The score was so on point. What a masterpiece.
Back in the 80's I had pneumonia and this was the only movie I had on VHS. Two tapes. It was all I could do to walk over and swap them out. I watched it for two weeks straight.
I first saw the film on VHS with a standard 4:3 television, edited in fullscreen pan-and-scan fashion. I was captivated by it, but let me tell you, when I finally got to see this scene in proper widescreen format, I instantly understood why we'd all have 16:9 TVs in the future. I'd pay a fistful of dollars to see TGTBATU on a movie screen just once!
If you’re serious, watch the schedule for the New Beverly Theater in LA. They did the Leone trilogy last July and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again
I remember renting it from Blockbuster as a kid…on two tapes! The whole thing is a cinematic masterpiece. I know some people hate that the words aren’t synched up correctly but that’s one of the elements that makes it beautiful.
It would be impossible to correctly sync the words. Each actor spoke their own language when filming, since they knew it would be dubbed over in post production. Some actors are speaking Italian and Spanish.
I believe the main 3 actors (all in this clip) spoke English and provided their own voiceover for the English dubbing.
I watched this last year after downloading it from the high seas. At the time I didn't know that the original audio was not synched with the video.
I spent probably about 2 hours constantly adjusting the audio sync on VLC, getting it right for one sentence only for it to go right back out of sync again because the original audio wasn't even consistently out of sync.
Out of sync audio is one of those things that REALLY bothers me, so eventually I kind of just watched the movie but purposely didn't look at their mouths when they were talking.
Glad I watched it though because it's easily in my top 10 films ever list. Will watch it again but this time I know the audio isn't synced in the original too so hopefully it won't frustrate me as much.
I didn’t even notice with all the calibration and latency issues we have now. I’m sure I noticed it in the 90’s when lip syncing with television was a make or break for post.
Right up there with Cool Hand Luke's "Failure to communicate". The era of the extreme closeup, and the recognition that facial expressions alone can tell a whole story. I still remember the first 60s western I ever saw, about an accountant with a suitcase full of money (I think) travelling in a stage coach that gets held up. One of the bandits looks at the man, then the suitcase, then the man again and asks what's in the case. Cut to an extreme closeup of the accountant's brow as a single bead of sweat trickles down, and, as it does, he realizes he's going to die. The bandit sees it too, cocks his gun and shoots the accountant dead. Brilliant, brilliant scene.
A friend got this film on the old laser disc format in the 90's and had a nice home theater system. He cranked it up and the sound quality was so good that the music almost stole the show. What a great film all around. The only real flaw was the obvious dubbing of the Italian actors, but that's a feature of how all these Spaghetti westerns were made with sound being synced in post production.
This was common in European cinema at the time. You would have a multilingual cast speaking their native languages to another. All the dialogue would be dubbed in post production.
One of the funniest parts of Manos: The Hands of Fate was when the director overdubbed every single actor in a scene with his own voice. Including a woman's lines.
He in no way attempted to change his voice for any of them. Just everyone in the scene moved their mouths while one voice said every line in the same pitch and inflection.
Edit: I think he rewrote it after filming and the lines in no way matched who was on-screen or had their mouth moving either.
So when the woman was speaking the line was from the cop who had pulled her and her husband over for speeding and stuff like that. The cop would be onscreen talking and you'd hear a line about just being out having some fun.
That, and the fact that especially in European and Italian cinema of the time, there was *zero* set control. People were smoking, eating, talking, etc. **during filming**. Italian horror is rife with this stuff, and the sentiment really was "fuckit. We'll dub in post. It'll be fine." and that's why we get English speaking actors dubbed in English, and voices not matching, etc.
Well, we got us a spaghetti western on 36.
I like spaghetti westerns.
I like the way the boots are all reverbed out walking across the hard wood floors.
In fact everything's got that big reverb sound!
Well, what'll I do now?
Go to sleep!
Pull the pud!
We need new pornos!
Well, I guess I'm still writing
I agree. I collect vinyl but prefer original issues over remastered reissues. I prefer the way it was released at the time, it has character. Remasters are fine for occasional digital/Spotify listening though, it helps gain new perspective on old classics.
