The Good, the Bad and the Ugly's Recent Activity - Spout

Film:The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:34:13 GMT

Title: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Year: 1967
Director: Sergio Leone
Plot: In the last and the best installment of his so-called "Dollars" trilogy of Sergio Leone-directed "spaghetti westerns," Clint Eastwood reprised the role of a taciturn, enigmatic loner. Here he searches for a cache of stolen gold against rivals the Bad (Lee Van Cleef), a ruthless bounty hunter, and the Ugly (Eli Wallach), a Mexican bandit. Though dubbed "the Good," Eastwood's character is not much better than his opponents -- he is just smarter and shoots faster. The film's title reveals its ironic attitude toward the canonized heroes of the classical western. "The real West was the world of violence, fear, and brutal instincts," claimed Leone. "In pursuit of profit there is no such thing as good and evil, generosity or deviousness; everything depends on chance, and not the best wins but the luckiest." Immensely entertaining and beautifully shot in Techniscope by Tonino Delli Colli, the movie is a virtually definitive "spaghetti western," rivaled only by Leone's own Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The main musical theme by Ennio Morricone hit #1 on the British pop charts. Originally released in Italy at 177 minutes, the movie was later cut for its international release. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 23
Number of Lists: 70
Number of blog posts: 14
Number of discussion threads: 32
SpoutRating: 4

Spout Post: director ratings - Sergio Leone - Giù la testa (Duck, You Sucker) (A Fistful of Dynamite)

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:16:49 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Risselada Blog
Post Date: 11/5/2009 11:16:49 AM
Body: This is the sixth feature length film I've seen by director Sergio Leone. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing. Giù la testa (Duck, You Sucker) (A Fistful of Dynamite) Sergio Leone is the author of my very favorite film, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The similarly styled and A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, both starring Clint Eastwood as essentially the same character were highly enjoyable lead ups. You could see Leone's style developing and improving along the same path. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was the perfect climax of that style. You could say every single one of his films took place at an era in history bit later than his previous one. His next film Once Upon a Time in the West is also fantastic and shares a lot in style with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but there is a definite change in direction as well. I guess he was thinking since he had perfected that style, there was no reason to keep remaking it. Once Upon a Time in the West is slower paced, more brooding, and for the first and only time as a lead role for a woman. Something about the movies seem to be more and more dark and socially and politically conscious. To put it frankly, they are less fun. Since I had already seen his final film Once Upon a Time in America, I can now see that I should have expected what tone Duck, You Sucker would be in. But for some reason I thought I read here that this was Leone's most comical film. That is pretty far from the truth. The two main characters can themselves be comical, but in a way that is covering up or coming out of a lot more sickness and pain. It's a film about revolution, with some of Leone's signature sparse and enigmatic character flashbacks. Yeah it's a great film, but for pure satisfaction, I prefer the dollars trilogy era Leone. Sergio Leone:Total feature length films seen: 6Previous average film score: 9New average film score: 8.8333 Rating: 8/10

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for October 26: Famous Last Words

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:13:31 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 11/2/2009 3:13:31 PM
Body: My favorite film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly always gives me huge goosebumps at the very end. Tuco yelling, "Hey, Blondie! You know what you are?! Just a dirty son of a --" and then the famous wa-ah-ah-ah-aaaaah sound burst forth to drown out his last word. I love it! Robert Bresson's movies always have great last images, but great last lines too I'd say. From Diary of a Country Priest - "All is grace" Pickpocket - "Oh, Jeanne, what a strange way I had to take to meet you" Last lines of Badlands after Kit the mass murderer is being brought in by the cops: KITSir... Where'd you get that hat?TROOPERState.KITBoy, I'd like to buy me one of those. TROOPERYou're quite an individual, Kit.KITThink they'll take that into consideration? Dr. Strangelove - "Mein Führer! I can walk!" Stroszek - "We have a 10-80 out here, a truck on fire, we have a man on the lift. We are unable to find the switch to turn the lift off, can't stop the dancing chickens. Send an electrician, we're standing by." White Heat - Cody Jarrett's last lines - "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - "Just a flat out high-speed burn through Baker and Barstow and Berdoo. Then onto the Hollywood Freeway, straight into frantic oblivion safety, obscurity. Just another freak in the freak kingdom." I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang: Hellen: How do you live? James Allen: I steal. The Kentucky Fried Movie - "I'm not wearing any pants. Film at eleven."

