As a youngster I saw this movie at the cinema. When it came to the " you laughing at my mule " scene , honest, when Clint pulled back his scruffy old poncho and there was his bounty hunter pistol the audience went silent. And when he took out 4 Baxter men the cinema went wild, people stood on the seats and cheered- we had never seen a character like him.
Maybe someone else has already mentioned this, but at the time in the U.S., the Hollywood Production Code didn't allow a firing gun and the person hit by the bullet in the same shot. One camera angle had to show the gun being fired, followed by a shot of the character having been already hit by the bullet. Being Italian, Sergio Leone didn't know of this rule, and Clint Eastwood intentionally didn't tell him about it. So, when you see the Man with No Name fire his gun and the characters hit by the bullet in the same shot, this added a new dynamism that hadn't been seen in Hollywood westerns. This moment was probably one more chip taken out of the already crumbling Hollywood Production Code, which completely folded and was replaced by the present-day movie-rating system in 1968, the year after the "Dollars" trilogy came to the U.S.
I have heard this too but there are some exceptions. In the opening gunfight in "The Man From Del Rio1956" (Anthony Quinn) both actors draw and shoot at each other in the same shot and one falls down. Also, in "The man Who Shot Liberty Valence1962" When John Wayne shoots Lee Marvin both he a Lee Marvin are in one shot. I also know it is a safety issue if the actors are close because the cardboard wad in the blank cartridges is moving faster than a bullet and can damage the eyes. Maybe they got an exception from the Hollywood Production Code for these films as happened from time to time.
all i do all day is watch westerns on tv and i'm calling you out on that, pardner. but i grant it would be harder to maintain the hero if there were continual shots of him shooting somebody and somebody falling in the same frame. he would get kind of sickening
My memory as a child was seeing Dr. No, the first Sean Connery's James Bond. The scene where Bond yells the bad guy he's had his six and then shoots him. As the bad guy lays there on the floor, Bond shoots him again...in the back. This was a ground braking scene. And as an adult I still can remember that first shock.
You miss what in my opinion is arguably the most important part of the scene: his walking back past the undertaker and saying, "My mistake, four coffins." Without that, he's just a badass tough guy and you're left hanging with a sense that there's something still to come. But with that quip, the tension that's been built up and is still hanging in the air is suddenly alleviated and the audience understands that he has no concerns about the Baxters, Don Miguel, or anyone else; that he is in control of everything that's about to come to pass.
I'm glad that I scrolled down - this is precisely the point I was going to make. Walking back and passing the undertaker and making his comment was the real payoff of this scene. The scene itself is a masterpiece, but this payoff at the end was a comedic relief that does precisely what you are talking about in your comment. It is the icing on the cake.
Max Moditz, a slovene movie critic wrote about this movie: " The first time I watched the best movie ever it was in a small-town cinema, wrinkled silver screen and uncomfortable wooden seats. But no one was bothered. A lot of emotions ran in these ascetic cinema. It was in the 1970's. Seats were hard and sturdy and movies were good. Nowadays seats are soft and comfortable but movies are often shit !"
@@slowery43 Fine, I prefer that to succeeding at being harsh. Wasn't even meant to be hilarious, just some pun to reference a great line, from a great scene, from a great movie. And Uncle Tony perfectly added the missing bit.
Clint Eastwood was a an acting genius in these Western films. His laconic approach,easy going but bad ass stride,his ice cold stare,low key persona set a new tone for westerns. Two mules for sister Sarah,high plains drifter,josey wales, Joe kidd, the pale rider,unforgiven showed how he was able to keep re inventing the mysterious but deadly cowboy and all with a slight comedic interaction with his nemesis. Not forgetting the revenge western 'Hang em high'.
We see this bad-assery in "Once upon a time in the west", even though Clint was not in it, we had the Harmonica man himself, Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda was also great as the villain.
@@lizardfirefighter110 Shane was more moral. Clint was more ambigious in his cowboy role,very ruthless and often self serving but also able too step up to the underdog when needed to do so. Shane was humane,tough and reserved and heroic. Clint was the opportunist,Shane the helper.
Ennio morricone was the composer that made the music ,the music still stands today in the Modelo commercials❤️the the movies had the best soundtracks ❤️
What’s more impressive was that Morricone’s songs were done in one take with all of the musicians playing at ones. And some of the musicians were not playing instruments but things like guitar cases and other objects that delivered the unique sound we all appreciate today.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly had the three way shoot out in the cemetry. That scene was almost a graphic statement that the old style of the Western genre was dead and a new style had arrived.
@@sindento1942 Because, the priority was on style over historical accuracy. That's one of the most obvious errors in cinema but there are some in every western.
A number of folks have commented A Fistful of Dollars is a remake of Yojimbo. True… but Yojimbo pirates its entire plot from Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. I’ve always found it funny that Akiro Kurosawa was upset about A Fistful of Dollars but always glossed over his own plagiarism.
My dad (b.1938) was a HUGE western movie fan; I worshipped my dad and tried to watch them with him, but the first one I (b.1970) remember ACTUALLY thinking was interesting was The Magnificent Seven. Then, I discovered Clint's "Spaghetti Westerns" all brilliant.
You also forgot to mention it used the third person point of view to show the gunfight. Up until that time, most, if not all cowboy movies at that time showed the hero from a front on profile (second person point of view) shooting his gun, then having a jump cut to the antagonist falling over dead. The man with no name trilogy really changed things up by showing the main character shooting the antagonists without any cuts. This actually was an issue for some as it was perceived to be more violent. But it ended up resonating with American audiences more as a grittier action scene that helped set the tone for the series.
Really? High Noon predates this, and I'm pretty sure the only kill that follows this rule is Miller himself. "Hey, Miller!" - a close-up of the gang as they turn and draw, with Kane in the distance killing one. The man in the barn we see from over Kane's shoulder as he kills him. I think the guy Princess Grace shoots in the back is over her shoulder as well. I might be remembering wrong?
@@IoEstasCedonta Not all the deaths are shown in the way I described, but for sure the final death and at least alot of near misses are filmed in that way. Crazy, I've heard of this film but never bothered with it. After a little bit of research I will definitely find time this weekend to catch up on it. Thank you for that. My only speculation is that it might have been overshadowed by the controversial takes around it, and the rival movie made in response, Rio Bravo, stealing it's thunder.
Leone was about larger scale. His views on sound effects is telling: A pistol should sound like a rifle, a rifle like a cannon, a cannon like an explosion. His pacing was much the same. A few seconds becomes an eternity in the build-up. Too many people in this day and age dismiss or forget about pacing. The difference between a good joke and a bad joke can be in only the pacing. Something can sound correct, but not sound 'right', or true to life. The same goes with pacing. The same scene can be perfect one way, but speed up or slow down a small portion of it and it looks wrong.