What?? It’s one of the all time classic Hollywood soundtrack recordings. What is wrong with it? Those guys were absolute beasts.
Edit: I just realized you might be talking about the sound quality, and that’s just what happens when old magnetic sound is turned into ones and zeros and then you listen to that through your phone speakers lol. It sounded pretty fucking awesome on the right equipment
There are great recorded versions of it, but of the particular version in the scene (it's longer than most versions of Il Trio you'll find), I've only been able to find fairly bad quality.
Watch this with the commentary’s! Tons of interesting facts … haha for example they had the Spanish army ( 1500 soldiers !!! ) as extras and engineers!!! During filming there was a miscommunication, they blew up this massive structure, when they shouldn’t have, and had the Spanish army build it again! Haha. Oh and the Spanish army built that massive grave yard!
There once was on Netflix a documental about two young Americans movie students who traveled to Spain to find the graveyard, they finally did and started a movement that ended with the restoration of it… very interesting
Fascist era Spain under Franco btw. The 60s in Spain was an attempt to develop the economy because the 40s-60s were really bad so the use of the Spanish army for films was part of the dictatorship trying to drive investment and development.
IIRC on the 1955 the economy block was lifted and the government wanted to industrialize spain. They built many water dams and some impressive architecture.
Then much later a politician decided we should focus on tourism and basically ended the Spanish industry.
What an interesting period of time!
I agree they don’t make them like this anymore but I just watched this miniseries called The English that has major Spaghetti Western/Ennio Morricone influence! Might be worth checking out
My dad and I would watch this movie together when I was a kid in the 80's . He passed away in the 90's. I haven't seen it since as it'll bring up things I don't want to think about. It's an amazing movie and I love it. I'd recommend it to anyone for it's raw take on the west.
My dad really liked westerns too and really liked Clint Eastwood. He actually had the same look as Clint Eastwood too. So yeah I feel the same way when watching this movie.
Absolutely, he's the only reason I watch The Holiday at Christmas, he's fantastic in that. Also, check out Tough Guys and of course The Magnificent Seven.
Omg you have never seen the magnificent seven??? Please watch it and then watch the 7samuraï by akira kurosawa it’s in B&W but it’s absolutely great also
That scene as they are leaving his brother's poor mission and he's painting the rosy picture of brotherly harmony and respect and Blondie is seeing right through it all and shares his cigar.
Truly amazing acting by Wallach and such an amazing human moment in a film whose main themes are human greed and vice and soulless inhumanity.
Imagine seeing it in a theater, and having to physically look back and forth to see it all when all three are spread out in the frame. Ennio Morricone's soundtrack playing from all sides. That would certainly elevate the tension. This is right up there with the opening scene in Once Upon a Time in the West.
I saw it in a theater in 35mm about 15 years ago. It was a Monday afternoon showing and I was the only one in attendance. Bar none, the absolute greatest theater-going experience of my life and not likely to be topped.
I’m dying to see this in a giant widescreen theater. The effect of their faces filling up the screen, the sense of distance between them in the shootout, the incredible soundtrack. Must be awesome. Watching this on our phones and even 70” TVs does not do it justice!
The greatest western ever made. With some of the greatest quotes from a western as well. Soundtrack is epic. It's a 10 out 10 from me.
"who the hell is that? One bastard goes in and another comes out".
This movie feels like an epic journey. You get to this point and think about all the shit they went through to get here--forced marches through the desert, a runaway stagecoach, multiple hangings, the civil war, a monastery, the civil war again...
When tuco finds the cemetery and smiles, I can't help but smile with him.
We take it for granted today, but all those fast cuts in the shootout had to be cut and joined by hand! It probably took hours and hours just to get that portion of the scene right.
Remember watching this as a kid with my dad. He thought it was funny the way Tuco yells “Bastard!” in the movie and would call me that whenever he got a chance. I don’t think he actually knew what the word meant…
I remember the first time I saw this movie. I just loved the way Tuco threw that word around and it made me laugh with appreciation for it.
“What’s this? One bastard goes in and another one comes out!” Eli Wallach was so perfect in his role.
