The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Sergio Leoneis one of the most influential director of all time , but how do his moving picture range from bad to good ? Like his peer Jean - Luc Godard and his acolyte Quentin Tarantino , Leone bridged the gap between high-pitched and abject art , elevating commonplace genre story via an operatic esthetic that , at its best , remains peerless all these year later . The son of pioneering director Vincenzo Leone and actress Bice Valerian , Sergio drop much of his childhood in Rome - at one sentence attending school with his future musical collaborator Ennio Morricone - before dropping out of university to quest after a career in the moving picture diligence .
curve his teeth as an helper or 2nd - unit director on various movie before landing his first gig as a director proper . Leone began in earnest with stingily - made Sword and Sandal movies , and then went on to reinvent the westerly writing style - place fiveSpaghetti Westernsin his native Italy , before exploring the popular Gangster musical genre in his final picture . While his filmography is now well - regarded , Leone ’s movies received a muckle of criticism in their sidereal day - often exacerbated by drastic edits for outside grocery store . gratefully , each of these films has since been made useable in full .
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The theatre director ’s many trademarks admit morally - grey character , dialogue - barren sequences , sweeping landscapes , probing close - ups , and transcendent grudge by Ennio Morricone . Here ’s every movie in Leone ’s filmography ranked from bad to best .
8. The Last Days of Pompeii (1959)
1959’sThe Last Days of Pompeiimarked Sergio Leone ’s directorial entry - if unofficially . The credited director , Mario Bonnard , fall ill on the first day of filming , so Leone ( having had experience as an adjunct director ) took over in his absence seizure . star Steve “ Hercules ” Reeves , The Last day of Pompeiitells the narration of Glaucus - a Roman centurion who return home to Pompeii only to find his father murdered amid a series of fad - led flak . Vowing revenge , Glaucus assay to cut across down his father ’s killer - becoming tangle in a mystery that threatens to destruct Pompeii . Combining the Sword and Sandal genre with a Murder Mystery , it ’s ambitious stuff - but terminate up drown in its own decadence .
From the get - go , Leone represent a very lived - in world . There ’s always something interesting going on in the background : marble carving , quirky extras , the constant flickering of torches . alas , these backcloth elements are finally more impressive than the story being recount . The characters are paper - slender , lack in personality , and the histrion seem hampered by the pseudo - diachronic dialogue - stilted and stony - faced in their deliveries .
7. The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)
After proving his talent onThe Last Days of Pompeii , Leone made his official directorial entry withThe Colossus of Rhodes . Another brand - and - sandal epic , the film meliorate on his previous uncredited effort - offering greater political intrigue , braggart set - opus , better effects , and ( most importantly ) a more charismatic lead . TV and B - picture show star Rory Calhoun play Darios , a Greek military hero holidaying in Rhodes - home of the newly ramp up Colossus - who becomes sweep up in two separate plots to reverse the island ’s tyrannical king . While less physically impose than Reeves , Calhoun lend an easygoing charm to the role;Cary Grantin a loincloth , essentially - a meet champion given the film ’s decidedly Hitchcockian patch .
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In a pulpy wrench , the nominal Colossus ( one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ) is revealed to be empty ; the legendary statue housing a villain ’s lair . It ’s an revolutionize pick , riffing on Hitchcock ’s use of famous landmark in his own espionage films , and a memorable position for some hair - evoke activeness scenes . All that said , The Colossus of Rhodesoutstays its welcome - losing steam due to its overstuffed mold and scratchy pacing . While the activity has certainly improved , Leone ’s focal point is still pretty workmanlike here - something that would shift with his next feature film film .
6. Duck, You Sucker! (1971)
An unnoted gem in Leone ’s impressive treetop , Duck , You Sucker!was the theater director ’s finalSpaghetti Westernand the second first appearance in hisOnce Upon a Time Trilogy . adjust in 1913 , it tells the tale of Juan ( a Mexican bandit , play by Rod Steiger ) and John ( an passee - IRA wipeout expert , work by James Coburn ) who unite , intent on plume a banking concern , only to become improbable hero sandwich in the Mexican Revolution . Leone ’s next-to-last feature , the celluloid pock another shift in his aesthetic . Up until this point , the director ’s movie were pretty rough , but still basically suitable for all - ages viewing . Duck , You Sucker!readily deals with more adult theme and its characters curse more liberally than in Leone ’s early undertaking . These elements would by and by be amplified inOnce Upon a clock time in America : Leone ’s last feature picture show .
Duck , You Sucker!gets a lot right , with bright carrying out from Steiger and Coburn in spite of their chanceful accents . Honestly , the film ’s biggest trouble is its claim . Alternately referred to as bothA Fistful of DynamiteandOnce Upon a Time … The Revolution , the former statute title is definitely good ( and also preferable toDuck , You Sucker ! ) but does n’t signify the pic ’s situation in Leone’sOnce Upon a Time Trilogy . Once Upon a Time in Mexicowould have been the obvious choice - later used by Robert Rodriguez for the second entry in his ownMariachi Trilogy .
5. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Leone ’s first spaghetti westerly and the first entry in hisDollars Trilogy , A Fistful of Dollars , was a watershed movie and introduced many elements that would become staple of Leone ’s unique manner . The story is middling unsubdivided , borrowing most of its plot from Akira Kurosawa’sYojimbo : The Man With No Name ( Clint Eastwood ) arrives in a riotous townspeople looking for work . Pitting two rival factions against each other , he reap the reward until observe an innocent kin trapped amid the conflict and decides to help their cause . A Fistful of Dollarsalso check off the beginning of Leone ’s long coaction with composer Ennio Morricone , with the grievance far more outstanding than in earliest Leone films .