Spout Post: director ratings - Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:13:09 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Risselada Blog
Post Date: 10/28/2009 1:13:09 PM
Body: This is the seventh feature length film I've seen by director Quentin Tarantino. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing. Inglourious Basterds I've seen all of Tarantino's films. And since I've become a fan I've made to sure to see all of them in the theatre. There are a lot of things that irk me about his style. Some of them irk me while giving me delight at the same time. But I always find the films entertaining. This film starts right out with a scene that was clearly modeled off of one of the very first scenes of my favorite film of all time The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I know this to be Tarantino's favorite film of all time as well, so I wasn't too surprised. But Tarantino really has me being pulled back and forth violently regarding my admiration for this scene. My joy at wanting to call it a delightful homage and my disgust at what seems almost like straight up plagiarism are constantly at war trough my viewing of this scene. The segment starts out with the subtitle "Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied France" which is another in the long line of "Once Upon a Time..." titled films started by The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly director Sergio Leone with such films as Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America. Then we hear the music of Ennio Morricone who became famous for providing all of the music in all of Leone's films from A Fistful of Dollars onward. Now the scene being referenced is our introduction to Lee Van Cleef's character, or "the bad". In The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, we see him riding up ominously to an isolated farmer's home. The farmer has a long, tense meal with the farmer. It begins with very few words and ends with mass murder by guns. There are endless similarities in structure, character, and tone. Tarantino's use of characters talking about movies is another point of tension for me. It's cool to see references to other films and film personalities of that era, but sometimes it seems a little unrealistic or forced the way these things are discussed. Is Tarantino trying to show us how cool and knowledgeable he is about film, or is he naturally just so that it comes out. Brad Pitt is super fun in this movie and would have been the most memorable character if he wasn't completely blown away by the revelation that is Christoph Waltz. Thank goodness Tarantino brought this guy to my attention. I'd never heard of him before despite the fact that he clearly has tons of talent and experience and a long filmography of European films. Here's hoping this guy will get more worthy parts. Anyone have any suggestions for his older films to see? *What follows may be a spoiler of sorts. There was a while as the plot was building that I felt like there was a lack of tension because what the protagonists were trying to do would alter the outcome of major World War II history was we know it. Since I already knew how the war ended, I felt like I knew if certain aspects of the plot would be successful or not. But as we neared the climax I realized there was no reason to feel like Tarantino of anyone would stick to straight history over his own sense of what would make a film the most exciting. It's an alternate history as a form of exploitation filmmaking that isn't apparent at first. It was a little strange to watch this film right after Mother Night. Although the films are quite different, because they both deal with Nazis and even some on screen representation of real famous Nazis I almost got a few scenes mixed up in my head. At least some of the themes of the two films entwined themselves in my mind. It made an interesting thematic double feature of sorts. Quentin Tarantino:Total feature length films seen: 7Previous average film score: 9New average film score: 9 Rating: 9/10

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for April 27: 3+ Hours

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:08:28 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 4/29/2009 5:08:28 PM
Body: [quote user="leeroy711"] I was so sure you were gonna mention The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. But alas, according to this website, it only kills 179 minutes................... one short. [/quote] Ha! You are right. I'm surprised I DIDN'T mention it!!! And the version you are mentioning is actually the very recently released re-cut with new scenes added that were originally cut. So the version most people are familiar with is actually only 161 minutes. I'm also waiting until the next time Facets in Chicago here shows Sátántangó. Béla Tarr's seven and a half hour long, black and white masterwork that I've been told is actually a breeze to sit through.

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for April 27: 3+ Hours

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:33:24 GMT

Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 4/28/2009 9:33:24 PM
Body: [quote user="Risselada"] I'm kind of the opposite than you Merc. I tend to think shorter films are better. If a filmmaker can fit an amazing film into somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half I think that's a great feat. Of course there are many long films I love. I actually just watched a 201 minute long movie, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles at the Gene Siskel Film Center about a week ago. And let me tell you, the time did not fly by. That three and a half hours felt more like three days. But in actuality, that's how much time actually passes in the film, so I think that was sort of the anticipated effect. Yet despite this, I picked up a the Gene Siskel Film Center publication and saw that in may they will be playing all three parts of Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition trilogy. Part I is 208 minutes. Part II is 183 minutes. And Part III is 196 minutes. I'm going to be spending about 10 hours at that place next month it appears. After watching Kobayahi's stunning Harakiri recently, I'm really quite stoked for this! [/quote] I was so sure you were gonna mention The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. But alas, according to this website, it only kills 179 minutes................... one short.

Spout Post: Re:From which of the following countries have you seen the most films?