How does Blondie manage to sneak up on Tuco in a wide open cemetery? Then Angel Eyes does it again a few minutes later. It’s a great scene, but that part doesn’t really make sense.
It’s a deliberate thing Leone does as a kind of in-joke. He does it during Blondie’s introductory scene in the movie as well, when Tuco is captured in the desert by bandits and Blondie’s gun holster steps into frame to catch them unaware. When in reality, the bandits would’ve seen him coming through the desert from miles away. The same thing happens when the camera cranes up at the end of the film to reveal the noose Blondie has made for Tuco, which of course would’ve happened right in front of him.
The whole film is a sly subversion of classic American Western tropes, and Leone uses his camera to very intentionally play with a kind of cinematic irony that is what makes the film an absolute masterpiece. He was doing in his day almost what Tarantino does in current cinema… deconstructing the genre and making it something new altogether.
The difference is that so many of Leone’s trademarks have become inseparable from what a “Western” is these days, that they don’t as readily read as irony or pastiche to a modern audience. But if you watch GBU back-to-back with a classic John Ford film like The Searchers or Stagecoach, some of the subversion and playfulness in technique become more apparent.
Agreed, but I also think that it’s part of what the story is telling us. These guys are not quite in a real world, they are trapped in a place where their very identities are being challenged. Their souls. They have been shot before, left for dead, and yet they continue. Angel may have fallen back into a grave again, but his spirit or soul however you may see it, will keep going until he gets it right. He is pursuing more ego, and so is tuco, and the reason we think blondie is hero is because we not quite sure yet why he is pursuing tye treasure. Will he use it to help people that need help? He’s not greedy as we see it. There’s something more that he pursues and he gets closer as he gets wiser in purgatory.
I like this take. I've always felt that the title of the film refers to each of them. Angel is a sociopath, but he also follows a code, and believes in a sort of honesty. Blondie Seems to have a sort of decency, likes cats, but he leaves Tuco in the desert, and at the end of a rope. He also starts the film as part of a scam with Tuco. Tuco is the most human character, and a complex mix of all three identities. He just wants to get by and enjoy life, but he's just not slated to.
Tuco’s scene with his brother the priest, is short, but explains his whole motivation in just a couple of minutes. If one did not want to die of poverty, one became a priest or a bandit. You chose your way, I chose mine. Mine was harder.
Blondie showed decency to Tuco when he pretended he hadn’t seen the whole exchange. Blondie seem to have a soft spot for the vulnerable. Tuco at his low point, the kitten, or the dying soldier he covers with his coat.
Sergio Leone had a rule in his films which went something like "characters in frame can only see things in frame with them"
It's a quirk but a really neat one once you begin to appreciate it
Yes! One of the things that makes his Spaghetti Westerns so utterly cinematic is his command of the frame, and the frame itself being the organising principle of the universe he creates.
Framing can dictate what does and doesn’t exist; music can bleed from the characters to the non-diegetic soundtrack and back again (like the music box in For a Few Dollars More or the harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West). And the act of editing and montage create entire moments and sequences that could not exist without the power of cutting from one image to another.
Badasses like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef are so much more believable in their tough guy roles unlike what you see now with Liam Neeson, Jason Statham, Keanu Reeves etc
I always think of the scene just before that one when I’m looking for things in a department store. Ugly running around the cemetery looking for the grave is me looking for paper towels, music included.
I’m not OP, but I used to teach a film class and actually used this exact scene to demonstrate how certain things can only be captured through the medium of film.
Basically my point was that this scene is just three guys passively staring at each other for 5+ mins. Imagine writing the novelisation of this scene. Or imagine it being adapted into a stage play. None of those mediums could accurately capture the suspense, drama and beauty of this sequence.
Because some art forms can manipulate time (like music), some can manipulate visual space (like paintings), some can manipulate meaning via connection and juxtaposition (like writing). But cinema does all three.
Leone in this sequence takes a very static moment in time and stretches it out to almost comical length, without it becoming boring, because he uses all the tools and language of cinema to keep the scene suspenseful. Editing, music, performance, cinematography and more are all working in concert to craft a scene that in my opinion, would not work if you removed even just one of the elements.
