There's a reason you know it

68. "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
The first thirty minutes of this film are perfect. The title sequence is brilliant. The score is in the top 5 of all time. I love this trilogy. Surprisingly, this is not my favorite of the three.

The pacing of these films is excellent. The three editors for this work knew just how long to stay on a close up, a wide shot, a pan, etc. Not one second is wasted. Each drop of sweat, clump of sand, gristly hair and squinted eye means something. Leone knew what he was doing. Focusing on the details may have been lost if the entire cast spoke one language.

The film is not perfect. It does go on slightly too long. Bringing in the Civil War lengthened the film and may not have been in the most positive way. (I shouldn't complain about this. Some critics say "The Dark Knight" would be a better, tighter film without the story of Batman bringing back the Asian businessman, but it is necessary in the film and I defend it when it is brought up in conversation.) Even so, I would like to see the version that includes the 18 minutes originally cut out of the US release.

I should review this film after reading some books about it. It deserves to be studied in the same way as "Citizen Kane".

Maybe I like it as much as I do because Eastwood reminds me of my grandfather. Maybe it's because The Man with No Name is the most bad-ass character in all of film. Either way, I'm glad I finally have seen the trilogy. I will end up buying these films and watching the commentaries and making of documentaries when I feel like nothing good can still be made.

Watch the trailer. It's interesting to see how much is given away. It's also neat to see the blatant error. The films name in Italian switched the bad and the ugly and this trailer does not fix the problem. It'll make sense if you've seen the film.