Left Field Cinema

One of the most iconic films of all time with the image of Eastwood’s Blondie and Ennio Morricone’s score reaching far beyond those who have actually seen the film, becoming almost ubiquitous in society. It is also often held up as one of the finest films of all time and seen as the defining example of a Western. So going into watching the film for the first time it is impossible to leave your preconceived feelings and expectations about the nature of the film and some kind bias towards or against it behind. The most startling element of the film however, is that within five minutes of starting all these prejudices are entirely forgotten as Sergio Leone’s masterpiece takes hold.

The plot follows three ‘Men of the West’, Blondie (The Good), Angel Eyes (The Bad) and Tuco (The Ugly), in Civil War era America as they search for 200 000 dollars worth of hidden gold. Tuco and Blondie form an ambivalent partnership of convenience when Tuco discovers the name of the cemetery the gold is buried in but Blondie finds out the name of the grave under which it is buried. Angel Eyes on the other hand only knowing of the existence of the treasure, but not its location, begins a ruthless quest to find it by any means possible.

This is a simple set up, and in the hands of a lesser director this could have turned out to be just another B movie western, but in Leone you have a true cinematic virtuoso in charge. What immediately strikes you on watching the film is its pace; just as Francis Ford Coppola would go on to do in the Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Leone uses long lingering shots to create a dark menacing atmosphere for the film. Where Leone differs from Coppola however, is how length and the tightness of the shots used to match the narrative, with many of the climatic gun-slinging scenes involving the extensive use of close-ups and almost frenetic cutting between the shots. These are often juxtaposed with sweeping long-shots which give the film a real sense of expanse and location.

Though oft thought of as a classic example of a Western, this film can be in many ways seen as more of an Anti-Western than a Western in the traditional sense. For instance there are no heroes or villains in the traditional sense, with Leone portraying all three of the main characters as ruthless and violent, never showing remorse for their actions. Even Blondie the nominal ‘Good’ is more an anti-hero than a hero, with the only his pity for plight of the dying soldiers of the Civil War making him more heroic than the others. The film has often been criticised for its lack of depth in the characterisation of the main characters, but to do this is to miss the point, Leone aimed to portray the men of the west as they were strong, simple and violent, not to humanise them. On top of this lack of heroes and villains the film also spends large parts of its running time looking at the nature and the effects of the American Civil War as the characters pass through a war torn land, viewing the devastation wrought by war and its wasteful and senseless nature. This refusal to be constrained by the rules of the Western genre, or even stay within in it, are what allows the film ultimately to transcend it, to become one of the greatest films in cinematic history.

Ben Paterson