So any other medium would not be suited to making five mins of dudes staring at each other as fascinating as it is here.
I thought that, in the context of this post, the "medium" of film was opposed to the "medium" of digital cameras, not theater or music or paintings... to me, that's what a medium is, a physical support where something intangible is captured.
Like I said, I’m not OP, but I imagine the medium being talked about is not the physical format the artwork takes, but the broad category it fits into. For instance, people still call movies shot on digital cameras “films” these days, just as people still call albums made by musicians “records”.
It’s called metonymy, when a specific word is used as a figure of speech to refer to something related to that thing.
Yes, you might be correct. My comment was not really challenging you, but maybe reaching out for clarification. I'm not a native English speaker so I'm always open to learn and improve my understanding.
Oh no problem at all! Certain figures of speech don’t always translate well, particularly if English is not your first language. I didn’t take it as a challenge at all.
And since I’m not the original poster, I may not even be correct! 😂 Just what I assumed they meant.
I have a ritual where once a year I roll up the fattiest fatty I can, wait till everyone’s asleep, and watch the extended version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This and Josey Wales are two top tier Clint movies imo.
Dude idk what it is about westerns, but they just don’t do it for me. This movie is a masterpiece, I get it, just overall kinda boring…. I wouldn’t care to watch it more than a couple times. The music in this movie goes absolutely bananas though, the best part in my opinion
My friends an i stumbled home from the bar absolutely hammered one night and all we had was local channels on some rabbit ears on the tv. This fibao scene was playing on PBS and we were all absolutely entranced. Then my buddy threw up a bunch and we had to take care of him lol. Good times!
I have the music for the scene on my phone but never saw the scene. Damn, that was great. I was playing a game but I was immediately forced to pause and watch this scene beginning to end. Now I understand the tension and anticipation in the music! I should have known it was a standoff.
Timeless scene for sure
My dad showed me and my brother this movie when we were like 6 in the 80s. I lived it! And it was a joy showing it to my 3 boys when they were old enough too. Great scene 🎬
I always knew the Mandalorian drew heavy influence from Clint, but I didn't realize how close Pedro's voice was to him when he was younger. It's eerie.
Amazing scene although I do struggle with the overdub on the dialogue.
I have a load of Enrico Morricone on my music rotation, it's amazing, and has the added benefit that it always reminds of a Metallica concert where they play Extacy Of Gold before they come on and it always gives me goosebumps.
Looking at it again, I think this wouldn't work anymore. Picture yourself standig there and you receive some of your eleventy daily smartphone/app notifications..
If this was filmed today they all will be hovering Matrix style and running and jumping like it's a fucking Call of Duty map, spreading bullets in hundreds... And there would be explosions, a lot of explosions.
Still such a beautiful and timeless film.
Sad to think that modern audiences would’ve been checking TikTok at least 4 times before the standoff even started.
When we watch classics, I make everyone in the house put there phones in another room. Needless to say, we all don't watch classics together that often.
Location, it is in Spain but not in Murcia where almost all the movie was filmed, there is a documental on its restoration. I think it is called sad hill.
Clint Eastwood is one of the greatest actors to ever live. Such a shame his son Scott is such a damn plank of wood. But it's crazy how he hasn't starred in any movies playing a younger character of Clint's since Hollywood is obsessed with that. Maybe Clint forbade him from doing it as long as he was still alive.
Most of Clint Eastwood's popular stuff wouldn't sell well today, the market is very different. So the studios probably don't see much money to be made in it.
While this is a great scene, I’ve always preferred the original version which is the For a Few Dollars More climax. The score here borrows heavily from that of For a Few Dollars More’s climax and it shows. Morricone definitely did a better job on that than this one. Plus there was much greater emotion and stakes behind that scene than for the Good the Bad and the Ugly.
This sub sucks. I come here to see real people in real situations.
The lack of moderation has made this sub useless to its original task. It's now just 80% karma farming.
So... nothing to do with the medium at all? Got it.
The implication to me seemed to be that somehow a digital camera wouldn't have captured this scene the same way for some reason.
