Thursday, March 25, 2021

Rob's Room: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I made a point to watch Clint Eastwood westerns I hadn't seen (or didn't recall very well) this last year: A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The Outlaw Josie Wales, High Plains Drifter, and Unforgiven. I enjoyed them all! High Plains Drifter has a bizarre third act and stands out as a film that would not be made today (hahaha!). Josie Wales (my uncle's favorite and the reason I decided to catch up on my Eastwood & Spagetti Westerns) is quite good. Unforgivent continues to be a perfect coda to the genre. However, my favorite turned out to be The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It has a great title sequence, is beautifully shot, is well-acted (Lee Van Cleef is hypnotic on screen), and has a perfect Ennio Morricone score! The film really holds up well (even if there are a few moments of forced story telling to push the plot forward). You can really see it's influence on the original Star Wars as well as The Mandalorian. If you've not seen it (or any of the others), check it out! Feel free to make other western film recommendations in the comments. 
And damn, did they know how to make movie posters back in the day!

2 comments:

Monc said...

Some other Western recommendations:

- "Dodge City" (1939)
- "Rio Bravo" (1959)
- "The Magnificent Seven" (1960)
- "The Comancheros" (1962)
- "The Professionals" (1966)

Rob said...

I love “The Magnificent Seven.” I may have seen “The Comancheros” but honestly don’t remember it (but it looks really familiar). Will look up the others. Thanks, Monc! :)