The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
★★★★★ — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
The third and most ambitious entry in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, this 1966 Spaghetti Western was a co-production between United Artists and the Italian studio PEA, filmed largely on location in Spain (standing in for the American Southwest and Civil War battlefields). Leone had already reshaped the genre with A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, but this was the film that confirmed him as a major cinematic force, working from a screenplay he co-wrote with Luciano Vincenzoni on a budget of just $1.2 million, against which it returned nearly $39 million worldwide. Clint Eastwood was by this point an established draw, but Eli Wallach's Tuco became one of the most celebrated comic-villainous performances in Western history, while Ennio Morricone's score remains among the most recognisable pieces of film music ever composed.
If aliens showed up tomorrow and asked, "What is cinema?" this is the film I'd show them. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly isn’t just a Western; it’s THE Western. A film so vast, so physically real that no AI, no CGI, no billion dollar studio could ever recreate the sheer scale of it. You squint your eyes when dust flies into the screen, you want to swat the flies away in the sweltering heat. It truly immerses and it's astounding for a film heading into it's 60th year since release. And then there’s Ennio Morricone... the fourth main character. His score doesn’t just complement the film; it is the film. It speaks where words aren’t needed, turning every duel, every moment of silence, into something truly majestic. That final showdown? Perfection. Cinema in its purest form, transcendent.
Rating: ★★★★★ | Year: 1966 | Watched: 2025-04-01
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: MGM Plus Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Sky Store
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Physical: Amazon UK
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Sergio Leone: Duck, You Sucker (1971) · Once Upon a Time in America (1984) · A Fistful of Dollars (1964) · For a Few Dollars More (1965)
More with Clint Eastwood: Million Dollar Baby (2004) · High Plains Drifter (1973) · Hang 'em High (1968) · Unforgiven (1992)
More from Italy: Nightmare City (1980) · Cemetery Man (1994) · One Way or Another (1975) · Chicken for Linda! (2023)
More from the 1960s: Viy (1967) · Persona (1966) · Carnival of Souls (1962) · Daisies (1966)
More western: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) · Rio Bravo (1959) · Ride Lonesome (1959) · The Great Train Robbery (1903)