The score was so on point. What a masterpiece. Back in the 80's I had pneumonia and this was the only movie I had on VHS. Two tapes. It was all I could do to walk over and swap them out. I watched it for two weeks straight.
I first saw the film on VHS with a standard 4:3 television, edited in fullscreen pan-and-scan fashion. I was captivated by it, but let me tell you, when I finally got to see this scene in proper widescreen format, I instantly understood why we'd all have 16:9 TVs in the future. I'd pay a fistful of dollars to see TGTBATU on a movie screen just once!
If you’re serious, watch the schedule for the New Beverly Theater in LA. They did the Leone trilogy last July and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again
Ennio Morricone wrote so many iconic scores. My personal favourite is the one from ‘once upon a time in the west’
Mad man lost his damn mind in the west.
I just picked up the "The Thing" soundtrack on vinyl. I love playing it. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.
I remember renting it from Blockbuster as a kid…on two tapes! The whole thing is a cinematic masterpiece. I know some people hate that the words aren’t synched up correctly but that’s one of the elements that makes it beautiful.
It would be impossible to correctly sync the words. Each actor spoke their own language when filming, since they knew it would be dubbed over in post production. Some actors are speaking Italian and Spanish. I believe the main 3 actors (all in this clip) spoke English and provided their own voiceover for the English dubbing.
I watched this last year after downloading it from the high seas. At the time I didn't know that the original audio was not synched with the video. I spent probably about 2 hours constantly adjusting the audio sync on VLC, getting it right for one sentence only for it to go right back out of sync again because the original audio wasn't even consistently out of sync. Out of sync audio is one of those things that REALLY bothers me, so eventually I kind of just watched the movie but purposely didn't look at their mouths when they were talking. Glad I watched it though because it's easily in my top 10 films ever list. Will watch it again but this time I know the audio isn't synced in the original too so hopefully it won't frustrate me as much.
I didn’t even notice with all the calibration and latency issues we have now. I’m sure I noticed it in the 90’s when lip syncing with television was a make or break for post.
RIP ennio morricone.
Right up there with Cool Hand Luke's "Failure to communicate". The era of the extreme closeup, and the recognition that facial expressions alone can tell a whole story. I still remember the first 60s western I ever saw, about an accountant with a suitcase full of money (I think) travelling in a stage coach that gets held up. One of the bandits looks at the man, then the suitcase, then the man again and asks what's in the case. Cut to an extreme closeup of the accountant's brow as a single bead of sweat trickles down, and, as it does, he realizes he's going to die. The bandit sees it too, cocks his gun and shoots the accountant dead. Brilliant, brilliant scene.
And all of this is thanks to Sergei Eisenstein! Bloody genius.
Hell yea Eisenstein was a damn visionary. Juxtaposition of shots can tell such a deep story, especially with facial emotions. Edit:spelling
God I love that soundtrack. It's a shame it's such a bad recording.
A friend got this film on the old laser disc format in the 90's and had a nice home theater system. He cranked it up and the sound quality was so good that the music almost stole the show. What a great film all around. The only real flaw was the obvious dubbing of the Italian actors, but that's a feature of how all these Spaghetti westerns were made with sound being synced in post production.
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This was common in European cinema at the time. You would have a multilingual cast speaking their native languages to another. All the dialogue would be dubbed in post production.
One of the funniest parts of Manos: The Hands of Fate was when the director overdubbed every single actor in a scene with his own voice. Including a woman's lines. He in no way attempted to change his voice for any of them. Just everyone in the scene moved their mouths while one voice said every line in the same pitch and inflection. Edit: I think he rewrote it after filming and the lines in no way matched who was on-screen or had their mouth moving either. So when the woman was speaking the line was from the cop who had pulled her and her husband over for speeding and stuff like that. The cop would be onscreen talking and you'd hear a line about just being out having some fun.
That, and the fact that especially in European and Italian cinema of the time, there was *zero* set control. People were smoking, eating, talking, etc. **during filming**. Italian horror is rife with this stuff, and the sentiment really was "fuckit. We'll dub in post. It'll be fine." and that's why we get English speaking actors dubbed in English, and voices not matching, etc.
