The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

1966
Movie
161 min
Italian

While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.

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Insights

IMDb8.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes97%
Metacritic90
Google Users94%
Director: Sergio LeoneGenres: Western, Adventure, War

Plot Summary

In the midst of the American Civil War, three ruthless gunslingers pursue a hidden cache of Confederate gold. Blondie, known as 'The Good,' and Angel Eyes, 'The Bad,' are aware of the treasure's location. Tuco, 'The Ugly,' knows the name of the cemetery where it's buried. These three adversaries engage in a treacherous game of cat and mouse, forming and breaking alliances as they race against time and each other to find the fortune.

Critical Reception

Widely regarded as a masterpiece of the Spaghetti Western genre and one of the greatest films ever made, 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' was a critical and commercial success. It is praised for its epic scope, innovative cinematography, Ennio Morricone's iconic score, and its morally ambiguous characters. While initially receiving mixed reviews in the US, its reputation grew exponentially over time, solidifying its status as a cinematic landmark.

What Reviewers Say

  • Praised for its masterful direction and epic scale.
  • Celebrated for Ennio Morricone's unforgettable score.
  • Acclaimed for its iconic performances and anti-hero characters.

Google audience: Audiences overwhelmingly love 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,' frequently citing its epic scope, thrilling action sequences, and unforgettable music. Many appreciate the complex characters and the film's lasting impact on the Western genre.

Awards & Accolades

None notable, but highly influential and considered a landmark of the Western genre. It is often ranked among the greatest films of all time.

Fun Fact

The iconic three-way standoff at the end of the film, set in the brutal heat of a Mexican graveyard, was filmed over an astonishingly long five-day period, with Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach enduring the intense conditions and Leone's meticulous direction.

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My Review

TMDB Reviews

10 reviews
dfle3

dfle3

When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk. 70% (ish) This is the third in a so-called ‘trilogy’, a framing which I expressed doubts about in my review for the second in the sequence, “For a few dollars more”. So, from my perspective it...
CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

People tended to treat Sergio Leone's work with a considerable degree of disdain, but watching this in 2020 it is still amongst the very best of the genre. A good-looking, calculating Clint Eastwood ("The Good"), is the itinerant bounty hun...
Filipe Manuel Neto

Filipe Manuel Ne...

**One of the best, most famous and most iconic Westerns ever. More than a classic, it's mandatory.** I'm not an expert nor do I want to sound like one, but I think this is one of the most famous western films ever made, despite being sho...
drystyx

drystyx

Not as bad as the other Leone Westerns. Still, that is not saying much at all. At 3/10, this is better than his totally ridiculous ones. It's still a dull movie with non credible one dimensional characters who have no motivation for a si...
r96sk

r96sk

Very good no doubt about it, even if I feel it's an odd fitting third installment of the Dollars trilogy. In case this review sounds negative at any point, I wanna explicitly state for the avoidance of any doubt that <em>'The Good, the B...
JPV852

JPV852

Solid western, which generally isn't a favorite genre of mine, with great performances and some well shot scenes and landscapes. Been a long time since I saw A Fistful of Dollars or For a Few Dollars More, but this is a great entry in the "...
DrewBlack

DrewBlack

There is one word to define The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. And that word is “transcendent”. This movie is not only the pinnacle of the Spaghetti Western, but it transcended into the pinnacle of the Western genre in itself. It’s safe to say...
Peter McGinn

Peter McGinn

I am not a fan of Sergio Leone. In fact, this movie and Once Upon a Time in the West are the only movies of his that I have seen. But I think they are both classic westerns. He seems to bring out the best in his cinematographer, both for sc...
CRCulver

CRCulver

Sergio Leone's <i>The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly</i> is a classic Western film. Clint Eastwood is the Good, aka the Man with No Name, a taciturn wanderer who follows his own sense of justice. His opposite is Angel Eyes (Lee van Cleef), the...
John Chard

John Chard

I'm looking for the owner of that horse. He's tall, blonde, he smokes a cigar, and he's a pig! It's debatable of course, since there are legions of fans of the first two films in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trology, but with each film there n...