Don't forget the shootout at the end between Harmonica and Frank. For a minute it looked like they were going to stare each other to death, but then...
The other way this movie broke the rule is that previous westerns, the hero wore a white or light coloured hat and a light or white horse in contrast to the villains which wore dark. Love Sergio's work. The stories, the camera work, the music, the suspense. All brilliant.
Having read the script, Easwood had brought himslef the black jeans, while the rest of the outfit was given him, especially the cigar, a tipical italian "mezzo toscano", that Eastwood, a non-smoker, hated. Other things that Eastwood brought, directly from the set of "Rawhide" were the gun and belt, that infact seem a little too polished and flashy in respect to the other props of the movie, but in the end they are well placed. As if the gritty professional take special good care of the tools of his job.
John Wayne wore a grey or a ( silverbelly) coloured hat so did Jimmy Stewart, which isn't white Jimmy Stewart wore the same hat in most if not all his westerns and surprisingly rode the same horse named Pie,
I happened to me also. I was a young lad who had been for years accustomed to the usual John Ford type of Hollywood Western and when those Spaghetti started coming to South America in the 1960s we kids, or guys, watched them and had a lot of fun because they were so theatrical with bodies falling all over and blood spilling in all directions (rumor had it that the genre name came from the generous use Italian Western directors made of spaghetti sauce for human blood) We saw them as satires or comedies of the real Western. But then I went to the movies one day to see one more of these flicks, a new guy who had never seen before, and I saw this scene and realized that this was the kind of hero I wanted to see in my Westerns. And we keep watching them for fun, never thinking that they would be such classics half a century later when at that time critics didn't even bother reviewing them, they considered too undeserving of their attention, they were the Sharknados the day.
Most badass part of the scene was when he was going back, going by the coffin maker, and then telling him, as if nothing happened, "make that four coffins..."
I'll never forget the Sunday afternoon in the early 1970s when I saw A Fistful of Dollars for the first time. It was all pretty standard stuff, even for a kid who was maybe 11 or 12. Then came the scene where he walks up to four armed men and asks them to apologize to his mule. Not only did cinema change for me that day, but storytelling in general. Possibly this scene, and the moment Talos turns his head to look at Hercules in Jason and the Argonauts, remains the most conscious-altering moment of my young movie watching career. It wouldn't be until the 1990s that i would experience something similar again.
@@markhalpin9711 I saw the very first Star Wars movie long time ago and, after thought "alredy seen" more than 10 times, i decided to not waste my money to watch any other one of this saga. Even now, when is quite easy to download for free any of these movies, I carefully avoid them. I mean, this is my humble personal opinion, but, as I can tell you that it was better that Eric Clapton was a farmer (with all my respect to the farmers), I can tell you this. Opinions. People are different.
@@markhalpin9711, Star Wars irrevocably changed visual effects for the better. It looked beautiful on-screen in 1977 and still holds up well today, if you can manage to fund an unretouched, ‘updated’ version. Story-wise, though, it harkens back to adventure serials shown in theaters before the main movie. The ‘story’ of Star Wars is nearly as old as story-telling itself; the Hero’s Journey. With a splash of redemption arc in Return of the Jedi for Darth Vader. Leone drew from old stories, too; it’s impossible not to. But he gave us a renewed archetype that had been missing for so long. The reluctant hero. Nameless didn’t grow into his skills the way Luke Skywalker does; he’s already fully formed. But he also isn’t directly involved in the story being told until the antagonists force him to become involved. A more recent version of this is Captain Malcom Reynolds in Firefly. He’s just trying to make a living. He’s not out to save anyone or anything beyond himself, his ship and his crew unless or until somebody makes it his business. Then he doesn’t stop until the business is done.
It was much more than just one movie that became groundbreaking, it was a whole genre, the Eurowestern, known to most as Spaghetti western, but there was also the Paella and the Sauerkraut westerns. Admittedly, Leone was by far the greatest director of them all, so no wonder people know his films best.
Another thing, after watching A Fistful of Dollars for the xx'th time a while back I noticed a detail: he looked a little odd when doing incidental things, like how he lights his cigars or even PUNCHING dudes. Then I realized what it was, "Joe" mostly uses his LEFT hand for stuff. His GUN HAND is almost always free. Bonus Easter Egg: one of the John Wick movies has a call-back to a scene in Good, Bad & the Ugly.
I'm glad someone else noticed. I was watching For a Few Dollars More the other day for 100th time and remarked to my wife about him using his left hand for everything. I noticed the same thing in Quigley Down Under. Quigley always protected his right hand with a glove. He preferred a rifle, but knew how to use a revolver. Onother great gunfight scene. My favorite gunfight scene of all time was the cemetery finally in The Good The Bad and The Ugly.
Breathtaking. Really though the entire thing put together is so well placed, so well executed. It’s as if it was meant to be perfected in such a way. The delivery, scenery, dialogue, suspense, and more all put into the movie is just incredible
The part I thought was great is when East wood told the assaulters of his mule something like "He'll feel much better when you apologise to him - like I know you're gonna" - brilliant!
The Dollars Trilogy With The Late Great Clint Eastwood Was The Greatest Western..Never Get Tired Of Watching Them ❤️👩🦳🇬🇧👍…The Music Makes The Movies Even Better Pure Magic!
The Good the Bad and the ugly was the only movie that my father actually came and woke me and my brother up so we can watch it together, I must have been 8 years ago.
Indeed , that is another clint movie i always watch when it is rerun , and lee van cleef and eli wallach where also really good in that too , and eli just made the best baddy :) .
The Man With No Name was created by author Joe Millard. Apart from the 3 movie classics based on the books by their titles =" The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly ", " For a Few Dollars More ", & " A Fistful Of Dollars ", Joe Millard wrote = The Million Dollar Bloodhunt, A Coffin Full Of Dollars, [ in this story, the author tells how the man with no name became a bounty hunter ], The Devil's Dollar Sign, A Dollar To Die For, , Blood For A Dirty Dollar. All In The Man With No Name Series. The Man With No Name will forever be a classic hero !! Sergio knew what he was doing, when he cast Clint Eastwood !!
Joe Millard wrote novelised versions of the Dollars Trilogy after the movies came out, plus the other books you mention. Fistful was a western remake of Yojimbo, Leone rewrote the original samurai story written by Akira Kurosawa as a western. For a Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly were both stories by Sergio Leone.
Yes, but Leone just re-made western movies; You cannot judge Kurosawa just for Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai). Kurosawa was mainly philosophy. And a deeply pessimistic one.
