|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aline
Guest
|
 |
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2010, 06:18:16 AM » |
|
A Fistful of Dollars. I love the scenery, the plot, and especially the ending. I love this quote from the book The films of Clint Eastwood (Boris Zmijewsky & Lee Pfeiffer) about the ending. The stranger then rides nonchalantly out of town, leaving a path of destruction behind him.
|
|
|
|
Logged |
|
|
|
TWOMULES
Guest
|
|
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2010, 07:10:15 AM » |
|
My favourite Leone film (out of the three) is The Good,The Bad And The Ugly.  This film is just superb in comparison to the other two. Every thing is presented in epic proportions from the soundtrack to Leone's presentation of the Civil War. The story is much better and the coming together of the three main characters through Leone's visions of America is just pure Perfection. Each character is unique in his own way. Clint is no longer identified by is poncho, this time it's he is wearing a long coat. Lee Van Cleef plays an entirely different character to the role he played in For A Few Dollars More and Eli Wallach is outstanding as Tuco. He was born to play this role! The final shootout at the huge circular military graveyard is brilliant in every way from Leone's camerawork to Morricone's score! It's a movie you can watch over and over again! I would consider this film to be one of the best westerns ever made and it's just fantastic. The first soundtrack album I bought was The Good,The Bad And The Ugly. It's a superb film score and everybody should have this album in their collection.  |
|
|
|
Logged |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
bdc28
Classic Member
Sr. Member
 Offline
Posts: 316
|
|
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2010, 05:20:36 PM » |
|
Ooooh, how to answer this one?
For a few dollars more, is a sentimental favorite. It was my first exposure to the Man with No Name, and I had never encountered anything resembling an anti hero. Also it was kind of a stretch allowing Clint to show he had a sense of humor, I always thought that was the one thing that was missing in FFOD.
But in all honesty, for contents sake if I had to rate them, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY is the best of the three. It seems to me that was Leone's attempt at touching the human soul. Manco showing sympathy for the young dying soldier, showing the madness of war, and finding a way to intertwine it all into the journey these three hardened killers are taking. Finding a way to strongly divide the three characters from the aloofness of Lee Van Cleef to the humor of Tuco.
In that movie there was NO one dimensional characters. And it allowed for human flaw. I would have never known that Lee Van Cleef was missing a finger had it not been for the close up during the showdown on his hand. They could have put a hand model in for that...but they didnt. Little things like that make me put it right up there with one of the best movies of all time.
|
|
|
|
Logged |
"I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing wearing my pajamas I have no idea..."
|
|
|
Marcus AF
Newbie
Offline
Posts: 1
|
|
« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2014, 05:30:53 PM » |
|
All the points supporting the reason for your favourite of the the three are well made : I agree with these points.
FOFD is of course the original , but there are moments which stretch credulity a bit too far.
Could TMWNN spend a long evening as a guest of the Rojos and make them believe that he really was drunk?
As for the final shoot-out : instead of being goaded by TMWNN into firing at the heart , why did Ramon not have the sense to go for a head shot?
He helps the woman and child,so we are left with the impression of a man who,whilst mercenary, has a sense of justice and decency.
For those of us brought up on Cooper and Wayne , that's important to help us accept the "anti-hero".
GBU was the "epic" of the three : it has the feel of a "big" movie , with its wonderful score , the long-range shots and the Civil War background.
But in this movie , we do not see much evidence of TMWNN displaying altruism : he is a criminal who - for a price - helps others escape justice.
Sure , he kills the evil Setenza , but that is in order to secure the treasure, without any apparent higher moral purpose.
The only real sense of him having any decency is in what he does not do - namely, he does not cheat Tuco out of his share.
But can one attribute qualities of character to a person for the bad that they do not do?
Eli Wallach's hammed-up performance is a real treat : he just about 'steals' the movie.
I voted for FAFDM as my favourite. As a viewer , the vengeance motif appears to me the strongest here , as we know exactly the reason for Mortimer's pursuit of the villain . Gian Maria Volonte's El Indio is pure evil : to me , the act of killing a mother and child marks him as even worse than Ramon in slaughtering the soldiers in FFOD.
TMWNN does not seem to know what El Indio did to Tomaso and family , but of course he has a good idea of Mortimer's motivation.
He seems happy to have helped him in his pursuit of vengeance.
I cannot quite explain why I believe this. Maybe it's TMWNN's curiosity about the photo in the watch , as we see him interested in something for non-mercenary reasons?
