil, dressed in black, from the start, but that makes sense since Leone wanted to show the differences between the three characters in a morality contest during the film, and as Blondie and Tuco changed, Angel Eyes had to be different from them.All of this cements The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as one of the greatest films ever made, and the greatest western ever made, since it tackles so many different kind of themes. It is one of the greatest pieces of entertainment, yet also tackling morality problems and making anti-war statements.