@@carlosanguineti956Pessimistic or not there is something very peacefull and idylic in that last scene of his film Dreams and last dream with probably one of the best closing credits after the movie and music of Ipolitov Ivanov in history of cinematography.
the music was very popular especially the theme of 'good, bad and ugly' was a pop radio hit from the cover version by hugo montenegro and sold a lot of records. just about everyone i knew had it in their home record collection, even my parents. my mom and dad loved the clint eastwood westerns.
Just the fact it was so unheard of at the time to see a first-person perspective of anyone being shot on screen. It's amazing to see such a strong opening of a character so we know we gotta buckle up and to enjoy the ride.
for a few dollars more is the best of the trilogy... the way the end scene is shot between the Colonel and indio is one of the greatest Scenes ever Shot... a Masterpiece from start to finish... Lee Van Cleef and especially Gian Maria Volanťe bring performances that match Clint Eastwood... 👏👏👏
The music went part & parcel with the mood of the movie. Then there's Clint. His Producers back then were amazed they couldn't make a movie with Clint that didn't make scads of dough. Remember there were also the Magnum Force type cop movies - they did great too.
clint based half his career and screen persona on this scene, 'now if you apologise like i know youre going to' what a line, delivered as only clint can.
Funny fact: Clint Eastwood started his career in the movies playing a character in a flick where the star is a talking mule, Francis in the Navy. (He had actually been on Revenge of the Creature before that but in a very small role). And he became an international star himself in a scene involving a mule in FOD. Mules were his lucky animals.
It's also worth remembering that his breakthrough cowboy part was Rowdy Yates in Rawhide where he was green and awkward and had to be continually got out of scrapes by Gil Favour.
This kind of scene was taken even further in the opening of "Once upon a time in the west". And yes, it is great. Build suspense, keep us on the edge of the seat, don't rush it, don't jump scare, make a full scene. And I agree with some of the comments: "my mistake, four coffins" is a very good closing line for the scene. A little extra, so to speak, a bonus to complete the scene.
Clint's best scene in a western is the bounty hunter scene in The Outlaw Josey Wales, the greatest western movie of all time. "You a bounty hunter?" "Man's got to do something for a living these days." "Dyin ain't much of a livin, boy."
Clint Eastwood more than anyone else ,Bronson being the other ,reflected the maxim . The great movie does not the great protagonist make ------ The great protagonist always makes the great movie .
Leone was a big fan of Bronson. Tried to get him into the Dollars trilogy and failed. He would have replaced Lee Van Cleef, which in retrospect would have been criminal but I’m sure Leone was talented enough to have made that work.
It can be said that Ennio Morricone's scores were in 'lock step' Leone's vision They were a huge departure from the overtly majestic Hollywood western scores from the likes of Tiomkin, Elmer Bernstein, Montenegro and Lionel Newman.
That's the weapon that anyone knows. The secret one was Massimo Dallamano, the director of photography. He had been the creator of "Leone's close up". That kind of close-up was made possible by the Techniscope (it would have been ridicolus with the Cinemascope the Americans used, with the "mumps effect"), but it was better to have it very close, to exclude the background, that was completely out of focus.
Yes, man!... You talked about this, without mentioning that is a remake of Akira Kurosawa´s “Yojimbo”... More importabt yet, you don't even mention the humor, the sascastic way in which The Man with No Name talks to the four goons... He says he understand they are joking, they are having a good time... But his mule didn't get the joke and it is offended... So, he he there to asks them to apologise to his mule... During Clint Eastwood extended perorate, the four baddies transition from laughing to amusement to doubt to alarm to panic at the end... THAT IS WHAT MAKE THE SCENE GREAT... You get it now, mule with a computer?
What makes these films special is the combination. Leones' use of close-up and wide shots, the pacing. The writers' dialog, and humour. Apparently, Clint kept asking for less because his character was SO laconic, and of course Morricones' timeless music. Add the cherry of Clint Eastwood and, frankly a brilliant cast and it really was a perfect storm! The mix of dark humour and extreme violence is unmatched. Coupled with the underlying morality of Manco in an immoral world. I just love this trilogy!
Love this scene. Also love the final dual in a Few Dollars More. Both done quite differently to build tension and framing of the shots. The final dual in The Good The Bad and The Ugly lacked tension.
It was Eastwood's wife that made this movie such a great success. On reading the script Clint didn't like it one bit and lobbed in his trash can. Later, his wife retrieved it and on reading it liked it so much that she managed to persuade her husband to contact director Sergio in Italy.
Excellent analysis FilmNerd. I believe the movie you showed was A Fistful of Dollars, which was Leone's first.[Not TGBaU]. But the following is amazing today: at the time these Leone masterpieces came out, they were derided somewhat as 'spaghetti westerns'. Even Henry Fonda himself, who was in one of the best, mentioned on Dick Cavett that he wasn't sure if the 'spaghetti westerns' would catch on . . Myself, I saw TGBaU, Hang'Em High, and High Plains Drifter [last two not 'spaghetti']when they first came out! I thought they were splendid but I always had this nagging doubt about their authenticity as westerns--maybe cheap foreign imitations, etc. From a review I just read, John Wayne evidently felt somewhat the same and that explains my doubt. Well, time is the best judge, and today there is no longer any doubt.
This is a Great point but it really was the line After he killed the Baxter men that he used that made the start of these films...As he walks back to the ⚰ maker, he states, "My mistake, 4 ⚰s." Classic!!
Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher were making gritty, realistic westerns long before Sergio hit the scene. And let's not forget George Stevens' "Shane" or John Sturges' "Magnificent Seven".
The Colonel knows his westerns. Randolph Scott sure doesn't get enough love, and James Stewart too, even though I didn't like him too much, his Anthony Mann westers were quite good.
This movie is one of my favorite but it is the best Western filmed... Every seen is on another level with the extreme close ups and unbelievable music to match...
This new western was also the first time it showed the angle of the shots hitting the people, with the shooter in the frame. Before this it was always cut scenes. Man shooting, cut to man getting shot.
I think he said that’s how he got those faces of his because he picked the nastiest cigars he could find so he would be blanching and looking badass as opposed to “oh yeah” this ceegar is nicee… having smoked a few nasty ones in my youth I would agree on the grimaces….
"Sergio Leone takes his time..." Understatement of the decade. Watching the unedited version of "Duck, You Sucker!" is the equivalent of a cinematic Bataan death march.
I remember Clint Eastwood on television in the early '60s. It was a weekly western series called Rawhide. It was a cattle drive that had a different episode each week. He played Rowdy Yates.
He had played bit parts in some horror films before. He is the air force pilot who bombs the spider in Tarantula and a lab technician in Revenge of the Creature.