Despite the nastiness in the movie , it is also full of humour - too many examples to mention , but as you have all seen it , there is no need for me to list them.
The relationship between Mortimer and TMWNN is fascinating : this is the only one of three movies where our "hero" is challenged by a decent-minded man of comparable ability. For much of the movie , I felt that Mortimer was the more dominant character , due to being a bit smarter than TMWNN , but the latter re-asserts himself - just like in all good Westerns ! - in the final scene.
I suppose it is fun to critique the trilogy , but I do not want to overdo it : simple fact is , all three movies were rollicking good entertainment !
|
|
|
|
Logged |
|
|
|
|
|
Hemlock
Member Extraordinaire
Offline
Posts: 2652
|
|
« Reply #12 on: April 25, 2014, 10:06:59 PM » |
|
I voted for FAFDM as my favourite. As a viewer , the vengeance motif appears to me the strongest here , as we know exactly the reason for Mortimer's pursuit of the villain . Gian Maria Volonte's El Indio is pure evil : to me , the act of killing a mother and child marks him as even worse than Ramon in slaughtering the soldiers in FFOD.
TMWNN does not seem to know what El Indio did to Tomaso and family , but of course he has a good idea of Mortimer's motivation.
He seems happy to have helped him in his pursuit of vengeance.
I cannot quite explain why I believe this. Maybe it's TMWNN's curiosity about the photo in the watch , as we see him interested in something for non-mercenary reasons?
Despite the nastiness in the movie , it is also full of humour - too many examples to mention , but as you have all seen it , there is no need for me to list them.
The relationship between Mortimer and TMWNN is fascinating : this is the only one of three movies where our "hero" is challenged by a decent-minded man of comparable ability. For much of the movie , I felt that Mortimer was the more dominant character , due to being a bit smarter than TMWNN , but the latter re-asserts himself - just like in all good Westerns ! - in the final scene.
I suppose it is fun to critique the trilogy , but I do not want to overdo it : simple fact is , all three movies were rollicking good entertainment !
Agreed!Thanks Marcus,could not say it better myself |
|
|
|
Logged |
|
|
|
|
|
Jed Cooper
Classic Member
Member Extraordinaire
Offline
Posts: 5243
|
|
« Reply #14 on: June 23, 2014, 08:17:42 AM » |
|
Having watched Eastwood's last 3 westerns recently, I was considering watching his first 3 again soon which happens to be these Leone westerns mentioned in this thread. I find it very difficult to choose, really. I could easily say the last one because it is an incredibly great western and maybe that statement in of itself is my answer but I still can't choose as yet. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to. To me, I consider the Leone westerns not only Eastwood’s best westerns to date, but the best of the genre. Not head-and-hells above all others, but definitely the top of the heap. To quote Sinatra, "King of the hill, top of the heap, A-number ooooone!" Well... 1, 2 and 3 This truly is a great poll but one too hard for me to asnwer right now. Perhaps, if I get the chance to watch these 3 again soon... |
|
|
|
Logged |
“Eyuh.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Man With No Aim
Member Extraordinaire
Offline
Posts: 563
"There are two kinds of men in this world"
|
|
« Reply #17 on: July 19, 2014, 12:18:32 AM » |
|
A Few Dollars More is my favorite, by a very narrow margin. In my humble (  ) opinion GBU is the BEST film of the three, but not really my favorite. The poll asked for my favorite. So coming in 3rd for fave is Fistful. Howzat...... Fistful came across to me as a little more obviously staged production. I did not have the 100% sensation that I had beamed down in the time machine and was witnessing a real event in the real Old West. This both detracted from my appreciation of it as a fine film and unavoidably also detracted from my liking it as a favorite movie. A Few Dollars More looked to me more gritty and real. This makes it my favorite. And I personally call it a better film than Fistful. GBU is a marvelously good film, I call it the best of the three in terms of production values. However there are some anachronisms and other gaffes that are distracting to me and prevent me from enjoying the movie to the fullest. So I call it a very good film but not my favorite of the three, by a narrow margin. As with many other Eastwood films, I like any of them so much that ranking them almost seems sacriligeous. If the Movie-Monster came and stole 2 of them and left me only one, I would happily watch any one of them I still had. |
|
|
|
Logged |
"In all the excitement I lost count myself'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clint Eastwood Forums
Poll
Author