Summary
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly’s ending is famous and still so beloved for as a spaghetti Western for its final scene ushering in a new era for the genre. Director Sergio Leone’sDollarstrilogy began in 1964 withA Fistful of Dollars. This inexpensive Clint Eastwood vehicle was a box office hit, and 1965 saw the arrival of its first sequel,For A Few Dollars More. Although both of these movies remain well regarded critically, it was 1966’sThe Good, The Bad, And The Uglythat cemented Leone and Eastwood’s statuses as central figures in the spaghetti Western sub-genre.
WhileClint Eastwood appeared in many Westerns, not all of them qualify as spaghetti Westerns. Spaghetti Westerns were created by European (usually Italian) directors and writers and typically featured more bloodshed and moral ambiguity than their American counterparts. In this regard,The Good, The Bad, And The Uglywas the archetypical spaghetti Western. Filmed whenEastwood was only 36 years old,The Good, The Bad, And The Uglyfollows the eponymous trio of amoral bandits who vie for a buried cache of gold against the backdrop of the American Civil War. Unlikely alliances and endless double crosses inevitably ensue.
Why Clint Eastwood Almost Passed On The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Clint Eastwood almost didn’t complete Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy. Here’s why he nearly passed on starring in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The Man With No Name Was A Faster Draw
ByThe Good, The Bad, And The Ugly’s ending, Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes, Eastwood’s Blondie (or The Man With No Name), and Eli Wallach’s Tuco have all ended up at opposite ends of the cemetery at Sad Hill. The gold that Tuco and Blondie heard about is buried nearby, but all three men want to leave the cemetery with the entire fortune. A lengthy, legendary Mexican stand-off ensues as the three men eye each other, their hands hovering over their guns. The scene became iconic thanks to its daring duration, its tension, and Ennio Morricone’s instantly recognizable score.
Even though he has been known to resort to underhanded tricks and clever gambits in earlier movies and throughoutThe Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Blondie beats Angel Eyes fair and square when he outguns him.
Finally,Angel Eyes draws his gun first but Blondie shoots and kills himbefore he can fellEastwood’s Man With No Name. Hilariously, Tuco plays no part in the standoff since, after trying to fire, he discovers that there are no bullets in his gun. Even though he has been known to resort to underhanded tricks and clever gambits in earlier movies and throughoutThe Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Blondie beats Angel Eyes fair and square when he outguns him. This is thematically appropriate since Angel Eyes is even more untroubled by playing dirty than Blondie.
Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach’s Characters Share A Longstanding Feud
Immediately after killing Angel Eyes,Blondie proves that he is no hero by hanging Tuco. At first, it seems like Eastwood’s antihero intends to genuinely kill Tuco, a dark ending to their uneven history of feuds and occasional uneasy collaboration. However, he is just toying with Taco’s mind in a call-back to the movie’s beginning. Part of what makesThe Good, The Bad, And The Uglya classic Westernis the satisfying sense of narrative cohesion the story provides, with the ending mirroring the beginning. At the start of the movie, Tuco and Blondie work together on a scam.
In their profitable setup, Blondie would deliver Tuco to a town’s sheriff, then help him escape from hanging, and move on to the next town to repeat this process. Eventually, Blondie stranded Tuco in the desert since his partner in crime was getting on his nerves. This could easily have killed Tuco, proving that Blondie is far from heroic. However, Tuco got his own back by forcing Blondie to march through the desert until he almost died of dehydration. In the end,Blondie is once again getting his own back by tricking Tuco into thinking he would kill him.
The Destination Of Cline Eastwood’s Antihero Is Intentionally Ambiguous
There is no way of knowing where Blondie is riding off to inThe Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’s final shot, but there is a reason that this is left ambiguous. The movie’s perspective subtly shifts between Blondie, Angel Eyes, and Tuco throughout, with all three characters getting a few scenes in the spotlight. AlthoughClint Eastwood’s Man With No Nameis the hero of the movie’s final showdown, the last scene belongs to Tuco. The audience fears as Tuco nearly chokes and laughs with relief when he survives but, like Tuco, are left with no idea where Blondie goes.
Sergio Leone’s Classic Spaghetti Western Has An Ironic Name
InThe Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’s vision of the Old West, cunning and ruthlessness win out over everything else. While Angel Eyes is defeated since he is much worse than either Tuco or Blondie, Blondie’s amoral taunting of Tuco proves he is scarcely more heroic than his collaborator. This is reinforced earlier in the movie when Eastwood’s hero leaves Tuco to die in the desert simply because he annoyed him. It is also underlined when Tuco’s brother, a priest, briefly appears. Their interaction proves that no one is innocent in Leone’s vision of the West, despite the title.
Leone’s Western Complicated The Traditional Western Story
In classic Technicolor Westerns, heroic sheriffs and cowboys saved small towns and upheld the rule of law. Inthe endlessly re-watchableThe Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, three pitiless criminals double-cross each other until one is dead, one is rich, and one is left stranded with his fortune. Thus, Leone’s movie effectively ushered in an era of revisionist Westerns where the protagonists were no longer unambiguous heroes. This made room for the likes ofThe Wild Bunch,El Topo,McCabe and Ms. Miller, andBring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, all of which were even darker stories.
Viewers who hope for a heartwarming affirmation of the value that built America instead get a brutal deconstruction of the Western mythos built by earlier movies
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’s ending proves that, while the title might attempt to designate a role for each of them, none of the movie’s main characters are traditional heroes. Angel Eyes is definitely the most villainous and, as a result, he is left dead in the dirt at the movie’s conclusion. However, viewers who hope for a heartwarming affirmation of the value that built America instead get a brutal deconstruction of the Western mythos built by earlier movies. InThe Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’s West, the quickest gun wins regardless of who pulls the trigger.