Fun Fact: Though Good, Bad & the Ugly was the last one in the trilogy, it's set BEFORE the first one in A Fistful of Dollars. (There's an Easter Egg near the end of GB&U that establishes this). At the end of GB&U "Blondie" was a very rich man and he's not the kind of guy to squander that, so...he really doesn't need the money in Fistful of Dollars, nor in For a Few Dollars More, so that's not really his motivation. Also, notice he really only shoots the bad guys. He's not an "anti-hero".
He is an "anti-hero."' Anti-hero doesn't mean "villain," it refers to a character who does good things, but not because he wants to do good but for some other, often selfish reason, or simply because he is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eastwood's character cleans up the town, not because he wants to fight injustice and right the wrongs, but because he sees an opportunity to profit by it.
@@Mechmaster0 Your point about "anti-hero" "villain" is valid and accepted. However, MY point was given the actual timeline of the three movies where "Joe" or "Blonde" is really very wealthy at the beginning of FFoD. That fact fundamentally alters the reality of his actual motivation; he does not need the money. One could respond with: "IT'S RIGHT THERE IN THE BLOODY TITLE!" and yes, it's a fistful of dollars right punching you right between the eyes. Just as the sequel: For A Few Dollars More. They were wildly successful films that got Sergio a third installment with a significantly larger budget. He chose to do an "origin" story where at the end his "anti-hero" is transformed into a VERY rich, VERY skilled, and arguably VERY motivated man the shows up in first two films seemingly "out of the blue" and sets things right. Definitely not a typical "hero" type there ;-D Was this planned at the start? Probably not. It's almost certainly a "ret-con". I will admit I did no deep-dive into the backstory of these films, so this is mostly speculation on my part. That said, I regard "The Man with No Name" trilogy as a complete work with all of its temporal implications. Finally, I'll submit Sergio's own opinion of his character in his triumphant conclusion (ACTUAL PREQUEL!!) "The GOOD, the Bad & the Ugly". I stand by my statement: NOT and "anti-hero".
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How can you write about this (great) movie without pointing out that it is a remake of the Akira Kurosawa film "Yojimbo"?
As usual the remake wasn't as good
@@jodywhitehead9173 I would say in this case that it's not as great as both movies are great.
Who cares?
Because he knew a Kurosawa fan boy would trip over himself to point it out in the comments.
Btw everyone has access to IMDB.
@@CIintB3ASTW0oD true that🤣
You missed the best part of the scene, dare I say that nails it shut... when Eastwood walks back to the coffin-maker and says ‘my mistake, 4 coffins’.
In hindsight, I should have included that scene
I was scrolling down to see if anyone mentioned this. It was the best part.
Almost word for word from Yojimbo.
@@johnridout6540 If you're going to steal, steal from the best.
ruclips.net/video/Jf4HuOlu1HI/видео.html
As a youngster I saw this movie at the cinema. When it came to the " you laughing at my mule " scene , honest, when Clint pulled back his scruffy old poncho and there was his bounty hunter pistol the audience went silent. And when he took out 4 Baxter men the cinema went wild, people stood on the seats and cheered- we had never seen a character like him.
I envy you for having that experience. Sounds like a once in a lifetime kind of thing.
We always knew our Dad would take us to see Clint in these 'spaghetti westerns' as they became known at that time. Good memories.
Wtf is a “bounty hunter pistol”? A revolver?
Great point. I just now commented my awe[and incredulity, really] on this gun battle. Gotta admit, though, the '4 coffins' quip was just hilarious.
@@notforsaletoday1895 I was trying to say he was a professional gunman.
Sergio Leone... Legend.
Ennio Morricone... Legend.
Two geniuses created the best Western cinematic masterpieces
There are Leone westerns, and then there's everyone else. Ford included.
Clint Eastwood… Legend.
I couldn’t agree more. I also love how so much of our idea of the American west was created by Italians and filmed, I think, in Spain.
I can't disagree with You 👍
Legend for the last two plagiarist for the first. since its just Yojimbo set in the old west.
Maybe someone else has already mentioned this, but at the time in the U.S., the Hollywood Production Code didn't allow a firing gun and the person hit by the bullet in the same shot. One camera angle had to show the gun being fired, followed by a shot of the character having been already hit by the bullet. Being Italian, Sergio Leone didn't know of this rule, and Clint Eastwood intentionally didn't tell him about it. So, when you see the Man with No Name fire his gun and the characters hit by the bullet in the same shot, this added a new dynamism that hadn't been seen in Hollywood westerns. This moment was probably one more chip taken out of the already crumbling Hollywood Production Code, which completely folded and was replaced by the present-day movie-rating system in 1968, the year after the "Dollars" trilogy came to the U.S.
grew up on Hollywood Westerns and this I didn't know.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.
I have heard this too but there are some exceptions. In the opening gunfight in "The Man From Del Rio1956" (Anthony Quinn) both actors draw and shoot at each other in the same shot and one falls down. Also, in "The man Who Shot Liberty Valence1962" When John Wayne shoots Lee Marvin both he a Lee Marvin are in one shot. I also know it is a safety issue if the actors are close because the cardboard wad in the blank cartridges is moving faster than a bullet and can damage the eyes. Maybe they got an exception from the Hollywood Production Code for these films as happened from time to time.
all i do all day is watch westerns on tv and i'm calling you out on that, pardner. but i grant it would be harder to maintain the hero if there were continual shots of him shooting somebody and somebody falling in the same frame. he would get kind of sickening
My memory as a child was seeing Dr. No, the first Sean Connery's James Bond. The scene where Bond yells the bad guy he's had his six and then shoots him. As the bad guy lays there on the floor, Bond shoots him again...in the back. This was a ground braking scene. And as an adult I still can remember that first shock.
You miss what in my opinion is arguably the most important part of the scene: his walking back past the undertaker and saying, "My mistake, four coffins." Without that, he's just a badass tough guy and you're left hanging with a sense that there's something still to come. But with that quip, the tension that's been built up and is still hanging in the air is suddenly alleviated and the audience understands that he has no concerns about the Baxters, Don Miguel, or anyone else; that he is in control of everything that's about to come to pass.
I'm glad that I scrolled down - this is precisely the point I was going to make. Walking back and passing the undertaker and making his comment was the real payoff of this scene. The scene itself is a masterpiece, but this payoff at the end was a comedic relief that does precisely what you are talking about in your comment. It is the icing on the cake.
I was thinking the same. I loved that part and the look on the undertakers face.
yess hahahaha..classic
In Yojimbo, Toshiro Mifune's character basically does the same thing.
