Lev must be the only one (except me and Google) who is still checking my list of movies to see. It can’t b e a coincidence that he brought me “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (aka “Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo”) DVD. Yes, the classic western from 1966 with Clint Eastwood that was on my list for more than a year now.
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Genres: Action, Drama, Western
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito, Claudio Scarchilli, John Bartha, Livio Lorenzon, Antonio Casale, Sandro Scarchilli, Benito Stefanelli, Angelo Novi, Antonio Casas
IMDB raintg: 8.8
My rating: 9.0 [rate 9.0]
I’ll tell you upfront – I don’t like westerns. Much like horror movies – it’s just not my genre. But I really enjoyed this one.
My feelings for this movie were changing several times as I was watching it.
At first, it seemed interesting. I don’t get to see many movies that don’t have any words at all for the first 10 minutes or so. And with all the scenery and portrait close-ups it looked very original.
Than I thought that the story development is weird. I could barely make any sense out of what was shown – many characters, location changes and storyline parallels. Being used to 1.5 and 2 hour movies I thought that not enough time was left for tiding up. But the film went on for 3 hours, so everything came in place nicely.
Later on, when I figured out the story I thought that the film was way too slow. Things weren’t just happening when I wanted them to. Everything looked delayed a lot. Than I realised that there is more to the movie than a cliche story that I knew the ending of. And when I realised that I could finally start to really enjoy the film.
There are plenty of good things about it. The music by Ennio Moricone. Excellent camera work and photography. Decorations, costumes, and make-up. Attention to details. Style. And more.
But the good of this movie is outside of itself. I knew, but only now I really understood, that it was one of the cinematography milestone movies that affected the ways things were done. The traces of it can be seen in the work of many other directors and actors. I will have to watch over and think over some of the movies that I have seen previously to broaden my understanding of them.
Summary: excellent classic western that touched the hearts and minds of many other directors and actors and thus must be seen by anyone interested in cinema, though I am probably the last one to see this film anyway.
Let’s pretend I’m only one :)
So much words. Your summary like shitty movie critic summary. Are you critic? Just say it’s excellent movie. At least for me. Don’t blame me. :)
Lev,
Newsflash: I am writing movie reviews for myself. :)
With all the movies I am watching it is hard sometimes for me to remember a movie or what it was about or what I thought about it. Often I go back and read the posts I wrote to refresh my mind.
If you like what I write – read it. If not – skip it. Like Vladimir does it. :)
You right, as usual :)