From what I know of Sergio Leone, The Good the Bad and the Ugly is pretty typical of his directing style, which by no means is a bad thing. I think Leone's style is very artistic and really works with his stories to compell the audience. his style, in this film at least seems to have a lot of close ups, extreme close ups, long shots, and the duration of the shots are usually pretty long, making every shot more dramatic. For example in the scene where Blondie and Tuco are walking down the street of an old deserted town to get to Angel-Eyes as the camara is following them from a distance there is some tension because you know that Angel-Eyes' minions are all crowding around to kill them, when you see a close up of the shooter, then he shoots then you see a close up of Blondie shooting him then the bandit falling. This is a perfect example of Leone's direction style.
The characters are also typical of a Leone film, all three of the main characters are very typical. For one, Blondie is a great character. For someone who has probably the least lines of the main characters in the film, he has a lot of character. He is a very mysterious character yet you can understand him though his favial expressions and just plane silence. Leone seems to love this character, since he is in all three films of the trilogy.
One thing that I think is amazing about Leone's direction is the music. I think the music in this film is one of the best parts of the film and he has the same person, Enio Morricone, do the music for all of his films. I think the choice of music is brillient, from the repeated, well known trills and whistles to the really cool sounding steel guitar parts, repeated throughout the film it just gives the audience a taste of the time period and fits perfectly with the story and the characters. there really is no better way of describing the music then just really cool and amazing.
If i were to relate Leone's directing style to another director it would be Stanley Kubrick. Both Leone and Kubrick seem to focus a lot on very artistic and cool photography with shots that just amaze the audience. They both do a lot of close up shots and really long lasting shots, which both are known for, but primarily Kubrick. Although Kubrick is more famous for his artistic photography, Leone has a lot more emphasis on story telling in his films. I love Stanley Kubrick, he is probably my favorite director, but one thing he lacks in is the ability to tell a story thuroughly, but Leone seems to put a lot more emphasis on creating a great story, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly, certainly is an amazing story that is well told and is full of artistic direction, amazing music and complex characters.
I've got to agree that this movie is all around fantastic, but some things that I think should get some focus is how much the Civil War is a part of the plot and how the "nameless cowboy" actually has a name. Also, Blondie isn't quite as much of a vigilante as he is in Leone's other movies, like "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More".
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do really like how Leone integrated the whole civil war thing into this plot. Even though it happens in the same time period, you dont see references to the civil war in many other westerns, which makes this film a lot more unique. Also, With this film, Leone really shows the audience how gruesome thie civil war really was, when most people just assume that because it was a long time ago and before sophisticated weaponry like today, but Leone shows that it was particularily violent, and is comparable to todays wars. for example, he shows that POW camps were degrading, people were tortured, and corpses were tied to the front of trains which is pretty intense. But i dont necessarily agree with the statement that the "nameless cowboy" actually has a name. He never actually says his name, even when people ask. and his name isnt actually blondie, thats just a nickname. Although i think it is pretty funny that he never even bothers to correct people who call him Blondie
ReplyDeleteWell, for me, as you said, the music is really important. It sets the mood better than most soundtracks have in past movies I have seen. I know all movies' soundtracks are supposed to do that, but this one really captured it.
ReplyDeleteWhat i think the coolest part of the music is the fact that that well known little phrase is constantly repeated throughout the film, which gives some consistancy to the film and kind of allows the viewer to make a connection between scenes. Also something that i find pretty interesting is that when Leone hired Ennio Morricone to compose the entire soundtrack, Morricone didnt have a whole lot of money provided to make this soundtrack. So what he did was use as few as possible instruments in order to cut costs. You can even tell by just listening that the primary instruments are a few vocals, some whistles, guitar, and a few other various instruments. What is amazing about that is that Morricone, who went on to direct all the films in the series, found a relatively cheap way to produce a soundtrack and succeeded with incredible results and helped made this film memorable
ReplyDeletewell nickname or no, "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" is the only of the Spaghetti westerns (that I have seen thus far) where Clint Eastwood's character is given a title in the form of a name, which is something that took me by a little bit of surprise when i was cycling through my Sergio Leone anthology.
ReplyDeleteBut one thing that you said, Kyle, that I have to agree with is how the way in which Leone incorporated the civil war is interesting. What really sets it apart in my mind is how Leone gradually leads you into the war-that is to say that as the film goes on, and as the plot develops, we as an audience become more and more immersed in the chaos of the war, which (for us) climaxes at the battle scene at the bridge towards the end of the movie
I found that bit about the title quite interesting myself. It's rare to find that level of creativity in something as simple as the title to a movie, and they pull off something really cool in this one.
ReplyDeleteBut going off what Carter said, the battle scene has to be the most interesting scene to me. It really gives you a great grasp of the brutality and the severity of what is happening in the Civil War and the effect it has on people.