@@Kahnovitch A great many westerns (and other genre) were adapted from Japanese movies.
Max Moditz, a slovene movie critic wrote about this movie: " The first time I watched the best movie ever it was in a small-town cinema, wrinkled silver screen and uncomfortable wooden seats. But no one was bothered. A lot of emotions ran in these ascetic cinema. It was in the 1970's. Seats were hard and sturdy and movies were good. Nowadays seats are soft and comfortable but movies are often shit !"
You see, there's two kinds of people : those who love those movies, and those who dig them.
You dig them.
your attempt at being funny failed
@@slowery43 at least 20 seem to disagree.
@@slowery43 Fine, I prefer that to succeeding at being harsh. Wasn't even meant to be hilarious, just some pun to reference a great line, from a great scene, from a great movie. And Uncle Tony perfectly added the missing bit.
Clint Eastwood was a an acting genius in these Western films. His laconic approach,easy going but bad ass stride,his ice cold stare,low key persona set a new tone for westerns. Two mules for sister Sarah,high plains drifter,josey wales, Joe kidd, the pale rider,unforgiven showed how he was able to keep re inventing the mysterious but deadly cowboy and all with a slight comedic interaction with his nemesis. Not forgetting the revenge western 'Hang em high'.
We see this bad-assery in "Once upon a time in the west", even though Clint was not in it, we had the Harmonica man himself, Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda was also great as the villain.
@@agriperma Agree, that was a truly great movie.
@Keep It Reel. You mean his appearance at the RNC a couple years back where he “addressed” M.T. Suit (placeholder for Obama) on stage?
Do you think he fits the persona of Shane?
@@lizardfirefighter110 Shane was more moral. Clint was more ambigious in his cowboy role,very ruthless and often self serving but also able too step up to the underdog when needed to do so. Shane was humane,tough and reserved and heroic. Clint was the opportunist,Shane the helper.
Ennio morricone was the composer that made the music ,the music still stands today in the Modelo commercials❤️the the movies had the best soundtracks ❤️
They made for awesome ringtones.
What’s more impressive was that Morricone’s songs were done in one take with all of the musicians playing at ones. And some of the musicians were not playing instruments but things like guitar cases and other objects that delivered the unique sound we all appreciate today.
I always knew this is the greatest scene in the entire trilogy, I come back to it again & again to appreciate its greatness
It's my favourite movie in the trilogy. Yeah, I know, everyone loves GB&U, because it's a masterpiece, but this was the genesis.
@@migueldeleon6677 Without this scene you don’t get the Mexican standoff in GB&U.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly had the three way shoot out in the cemetry. That scene was almost a graphic statement that the old style of the Western genre was dead and a new style had arrived.
Actually that scene is as anticlimactic as hell. 3 minutes of build up and one shot fired?!!!😟 However, it still works brilliantly. 😁
But that’s what makes it so good.
@@TUCOtheratt , anticlimactic?
How come Angel Eyes has centre fire cartridges in his belt with a percussion cap pistol?
@@sindento1942 Because, the priority was on style over historical accuracy. That's one of the most obvious errors in cinema but there are some in every western.
A number of folks have commented A Fistful of Dollars is a remake of Yojimbo. True… but Yojimbo pirates its entire plot from Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. I’ve always found it funny that Akiro Kurosawa was upset about A Fistful of Dollars but always glossed over his own plagiarism.
My dad (b.1938) was a HUGE western movie fan; I worshipped my dad and tried to watch them with him, but the first one I (b.1970) remember ACTUALLY thinking was interesting was The Magnificent Seven. Then, I discovered Clint's "Spaghetti Westerns" all brilliant.
You also forgot to mention it used the third person point of view to show the gunfight. Up until that time, most, if not all cowboy movies at that time showed the hero from a front on profile (second person point of view) shooting his gun, then having a jump cut to the antagonist falling over dead. The man with no name trilogy really changed things up by showing the main character shooting the antagonists without any cuts. This actually was an issue for some as it was perceived to be more violent. But it ended up resonating with American audiences more as a grittier action scene that helped set the tone for the series.
Really? High Noon predates this, and I'm pretty sure the only kill that follows this rule is Miller himself. "Hey, Miller!" - a close-up of the gang as they turn and draw, with Kane in the distance killing one. The man in the barn we see from over Kane's shoulder as he kills him. I think the guy Princess Grace shoots in the back is over her shoulder as well. I might be remembering wrong?
@@IoEstasCedonta Not all the deaths are shown in the way I described, but for sure the final death and at least alot of near misses are filmed in that way. Crazy, I've heard of this film but never bothered with it. After a little bit of research I will definitely find time this weekend to catch up on it. Thank you for that.
My only speculation is that it might have been overshadowed by the controversial takes around it, and the rival movie made in response, Rio Bravo, stealing it's thunder.
Sergio Leone took even more time, minutes rather than seconds, to build suspense and anticipation in Once Upon a Time In the West.
Yeah, that build-up with Charles Bronson and the the other 3 men was bone aching right up until it wasn't!!
"You brought two too many"
@@kingcarisma ...Loved that line!!
Leone was about larger scale. His views on sound effects is telling: A pistol should sound like a rifle, a rifle like a cannon, a cannon like an explosion. His pacing was much the same. A few seconds becomes an eternity in the build-up.
Too many people in this day and age dismiss or forget about pacing. The difference between a good joke and a bad joke can be in only the pacing.
Something can sound correct, but not sound 'right', or true to life. The same goes with pacing. The same scene can be perfect one way, but speed up or slow down a small portion of it and it looks wrong.
Don't forget the shootout at the end between Harmonica and Frank. For a minute it looked like they were going to stare each other to death, but then...
What make this so good and important is the camera man, he had a great eye on now to get the most out of a scene.
Clint Eastwood in these movies is definitely one of a kind. There are no others like him.
May be Charles Bronson
@@fjp3305 Yeah, he's pretty bad ass too. I still gotta go with Clint though. : )
your post is so original, never heard anyhting like it in every single other movie related video
@@slowery43 Okay, cupcake... No need to get your feelings hurt, this is just the internet. : )
Dollars Trilogy... Literally the most cinematically perfect westerns in history.
Stop saying “literally” as if it magically adds some kind of “oomph” to your opinion.
The Good the Bad &the Ugly, Fistfull of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and Hang Em High were true classics. Eastwood was one of the OGs of badassery
He's a Legend !
Which is funny considering how wooden and inexperienced his performance was throughout Rawhide.
Agree. Also had a name in each film?
All brilliant movies but Once Upon A Time In The West is Leone's ultimate masterpiece, in my opinion.
"It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man. You take all he's got... and all he's ever gonna' have."
