"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
by: Paolo Sardinas

Sergio Leone, often cited as one of the greatest directors of all time, gave his all in creating the script for end of the "Dollars Trilogy". After the critical success with his first two films, Sergio Leone returned in 1967 to release "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". The third installment in the famed "Dollars Trilogy" was the greatest of them all. Something very uncommon amongst trilogies. The script, written by three different writers including Leone himself. It reunited director Leone with his favourite leading man Clint Eastwood along past co star Lee Van Cleef(For a Few Dollars More).

The story centers around three men, all of which are looking for gold during the Civil War and amongst all of the battles, rapid expansion into the West and the war torn nation. The beginning of the film starts out with "The Ugly" Tuco(Eli Wallach) escaping from a group of bounty hunters. Miles away "The Bad" Angel Eyes(Van Cleef) is interrogating a man about the where abouts of that rascally gold. Eventually shooting the man and his son. We later meet Blondie "The Good"(Eastwood) who finds Tuco being arrested by a group of Bounty Hunters. Blondie kills the mercenaries and rides off into the town to collect the money.

The story continues on with, Blondie almost being killed by Tuco, spying, lying, action, excitement and of course the famed three way Mexican standoff at Sad Hill cemetery, where supposedly the gold is buried. Even though the ending is a bit predictable, and logical in a sense, it still leaves you with that that happy ending where after all the violence, shooting and killing, the hero still rides off into the sunset. All three actors are superb in the roles. Delivering exciting performances which make the movie even more enjoyable. Here's a breakdown of our three characters and their performances:

The Good: Clint Eastwood offers a masterful performance as the drifting ant-hero. Much like his two previous dollar installements, "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More", he tops both of those performances and almost combines them into making one more superior than all the others. A character which is still just as unbelievably cool as it ever was. A true movie icon. Of course he shares the screen well with his fellow co-stars.

The Bad: Lee Van Cleef teams up again with director Sergio Leone to give us another masterful performance as "The Bad" guy. His performance this time around is even more intriguing and entertaining than before. The absolute master of villainy.

The Ugly: Eli Wallach, after starring in a few westerns himself, returned to the west to give the absolute show stealer of the movie. His performance as Tuco, "The Ugly", is anything but. Absolutely flawless in every way imaginable. He steals every single scene he's in. The movie is his for the taking, and although a different ending on his part would of been more interesting, he still lives to fight or steal another day.

Director Sergio Leone partnered up these three incredible actors to deliver a movie worthy of all the highest honors. Once criticized for its excessive violence Sergio Leone calmly replied with this quote "the killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns... The west was made by violent, uncomplicated men, and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures." Not an easy task, but he never the less was able to achieve and create something absolutely unique and extra ordinary.

"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is an excellent example of movie making at its finest. Uniting some of our greatest actors of all time, this film serves up something we all enjoy. Filled with action, excitement and fun, this is a movie everyone loves and is something worthy of every honor available. Sergio Leone created the perfect ending to an iconic character and despite its repetitiveness it's always great to see "The Man with No Name" ride off into the sunset. Grade: A