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While Rory Calhoun was nerveless in an retiring kind of way , Eastwood is a full - on badass : steely - eyed , cigar - chomping , with a swagman that could rival Mick Jagger - yet , beneath his dusty poncho , lies a heart of gold . swap mitt - to - handwriting fighting for more deliberate gunfights allow Leone to shine as a music director . Shoot - outs run to begin and cease fairly rapidly , like the punchline to a jest . For the first meter , we see Leone as a master of the readiness - up , building suspense through a serial of intimate close - ups partner off with Morricone ’s breathless score , transcending the film ’s scrappy aesthetic and tugging on the tailcoats of opera house . It ’s striking material but , as far as Leone ’s talent is concerned , only the point of the iceberg lettuce : a foreboding , whispered through gunsmoke , of the legend he would later become .
4. For a Few Dollars More (1965)
How did Leone meliorate onA Fistful of Dollars ? Three syllables : Lee Van Cleef . A rival bounty huntsman and loth ally of Eastwood ’s retrovert hero , Van Cleef ’s Colonel Mortimer try the perfect counterpoint , prefer a calm and measured plan of attack - less rough - and - quick than Eastwood , but as imposing . InFor a Few Dollars More , The pair squad up to defeat a ruthless coin bank robber : El Indio , act by Gian Maria Volonté .
Volonté is terrific in the role , his melodic air hole watch becoming the poppycock of legend - Morricone ’s “ Watch Chimes ” among the most persistent music ever written . The film ’s increased budget is promptly seeming , as are Leone ’s loftier ambitions , and the story moves along from lot - piece to set - opus - with more wide-ranging placement than seen inA Fistful of Dollars , as well as stronger action .
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
The first entry in Leone’sOnce Upon a Time Trilogy , Once Upon a Time in the West , is a visionary piece of work that luxuriates in its landscape painting , shows without telling , and is n’t afraid to let its simple history breathe . Set during America ’s gentrification , Once Upon a Time in the Westmarked the beginning of Leone ’s waning interest group in the genre that he ’d helped to redefine - its transitional theme becoming the trilogy ’s main throughline . The storytelling equivalent weight of a sundown ; its graphic symbol are squeeze to present the changing time , heralded by the coming of the railroad track . When Brett McBain ( Frank Wolff ) is murdered , his new wife Jill McBain ( Claudia Cardinale ) inherits his landed estate - containing one of the few urine source in the region .
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With dollar foretoken in his eyes , a railway business leader endeavors to take possession of Jill ’s realm and draft the help of Frank ( Henry Fonda ) , a hired gun , to make his dreaming a tearing reality . A harmonica - playing drifter ( Charles Bronson ) and a framed bandit ( Jason Robards ) have their own bone to pick with Frank , becoming sympathetic to Jill ’s quandary , and the threesome work together to lend him down . Cardinale steals the show as Jill , bring a different DOE to Leone ’s study - refreshing amidst his broadly speaking male - centric filmography .
2. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
The final entranceway in theOnce Upon a Time Trilogyand Leone ’s last lineament motion-picture show , Once Upon a Time in Americasaw the director tackle a new genre - crime pictures - withRobert De Niroin tow as Noodles : a former gangster who returns to New York City thirty - five year after he left , forced to confront the sins of his past . Noodles is potential Leone ’s most complex admirer - just as well given the film ’s mammoth runtime ( a pinch shy of four hour long ) . De Niro is an absolute human dynamo as always , playing Noodles at a variety of geezerhood - not unlike Martin Scorcese’sThe Irishman , but with virtual make - up effects instead of CGI .
The supporting cast too are splendid ( include Joe Pesci and a untested Jennifer Connolly ) , with multiple actors playing the same roles in dissimilar time period . The film is imposingly free from the common confusion that can arise during such earned run average - spanning narratives , with each thespian maintaining a cohesive continuity of personality . The production innovation is gorgeous , painting New York in a decidedly European Light Within , its turning point wax and waning with the passing of sentence . WhileFrancis Ford Coppola’sGodfatherfilmscan take credit for reinvigorating the mobster literary genre , Leone grabbed the baton with both hands - creating his most mature work in the process .
1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
The final entry in Leone’sDollars Trilogy , The Good , the Bad , and the Ugly , is quite possibly the cool moving-picture show ever made and the best westerly in existence . When three Isle of Man learn of buried treasure , they race to retrieve it - encountering all manner of obstacles along the way , include the ensuing Civil War . Eli Wallach connect Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as Tuco : a cunning bandit and , frequently , the picture show ’s laughable stand-in - turn out the perfect counterpoint to the more ethical figures cut by the flick ’s return leads . A tale of change over loyalty , it sweep the audience along - its characters on a constant knife - edge ; causing you to wonder which allegiance , if any , will end up ringing true in the last and which of the three lead theatrical role , if any , actually deserve their reductive moniker .
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Regarding the Civil War , the celluloid refuses to beak a side - its character masquerading as both matrimony and confederate soldier throughout the course of the tale - but , rather , questions the notion of war in the first place : onetime men send untried men to die in droves is pretty grim , regardless of which side they ’re on . gas a runtime just shy of three hours , it ’s larger-than-life but seldom indulgent onLeone ’s part - propose a crowd - pleasing ride all the room . In short : The Good , the Bad , and the Uglyis everything you could go for for in a westerly , full of personality and brimming with vision .
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