Had to believe that I was in High School in the 60's when these classics were released. I still enjoy watching them.
Leone, Morricone,Eastwood, Volonte, Wallach, Van Cleef... the beast films of west.
You omitted OUATITW.
You are right here! This is the scene i like most on any western movies. And the music... just hair-rising even after so many years
The other way this movie broke the rule is that previous westerns, the hero wore a white or light coloured hat and a light or white horse in contrast to the villains which wore dark. Love Sergio's work. The stories, the camera work, the music, the suspense. All brilliant.
I'm pretty sure Clint was both a villain and a little bit hero..more a villain out for his own benefit..
Having read the script, Easwood had brought himslef the black jeans, while the rest of the outfit was given him, especially the cigar, a tipical italian "mezzo toscano", that Eastwood, a non-smoker, hated.
Other things that Eastwood brought, directly from the set of "Rawhide" were the gun and belt, that infact seem a little too polished and flashy in respect to the other props of the movie, but in the end they are well placed. As if the gritty professional take special good care of the tools of his job.
John Wayne wore a grey or a ( silverbelly) coloured hat so did Jimmy Stewart, which isn't white Jimmy Stewart wore the same hat in most if not all his westerns and surprisingly rode the same horse named Pie,
“If this film wasn’t made well then it would have had no impact.”
What an astounding observation Sherlock!
I happened to me also. I was a young lad who had been for years accustomed to the usual John Ford type of Hollywood Western and when those Spaghetti started coming to South America in the 1960s we kids, or guys, watched them and had a lot of fun because they were so theatrical with bodies falling all over and blood spilling in all directions (rumor had it that the genre name came from the generous use Italian Western directors made of spaghetti sauce for human blood) We saw them as satires or comedies of the real Western. But then I went to the movies one day to see one more of these flicks, a new guy who had never seen before, and I saw this scene and realized that this was the kind of hero I wanted to see in my Westerns. And we keep watching them for fun, never thinking that they would be such classics half a century later when at that time critics didn't even bother reviewing them, they considered too undeserving of their attention, they were the Sharknados the day.
Greatest triology ever in cinematic history😍😍
You forgot to mention the amazing music in the movie, Ennio Morricone
at his best.
This was the scene that got me hooked! Best movie trilogy ever!
Clint Eastwood is just the western legend for me bro he made me fall in love with western movie
Most badass part of the scene was when he was going back, going by the coffin maker, and then telling him, as if nothing happened, "make that four coffins..."
Once in a while, someone comes along that is able to take us to a place uncommon to mankind, the world made a better place for it.
do you actually read the garbage you post?
The strange camera angles in this scene telegraph to the audience that something is wrong, it helps build tension.
the best of this movie was the MUSIC time to time even now i listen it
I'll never forget the Sunday afternoon in the early 1970s when I saw A Fistful of Dollars for the first time. It was all pretty standard stuff, even for a kid who was maybe 11 or 12. Then came the scene where he walks up to four armed men and asks them to apologize to his mule. Not only did cinema change for me that day, but storytelling in general. Possibly this scene, and the moment Talos turns his head to look at Hercules in Jason and the Argonauts, remains the most conscious-altering moment of my young movie watching career. It wouldn't be until the 1990s that i would experience something similar again.
I take it you never saw Star Wars?
@@markhalpin9711 I saw the very first Star Wars movie long time ago and, after thought "alredy seen" more than 10 times, i decided to not waste my money to watch any other one of this saga. Even now, when is quite easy to download for free any of these movies, I carefully avoid them. I mean, this is my humble personal opinion, but, as I can tell you that it was better that Eric Clapton was a farmer (with all my respect to the farmers), I can tell you this. Opinions. People are different.
@@markhalpin9711, Star Wars irrevocably changed visual effects for the better. It looked beautiful on-screen in 1977 and still holds up well today, if you can manage to fund an unretouched, ‘updated’ version. Story-wise, though, it harkens back to adventure serials shown in theaters before the main movie. The ‘story’ of Star Wars is nearly as old as story-telling itself; the Hero’s Journey. With a splash of redemption arc in Return of the Jedi for Darth Vader. Leone drew from old stories, too; it’s impossible not to. But he gave us a renewed archetype that had been missing for so long. The reluctant hero. Nameless didn’t grow into his skills the way Luke Skywalker does; he’s already fully formed. But he also isn’t directly involved in the story being told until the antagonists force him to become involved. A more recent version of this is Captain Malcom Reynolds in Firefly. He’s just trying to make a living. He’s not out to save anyone or anything beyond himself, his ship and his crew unless or until somebody makes it his business. Then he doesn’t stop until the business is done.
@@carlosanguineti956 My bad, I guess NEARLY every child in the world who watched Star Wars in a cinema in 1977 had a "concious-altering moment". 😁
@@markhalpin9711 Well, since I am 66 I was not a child when Star Wars went on screen...
Practically every scene Sergio Leone directed had his stamp on it that made them classic.
It is the actor that brings all this together with a great script. Eastwood is a legend!
You forgot to talk about the last scene that solidified BADASS! “ My mistake, make it four coffins.”😳
It was much more than just one movie that became groundbreaking, it was a whole genre, the Eurowestern, known to most as Spaghetti western, but there was also the Paella and the Sauerkraut westerns. Admittedly, Leone was by far the greatest director of them all, so no wonder people know his films best.
Another thing, after watching A Fistful of Dollars for the xx'th time a while back I noticed a detail: he looked a little odd when doing incidental things, like how he lights his cigars or even PUNCHING dudes. Then I realized what it was, "Joe" mostly uses his LEFT hand for stuff. His GUN HAND is almost always free.
Bonus Easter Egg: one of the John Wick movies has a call-back to a scene in Good, Bad & the Ugly.
I'm glad someone else noticed. I was watching For a Few Dollars More the other day for 100th time and remarked to my wife about him using his left hand for everything. I noticed the same thing in Quigley Down Under. Quigley always protected his right hand with a glove. He preferred a rifle, but knew how to use a revolver. Onother great gunfight scene. My favorite gunfight scene of all time was the cemetery finally in The Good The Bad and The Ugly.
@@aurelian7831 he's referred to as 'manco' which is spanish for one-handed, in reference to him only using one hand to do everything....except shoot.
Sergio Leone+ Ennio Morricone.
Most beautiful and geuine collaboration in the history of cinema
Breathtaking. Really though the entire thing put together is so well placed, so well executed. It’s as if it was meant to be perfected in such a way.
The delivery, scenery, dialogue, suspense, and more all put into the movie is just incredible
The part I thought was great is when East wood told the assaulters of his mule something like "He'll feel much better when you apologise to him - like I know you're gonna" - brilliant!
