Film CXII
I'm shocked: this afternoon I went to see a film that I felt sure was one of the Top 100 - but actually isn't. Once Upon a Time in America is -and with good reason, it's one of the finest four hour movies I know. But The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Parently not. But you should grab any opportunity to see it on the big screen.
CXII: Il Buono, Il brutto, Il Cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sergio Leone, 1966)
And if you'd asked me I would have said I've seen it before, except I don't think I have, or at least I definitely haven't seen this 2003 restored cut at 168 minutes - any version I would have seen would have had less of a couple of torture scenes and less civil war context. Go figure.
The Good (Clint Eastwood) is making a living from collecting the reward for the wanted Ugly (Eli Walach) and rescuing him at the last minute by shooting the hanging rope. Ugly learns from a dying man that a large amount of money has been buried in a graveyard, but not precisely where, and the Good learns which grave it is in but not which graveyard. The two have to learn to trust each other when rampant greed means that they'd rather have all the money for themselves. Their quest is made more complicated by a) the American Civil War being in the way and b) the Bad (Lee Van Cleef) has found out about the gold and will stop at nothing to get it.
This has incredibly powerful camera work - great, wide angle shots of landscapes through which men walk, interspersed with close ups of eyes and foreheads. There seems to be a rule that what is not on camera cannot be seen until it is - more than once the cameras suddenly stumbled across of camp or a hospital or a graveyard, which was not there in the previous shot. I've never actually given much thought to how the American Civil War was fought - too early for trench warfare, too late for bow and arrows, I assume, so calvery charges and such? Here it looks like a very modern version of war - villages bombed out like in the second world war (from canon fire), and field hospitals. Medical assistance seems to be alcohol and cotton wool. There's a big set piece involving a bridge - which did feel familiar - after a pointlessness of war speech.
It has only just struck me that this is likely the sort of Western Whedon had in mind for Firefly - there are constantly moments where the Good and the Ugly appear to betray each other or don't come through for each other, but they seem to in the end. It's Mal and Jane, although I'm not sure how far Mal is Good and Jane Ugly or vice versa.
Of course women are pretty well sidelined throughout this - a wife early on, and a couple of towns folk, but that's it. Anyway, this is enough for me to crack out the Spaghetti Western boxset I have an (re-)watch A Fitsful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, and dig out A Fistful of Dynamite
Totals: 112 (Cinema: 44; DVD: 63; TV: 5)
I'm not discussing tv very consistently, but to just note I've finished season three (which is to say, four) of Homicide: Life on the Street and started season four (which is to say five). Was it just me (yes!) or were the penultimate and ultimate episodes of season three (four) odd in continuity - Lewis was in ep. 21, but was being welcomed back from honeymoon in ep. 22. The wedding was earlier, surely.
Season four (five) have new titles which I don't like - foregrounding words like INVESTIGATION and FORENSICS and REPORT, just in case you mistake it for a cookery show. The video guy has made it to the credits as a featured character, which is good, and we've lost a female character (although they'd done apparently all they could with her for now. She eloped, apparently). A couple of characters missing the last season seem written out now, with space for a return. Permberton is dealing with the John Wells inspired melodrama at the end of the previous season, and a new female ME is introduced. Still good stuff.
CXII: Il Buono, Il brutto, Il Cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sergio Leone, 1966)
And if you'd asked me I would have said I've seen it before, except I don't think I have, or at least I definitely haven't seen this 2003 restored cut at 168 minutes - any version I would have seen would have had less of a couple of torture scenes and less civil war context. Go figure.
The Good (Clint Eastwood) is making a living from collecting the reward for the wanted Ugly (Eli Walach) and rescuing him at the last minute by shooting the hanging rope. Ugly learns from a dying man that a large amount of money has been buried in a graveyard, but not precisely where, and the Good learns which grave it is in but not which graveyard. The two have to learn to trust each other when rampant greed means that they'd rather have all the money for themselves. Their quest is made more complicated by a) the American Civil War being in the way and b) the Bad (Lee Van Cleef) has found out about the gold and will stop at nothing to get it.
This has incredibly powerful camera work - great, wide angle shots of landscapes through which men walk, interspersed with close ups of eyes and foreheads. There seems to be a rule that what is not on camera cannot be seen until it is - more than once the cameras suddenly stumbled across of camp or a hospital or a graveyard, which was not there in the previous shot. I've never actually given much thought to how the American Civil War was fought - too early for trench warfare, too late for bow and arrows, I assume, so calvery charges and such? Here it looks like a very modern version of war - villages bombed out like in the second world war (from canon fire), and field hospitals. Medical assistance seems to be alcohol and cotton wool. There's a big set piece involving a bridge - which did feel familiar - after a pointlessness of war speech.
It has only just struck me that this is likely the sort of Western Whedon had in mind for Firefly - there are constantly moments where the Good and the Ugly appear to betray each other or don't come through for each other, but they seem to in the end. It's Mal and Jane, although I'm not sure how far Mal is Good and Jane Ugly or vice versa.
Of course women are pretty well sidelined throughout this - a wife early on, and a couple of towns folk, but that's it. Anyway, this is enough for me to crack out the Spaghetti Western boxset I have an (re-)watch A Fitsful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, and dig out A Fistful of Dynamite
Totals: 112 (Cinema: 44; DVD: 63; TV: 5)
I'm not discussing tv very consistently, but to just note I've finished season three (which is to say, four) of Homicide: Life on the Street and started season four (which is to say five). Was it just me (yes!) or were the penultimate and ultimate episodes of season three (four) odd in continuity - Lewis was in ep. 21, but was being welcomed back from honeymoon in ep. 22. The wedding was earlier, surely.
Season four (five) have new titles which I don't like - foregrounding words like INVESTIGATION and FORENSICS and REPORT, just in case you mistake it for a cookery show. The video guy has made it to the credits as a featured character, which is good, and we've lost a female character (although they'd done apparently all they could with her for now. She eloped, apparently). A couple of characters missing the last season seem written out now, with space for a return. Permberton is dealing with the John Wells inspired melodrama at the end of the previous season, and a new female ME is introduced. Still good stuff.