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:24:05 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 1/27/2009 3:24:05 PM
Body: [quote user="Dr_Gor"] I think you people are all sick in the head. The ONE SINGLE country I have seen the most movies from, other than America, would have to be Italy! Hellooo? What about ALL of the great "spaghetti-westerns" ... and NOT just the Clint Eastwood ones but there were several others as well like Once Upon A Time In The West with Henry Fonda and Charly Bronsan and Cutthroats 9 and China 9, Liberty 37 (yes, that IS an actual title of an Itallian western...) ... And what about ALL of the GREAT Itallian Horror Movies? Do names like Fulci, Argento, Bava, D'Amato, Lenzi, Deodato and Leone mean anything to you people? < GOR > [/quote] I took all of the spaghetti westerns and other Italian horror movies and everything else into account. You know that The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is my favorite film. Still I think I've seen more Japanese and French movies even considering all of that. I also must mention that I sadly missed a chance to see Once Upon A Time In The West on the big screen at the Chicago Music Box theatre recently. They always have great stuff going on there.

Spout Post: Re:PINEAPPLE EXPRESS DVD Giveaway

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:46:20 GMT

Post By: seely
Post To: Filmgaming
Post Date: 1/8/2009 10:46:20 AM
Body: Curses! You beat me to Half Baked. I'd also throw a nomination out there for The Good the Bad and the Ugly... I hear the lack of dialogue/silence and intense soundtrack really messes with you. Maybe throw The Triplets of Belleville out there too while I'm at it. Animated, French and dialogue-free = inherently trippy. [quote user="Elle_Seven"] Either Half Baked or Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle. [/quote]

Spout Post: Django il bastardo (The Strangers Gundown)

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:40:40 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Risselada Blog
Post Date: 12/16/2008 1:40:40 PM
Body: Django il bastardo (The Strangers Gundown) A guy I met this summer and I started talking about Spaghetti Westerns. Although my favorite film, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, is a Spaghetti Western, I realized after talking to this guy I knew precious little about the genre. He handed me a couple DVDs to try out. All he told me about this film was that it features a shot near the beginning of the protagonist as he is walking with a shot directly above him. So all we basically see is the top of a hat with legs coming out of it back and forth. He said he found this and some other shots striking but other than that it wasn't that great of a movie. After watching it, I would argue that it's actually pretty good. I enjoyed it at least. The original title was originally translated to "Django the Bastard", but like a lot of Spaghetti Westerns that tried to piggyback on some of the more successful films of the genre by using similar names, this film has nothing to do with the original Django movie. There are a lot of typical characters, setting, and shots in this film, but many scenes and plot turns that I found rather original. One thing that I didn't really realize until reading reviews of the film later is that the protagonist is actually apparently supposed to be a ghost. Telling you this doesn't really ruin the movie, at least it wouldn't have for me, since it adds and element to the film that apparently I was supposed to have picked up while watching it but never quite gathered. The movie almost goes into the realm of horror, another genre the Italians were cranking out around this time. Many of the ways the protagonist does away with his foes are quite original and amusing too. Maybe I have yet to see enough Spaghetti Westerns to make a real judgment on how well this is within the whole genre, but I've seen a handful, and I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Rating: 8/10

Spout Post: Re:Weekly Theme for December 1: The Anti-Hero

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:23:55 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 12/10/2008 6:23:55 PM
Body: [quote user="leeroy711"] Oh and you can't forget the western genre. There may have never been a better anti-hero than "Blondie" in the "man with no name" trilogy.[/quote] Yeah and pretty much any subsequent Clint Eastwood western or Spaghetti Western. And yeah Quentin Tarantino pretty much writes all anit-heros. That's because the grindhouse B-movie type of movies that he is inspired by is driven by them. Bonnie and Clyde would be a good major release example though.

Spout Post: Weekly Theme for December 1: The Anti-Hero

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:30:28 GMT

Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 12/1/2008 7:30:28 PM
Body: From filmnoirstudies.com Anti-Hero - "The principal protagonist of a film who lacks the attributes or characteristics of a typical hero, but with whom the audience identifies" I just watched Branded to Kill by Seijun Suzuki the other night. It was a really good movie and I realized how much I like the way he writes his characters. This movie was about Hanada, a Japanese hit-man with a rice-sniffing habit. The anti-heroic element is obvious in this one but I also realized how much Story of a Prostitute and Gate of Flesh were anti-hero films as well. You know, the proverbial "hooker with a heart of gold" type of a story. You find this in noir quite a bit. It almost seems manditory that the private eye have some sort of extra-marital affair and/or drinking problem.... or he's just a jerk. Probably my favorite example is Jake Gittes in Chinatown. Oh and you can't forget the western genre. There may have never been a better anti-hero than "Blondie" in the "man with no name" trilogy. Kurt Russel makes a pretty good sci-fi anti-hero. Just think of Snake in Escape from New York or Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China. That's all I've got, who's your favorite anti-hero????????? TELL ME NOW!!

Spout Tag:friendship

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:50:40 GMT

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Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:27:48 GMT

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Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:15:20 GMT

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