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| The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a well-known spaghetti western (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The spaghetti western The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) is an epic western that if the segments had been divided into separate films they might have been more like a group of traditional westerns. As it is there are so many strange episodes that the film becomes almost surrealistic and dream like. With settings like a ghost town, a civil war battle, and a showdown in a cemetery, the film taken as a whole becomes an almost bizarre incongruous collection of scenes from different movies rolled into one.
Like a dream might be, one odd scene leads to another. There is a running story, but even the story is a bit odd--almost cliche like a dream story. The film looks and seems like a western, but in reality it is a dream that evokes the spirit of westerns in a bizarro surrealistic vision that in the end we know is not the real west, but a fanciful west of the subconscious mind.
Have you seen The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly? If so, did it seem somewhat surrealistic and dreamlike to you? What is your favorite film in the western genre?
I've seen some of these spaghetti westerns but they aren't my bag. I can't say that I'm a western film fan, although my husband enjoys them, esp. if John Wayne's in it. I guess I probably like his movie 'The Cowboys' best.
ReplyDeleteI saw the GB&U a very long time ago. Our drive-in (yep, loooong time ago!)used to do all-nighters starting at midnight. See four movies for the price of one and one night it was four westerns and one of them was the GB&U. One of the others was Hang 'em High. I can't remember the others at the moment. I remember thinking they were both strange films. I've been tempted to watch them both again. Now I will. I'm also watching Dreamscape on netflix thanks to you!
ReplyDeletei dont know how you are keeping up with all these blogs every day!!
ReplyDeletegreat job! (and great classic movie!)
This is one of my husbands favorites and has been embraced by my children among theirs as well. Good flick. Enjoy. Maria from Delight Directed Living
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed both Wyatt Earp movies - are those considered westerns. Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner was my favorite, but loved Doc Holiday in Tombstone.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. And I have more than one favorite in the genre but High Plains Drifter comes to mind, Lonesome Dove, The man Who Loved Cat Dancing...there's more I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI would say the most dreamlike part of the movie is when the Ugly forces Clint to cross the desert without giving him a drop of water. The sunlight, the heat, the sand, it's all very hallucinatory. The score used for that scene is adds to the dizzy mood.
ReplyDeleteThe Good The Bad and The Ugly is to me the best western ever made.
JoJo --I think I like the spaghetti Westerns best because they are so strange and dreamlike.
ReplyDeleteLisa -- GB&U is a very long film, but that's partly what makes it so dreamlike. Let me know what you think of Dreamscape.
Tara -- Just barely! I was nuts to take this on.
Maria -- I've watched it several times and never tire of it. The Wizard of Oz of Westerns.
Sydney -- Tombstone is a great film and the Doc Halliday character was excellent.
Mshatch -- There are many good westerns both old and new, but the ones that came after the mid-60's were mostly the best.
Jay - So good to see you again! I also thought the Civil War scenes were so incongruous to the story that they were dreamlike. The bridge sequence put me in mind of the bridge sequence in Apocalypse Now.
Lee