Sergio Leone is with out a doubt the greatest western director who ever lived.
Great analysis! Saw these in the theater when I was little, always stuck with me.
Watching this transports me back, to 1970s 🤗❤️😊
The Dollars Trilogy With The Late Great Clint Eastwood Was The Greatest Western..Never Get Tired Of Watching Them ❤️👩🦳🇬🇧👍…The Music Makes The Movies Even Better Pure Magic!
Clint Eastwood is literally still alive tho.
The Good the Bad and the ugly was the only movie that my father actually came and woke me and my brother up so we can watch it together, I must have been 8 years ago.
Indeed , that is another clint movie i always watch when it is rerun , and lee van cleef and eli wallach where also really good in that too , and eli just made the best baddy :) .
Good Times...
The Man With No Name was created by author Joe Millard.
Apart from the 3 movie classics based on the books by their titles =" The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly ", " For a Few Dollars More ", & " A Fistful Of Dollars ", Joe Millard wrote =
The Million Dollar Bloodhunt, A Coffin Full Of Dollars, [ in this story, the author tells how the man with no name became a bounty hunter ], The Devil's Dollar Sign, A Dollar To Die For, , Blood For A Dirty Dollar. All In The Man With No Name Series.
The Man With No Name will forever be a classic hero !!
Sergio knew what he was doing, when he cast Clint Eastwood !!
Joe Millard wrote novelised versions of the Dollars Trilogy after the movies came out, plus the other books you mention. Fistful was a western remake of Yojimbo, Leone rewrote the original samurai story written by Akira Kurosawa as a western. For a Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly were both stories by Sergio Leone.
Well said. Those movies are my favorite Westerns of all time.
Leone was a master, Kurosawa was a genius.
Scrolled down in search of this comment. Thank you for saying it so I didn't have to.
Yes, but Leone just re-made western movies; You cannot judge Kurosawa just for Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai). Kurosawa was mainly philosophy. And a deeply pessimistic one.
@@carlosanguineti956Pessimistic or not there is something very peacefull and idylic in that last scene of his film Dreams and last dream with probably one of the best closing credits after the movie and music of Ipolitov Ivanov in history of cinematography.
@@agk2569 Same :)
Don’t forget John Ford the true Master that would truly inspire the two.
These kinds of scenes laid the platform for the successes of the later Harry Callaghan series with Magnum Force, Sudden Impact, etc ..
the music was very popular especially the theme of 'good, bad and ugly' was a pop radio hit from the cover version by hugo montenegro and sold a lot of records. just about everyone i knew had it in their home record collection, even my parents. my mom and dad loved the clint eastwood westerns.
Just the fact it was so unheard of at the time to see a first-person perspective of anyone being shot on screen.
It's amazing to see such a strong opening of a character so we know we gotta buckle up and to enjoy the ride.
for a few dollars more is the best of the trilogy... the way the end scene is shot between the Colonel and indio is one of the greatest Scenes ever Shot... a Masterpiece from start to finish... Lee Van Cleef and especially Gian Maria Volanťe bring performances that match Clint Eastwood...
👏👏👏
The music went part & parcel with the mood of the movie. Then there's Clint. His Producers back then were amazed they couldn't make a movie with Clint that didn't make scads of dough. Remember there were also the Magnum Force type cop movies - they did great too.
clint based half his career and screen persona on this scene,
'now if you apologise like i know youre going to' what a line, delivered as only clint can.
Spell much ?
@@wil7228 fair point, a couple of corrections needed,
Funny fact: Clint Eastwood started his career in the movies playing a character in a flick where the star is a talking mule, Francis in the Navy. (He had actually been on Revenge of the Creature before that but in a very small role). And he became an international star himself in a scene involving a mule in FOD. Mules were his lucky animals.
It's also worth remembering that his breakthrough cowboy part was Rowdy Yates in Rawhide where he was green and awkward and had to be continually got out of scrapes by Gil Favour.
@@petegarnett7731 Still, a mule made him a star.
My all-time favourite movie. I 100% agree.
This kind of scene was taken even further in the opening of "Once upon a time in the west". And yes, it is great. Build suspense, keep us on the edge of the seat, don't rush it, don't jump scare, make a full scene. And I agree with some of the comments: "my mistake, four coffins" is a very good closing line for the scene. A little extra, so to speak, a bonus to complete the scene.
Greatest scene in movie history take a bow Clint Eastwood🥰😻
Fabulous scene one never gets tired or finds fault with it
Clint's best scene in a western is the bounty hunter scene in The Outlaw Josey Wales, the greatest western movie of all time.
"You a bounty hunter?"
"Man's got to do something for a living these days."
"Dyin ain't much of a livin, boy."
shoutout josey wales man
I preferred "Are gonna pull those pistols or whistle dixy?"
Clint Eastwood more than anyone else ,Bronson being the other ,reflected the maxim .
The great movie does not the great protagonist make ------ The great protagonist always makes the great movie .
Leone was a big fan of Bronson. Tried to get him into the Dollars trilogy and failed. He would have replaced Lee Van Cleef, which in retrospect would have been criminal but I’m sure Leone was talented enough to have made that work.
Everything had to be perfect to make this scene iconic……everything
Clint mesmerised us and made gunslinging cool FOREVER……
The western never goes stale...
It can be said that Ennio Morricone's scores were in 'lock step' Leone's vision They were a huge departure from the overtly majestic Hollywood western scores from the likes of Tiomkin, Elmer Bernstein, Montenegro and Lionel Newman.
Absolutely, this movie without the score would be a flop
Clint Eastwood is simply the GOAT! Josey Wales best movie ever!!
Agreed! But I loved Grand Torino too....
Clint has stated that Josie is his personal favourite.
You should have included the rest of the scene: "My mistake. FOUR coffins."
badass
Exactly…”four coffins” is the cherry on top for that unforgettable scene
Outlaw Jose Whales was the western that change things for me and my friends. We always have...and will love John Wayne....
Whales ?
Long live Clint. He is one of the few men left in hollycrud.
The man with no Name Rocks!
Sergio Leone’s secret weapon: Ennio Morricone 🎉
That's the weapon that anyone knows. The secret one was Massimo Dallamano, the director of photography. He had been the creator of "Leone's close up". That kind of close-up was made possible by the Techniscope (it would have been ridicolus with the Cinemascope the Americans used, with the "mumps effect"), but it was better to have it very close, to exclude the background, that was completely out of focus.
Thumbs up
Agree with you 110%, it all came together so nice
Best westerns ever made. Watched them countless times.
