Leone's Dollars Trilogy is without a doubt one of the all time classic series when it comes to all out action, suspense and, well, coolness. The film in the series that is considered a "Great Film" would have to be The Good the Bad and the Ugly, but the absolute coolest of the series is, without a doubt, For a Few Dollars More. Maybe not the best, but certainly the most fun of the entire trilogy, and definitely one to put on your queue the next time you sign into your movie download service.
The movie is really all about the cool little details Leone packed into the film. It starts with a great sequence of Eastwood beating a bounty up with a single hand, and then goes on to Lee Van Cleef selecting one of his dozens of long barrel guns to take out a bad guy, and eventually we get to see one of the coolest western villains of all time.
See, he uses a pocket watch every time he kills someone. It's a musical pocket watch, so he winds it up and lets it play while staring down his adversary. When the music comes to a stop... He draws and fires. Definitely a great villainous ritual for any western baddie to commit to.
Cleef plays Colonel Mortimer, a Civil War Hero turned bounty hunter who teams up with Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name to take this guy out. The Colonel has personal history with the guy, so while The Man With No Name is just out to make a buck, Mortimer is out for revenge. The way their two objectives intersect and reinforce one another is really something to see.
One great scene has the two shooting each other's hats off, and then shooting said hats down the street, as, essentially, a way of chest pounding, showboating, to impress the other. It begins with the two wanting the other to back off their bounty, and ends with the two building a strong partnership that's a lot of fun to watch develop.
The music really makes the film, primarily with some scenes revolving around the pocket watch. The simple, twinkly melody it plays is played again in an orchestrated, layered arrangement for the finale, where we have a duel not just with matching pistols, but with matching pocket watches. The tension in this scene is almost tangible, physical in nature.
Sergio Leone has made some of the greatest contributions to film, and his career was cut sadly short just before Stalingrad, the WWII film which might have been his Magnum Opus.
The only thing the film is missing is Eli Wallach, who's turn as Tuco in The Good the Bad and the Ugly may well have been the finest performance of any in the pantheon of Italian western films.
The movie is really all about the cool little details Leone packed into the film. It starts with a great sequence of Eastwood beating a bounty up with a single hand, and then goes on to Lee Van Cleef selecting one of his dozens of long barrel guns to take out a bad guy, and eventually we get to see one of the coolest western villains of all time.
See, he uses a pocket watch every time he kills someone. It's a musical pocket watch, so he winds it up and lets it play while staring down his adversary. When the music comes to a stop... He draws and fires. Definitely a great villainous ritual for any western baddie to commit to.
Cleef plays Colonel Mortimer, a Civil War Hero turned bounty hunter who teams up with Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name to take this guy out. The Colonel has personal history with the guy, so while The Man With No Name is just out to make a buck, Mortimer is out for revenge. The way their two objectives intersect and reinforce one another is really something to see.
One great scene has the two shooting each other's hats off, and then shooting said hats down the street, as, essentially, a way of chest pounding, showboating, to impress the other. It begins with the two wanting the other to back off their bounty, and ends with the two building a strong partnership that's a lot of fun to watch develop.
The music really makes the film, primarily with some scenes revolving around the pocket watch. The simple, twinkly melody it plays is played again in an orchestrated, layered arrangement for the finale, where we have a duel not just with matching pistols, but with matching pocket watches. The tension in this scene is almost tangible, physical in nature.
Sergio Leone has made some of the greatest contributions to film, and his career was cut sadly short just before Stalingrad, the WWII film which might have been his Magnum Opus.
The only thing the film is missing is Eli Wallach, who's turn as Tuco in The Good the Bad and the Ugly may well have been the finest performance of any in the pantheon of Italian western films.
About the Author:
Jeremy needed to understand that taking innocent lives were wrong. Movie Rental Website It's the time that your head is clear, your voice is most rested and there is little else going on in the world. naa, but its nice to see Microsoft listening to its customers.
No comments:
Post a Comment