4 minute read
The Ecstasy of Gold
With the final part of the Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy, a director, a star and an entire genre achieved immortality in the truly iconic masterpiece The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Ugly is the sun in director, Sergio Leone’s cinematic universe, the crown jewel in his career and the pinnacle of a man pushing what you could do with the western genre. Its influence is undeniable. Set during the Civil War, two men - Blondie and Tuco, form an uncomfortable alliance while looking for treasure. They must also outwit Angel Eyes, an outlaw who wants to plunder the riches for himself. With Clint Eastwood as Blondie - the good - Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes - the bad, they are joined by the equally fantastic Eli Wallach as Tuco - the ugly, to complete the trio. Van Cleef is playing a completely different character from his last Leone outing, he plays an evil son of a gun! Wallach brings a tremendous sense of humour as the dodgy but lovable Tuco, the ugly. Eastwood is Eastwood but to me, this is the peak of Eastwood western cool.
Leone used images over dialogue to tell his stories.His unique style really stands out here Following the opening credits, we get a longshot of landscape cut short with a man stepping into the same shot to now form an extreme close-up. And it goes from there. Leone was a big fan of David Lean; a man that operated on a large canvas with Lawrence of Arabia as the major example and he’s inspired by Lean to shoots his characters against vast landscapes. This is never more evident than in the movies climax in the cemetery where our characters are but dots among the many gravestones.
The above header is actually the name of the piece of music that accompanies an excited and manic Tuco as he runs around the cemetery trying to find an important grave. Any other director would have cut this search down but Leone had an amazing score from Ennio Morricone and so we are treated to one of the most memorable scenes in Leone’s work. It’s often said that we remember moments from movies, not the plot or story necessarily. The final duel is one of these moments. Three men staring at each other, waiting to draw fire. It goes on for a staggering five minutes and the result is hypnotic, tense, awesome!
Leone would go on to make two more westerns, the elegiac Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and A Fistful of Dynamite (1971) (also referred to a by an awesome alternate title Duck, You Sucker!). His final work was the majestic gangster movie Once Upon a Time in America in 1984 and he passed away of a heart attack in 1989. A younger generation of filmmakers still tip their hats to both the man and his work. Quentin Tarantino cites Ugly as one of the greatest movies ever made and an influence on him in regards to his aesthetic and the bravura one can implement carrying out a set piece. Leone never got the critical accolades of his fellow Italian filmmakers during his lifetime. They dismissed his work as inferior. Why? Because he dealt in genre movies. But the man brought art to any genre he took on.
Leone’s vision and legacy endures. When Clint Eastwood directed his western, Unforgiven in 1992 he dedicated it to Don Siegel and Sergio Leone, his two directing mentors. He is one of the few directors who is loved by both young and old. I think they can both agree; they sure don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