This movie is so legendary, that to this day I don't know his name
Yes, man!... You talked about this, without mentioning that is a remake of Akira Kurosawa´s “Yojimbo”... More importabt yet, you don't even mention the humor, the sascastic way in which The Man with No Name talks to the four goons... He says he understand they are joking, they are having a good time... But his mule didn't get the joke and it is offended... So, he he there to asks them to apologise to his mule... During Clint Eastwood extended perorate, the four baddies transition from laughing to amusement to doubt to alarm to panic at the end... THAT IS WHAT MAKE THE SCENE GREAT... You get it now, mule with a computer?
What makes these films special is the combination. Leones' use of close-up and wide shots, the pacing. The writers' dialog, and humour. Apparently, Clint kept asking for less because his character was SO laconic, and of course Morricones' timeless music. Add the cherry of Clint Eastwood and, frankly a brilliant cast and it really was a perfect storm!
The mix of dark humour and extreme violence is unmatched. Coupled with the underlying morality of Manco in an immoral world. I just love this trilogy!
Love this scene. Also love the final dual in a Few Dollars More. Both done quite differently to build tension and framing of the shots. The final dual in The Good The Bad and The Ugly lacked tension.
It was Eastwood's wife that made this movie such a great success. On reading the script Clint didn't like it one bit and lobbed in his trash can. Later, his wife retrieved it and on reading it liked it so much that she managed to persuade her husband to contact director Sergio in Italy.
didnt know that
Excellent analysis FilmNerd. I believe the movie you showed was A Fistful of Dollars, which was Leone's first.[Not TGBaU]. But the following is amazing today: at the time these Leone masterpieces came out, they were derided somewhat as 'spaghetti westerns'. Even Henry Fonda himself, who was in one of the best, mentioned on Dick Cavett that he wasn't sure if the 'spaghetti westerns' would catch on . . Myself, I saw TGBaU, Hang'Em High, and High Plains Drifter [last two not 'spaghetti']when they first came out! I thought they were splendid but I always had this nagging doubt about their authenticity as westerns--maybe cheap foreign imitations, etc. From a review I just read, John Wayne evidently felt somewhat the same and that explains my doubt. Well, time is the best judge, and today there is no longer any doubt.
GBU was my favorite movie of all time
Same!!
"My mistake..." One of the greatest lines in cinema history.
This is a Great point but it really was the line After he killed the Baxter men that he used that made the start of these films...As he walks back to the ⚰ maker, he states, "My mistake, 4 ⚰s." Classic!!
Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher were making gritty, realistic westerns long before Sergio hit the scene. And let's not forget George Stevens' "Shane" or John Sturges' "Magnificent Seven".
Absolutely. This is a complete misunderstanding of what Leone did.
The Colonel knows his westerns. Randolph Scott sure doesn't get enough love, and James Stewart too, even though I didn't like him too much, his Anthony Mann westers were quite good.
This movie is one of my favorite but it is the best Western filmed... Every seen is on another level with the extreme close ups and unbelievable music to match...
man with no name such great films
The dollars trilogy is just cinematic perfection, my personal favourite, for a few dollars more...
I think few dollars more doesn't get enough credit
same,it was more thrills
This new western was also the first time it showed the angle of the shots hitting the people, with the shooter in the frame. Before this it was always cut scenes. Man shooting, cut to man getting shot.
Love Clint Eastwood movies and today he is in his nineties and the films were made in the early sixties.
Indeed, this was a terrific and memorable scene amongst many others.
i. e. "Tssk. Such ingratitude after aaallll the times I've saved your life?"
I love that cold, level stare he gives just before he draws. It screams "Remember, you wanted this".
Clint said the cigars made him sick. They nearly made him vomit.
I think he said that’s how he got those faces of his because he picked the nastiest cigars he could find so he would be blanching and looking badass as opposed to “oh yeah” this ceegar is nicee… having smoked a few nasty ones in my youth I would agree on the grimaces….
And yet, he chomps on one like it's an elixir... That's acting...
"Sergio Leone takes his time..." Understatement of the decade. Watching the unedited version of "Duck, You Sucker!" is the equivalent of a cinematic Bataan death march.
I remember Clint Eastwood on television in the early '60s. It was a weekly western series called Rawhide. It was a cattle drive that had a different episode each week. He played Rowdy Yates.
He had played bit parts in some horror films before. He is the air force pilot who bombs the spider in Tarantula and a lab technician in Revenge of the Creature.
Sergio Leone , Ennio Morricone and Clint Eastwood . How can you get it wrong from there ?
Fun Fact: Though Good, Bad & the Ugly was the last one in the trilogy, it's set BEFORE the first one in A Fistful of Dollars. (There's an Easter Egg near the end of GB&U that establishes this). At the end of GB&U "Blondie" was a very rich man and he's not the kind of guy to squander that, so...he really doesn't need the money in Fistful of Dollars, nor in For a Few Dollars More, so that's not really his motivation. Also, notice he really only shoots the bad guys. He's not an "anti-hero".
He is an "anti-hero."' Anti-hero doesn't mean "villain," it refers to a character who does good things, but not because he wants to do good but for some other, often selfish reason, or simply because he is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eastwood's character cleans up the town, not because he wants to fight injustice and right the wrongs, but because he sees an opportunity to profit by it.
@@Mechmaster0 Your point about "anti-hero" "villain" is valid and accepted. However, MY point was given the actual timeline of the three movies where "Joe" or "Blonde" is really very wealthy at the beginning of FFoD. That fact fundamentally alters the reality of his actual motivation; he does not need the money. One could respond with: "IT'S RIGHT THERE IN THE BLOODY TITLE!" and yes, it's a fistful of dollars right punching you right between the eyes. Just as the sequel: For A Few Dollars More. They were wildly successful films that got Sergio a third installment with a significantly larger budget. He chose to do an "origin" story where at the end his "anti-hero" is transformed into a VERY rich, VERY skilled, and arguably VERY motivated man the shows up in first two films seemingly "out of the blue" and sets things right. Definitely not a typical "hero" type there ;-D
Was this planned at the start? Probably not. It's almost certainly a "ret-con". I will admit I did no deep-dive into the backstory of these films, so this is mostly speculation on my part. That said, I regard "The Man with No Name" trilogy as a complete work with all of its temporal implications. Finally, I'll submit Sergio's own opinion of his character in his triumphant conclusion (ACTUAL PREQUEL!!) "The GOOD, the Bad & the Ugly".
I stand by my statement: NOT and "anti-hero".
@@MitchTubeism Loved your analysis. Thank you! 🙂
What else that makes the dollars trilogy so good is that "Joe" makes mistakes he's human his plans don't always go like he figures.
You’re so right. Excellent movie. I think this movie is great because of the western’s of the past