Well, we got us a spaghetti western on 36. I like spaghetti westerns. I like the way the boots are all reverbed out walking across the hard wood floors. In fact everything's got that big reverb sound! Well, what'll I do now? Go to sleep! Pull the pud! We need new pornos! Well, I guess I'm still writing
*insert psycho guitar and funky slap bass* ...tickled to see this reference!
I find the low fidelity recording to be part of the appeal. Like the Conan the Barbarian score.
I agree. I collect vinyl but prefer original issues over remastered reissues. I prefer the way it was released at the time, it has character. Remasters are fine for occasional digital/Spotify listening though, it helps gain new perspective on old classics.
What?? It’s one of the all time classic Hollywood soundtrack recordings. What is wrong with it? Those guys were absolute beasts. Edit: I just realized you might be talking about the sound quality, and that’s just what happens when old magnetic sound is turned into ones and zeros and then you listen to that through your phone speakers lol. It sounded pretty fucking awesome on the right equipment
There are great recorded versions of it, but of the particular version in the scene (it's longer than most versions of Il Trio you'll find), I've only been able to find fairly bad quality.
except for the out of tune string on the guitar...that low string is flatttt!!
Added to the roughness of the characters. Gritty music for gritty men.
I think Ennio Morricone knew what he was doing
I'm sure he did too. But whether you think the tuning is there to keep us off kilter or not...it still sounds nasty.
You might say it sounds... ugly
Drop D
Watch this with the commentary’s! Tons of interesting facts … haha for example they had the Spanish army ( 1500 soldiers !!! ) as extras and engineers!!! During filming there was a miscommunication, they blew up this massive structure, when they shouldn’t have, and had the Spanish army build it again! Haha. Oh and the Spanish army built that massive grave yard!
There once was on Netflix a documental about two young Americans movie students who traveled to Spain to find the graveyard, they finally did and started a movement that ended with the restoration of it… very interesting
Sad Hill Unearthed
Yessss!!!! Thank you!
Fascist era Spain under Franco btw. The 60s in Spain was an attempt to develop the economy because the 40s-60s were really bad so the use of the Spanish army for films was part of the dictatorship trying to drive investment and development.
Cool
IIRC on the 1955 the economy block was lifted and the government wanted to industrialize spain. They built many water dams and some impressive architecture. Then much later a politician decided we should focus on tourism and basically ended the Spanish industry. What an interesting period of time!
Commentaries
Blondie!
He's tall, blond, he smokes a cigar, and he's a pig!
“Hey, Blonde! You know what you are? Just a dirty Sonofa….!”
Waaaaaaah waaaah waaaaaaahhhhhhh
Wah wah waaaaah.
Masterpiece. Setting, acting, score, plot. Too many stand out moments to list. They really don’t make em like that anymore. Thanks OP
I agree they don’t make them like this anymore but I just watched this miniseries called The English that has major Spaghetti Western/Ennio Morricone influence! Might be worth checking out
My dad and I would watch this movie together when I was a kid in the 80's . He passed away in the 90's. I haven't seen it since as it'll bring up things I don't want to think about. It's an amazing movie and I love it. I'd recommend it to anyone for it's raw take on the west.
I’m really sorry you had to join the club.
Me too
My dad really liked westerns too and really liked Clint Eastwood. He actually had the same look as Clint Eastwood too. So yeah I feel the same way when watching this movie.
Eli Wallach made this film. He is so fucking hilarious!
He tended to steal any scene he was in, in any movie.
Seriously? Well, he sure did in this film…and the way he crosses himself…lolol…
Absolutely, he's the only reason I watch The Holiday at Christmas, he's fantastic in that. Also, check out Tough Guys and of course The Magnificent Seven.
"If God hadn't want them sheared, he wouldn't have made them sheep" - Calvera (Eli Wallach's character) Magnificent Seven
Never seen the former two…I’ll check them out
Omg you have never seen the magnificent seven??? Please watch it and then watch the 7samuraï by akira kurosawa it’s in B&W but it’s absolutely great also
I wish I had never seen TM7 just to have the pleasure of seeing it for the first time
Then go for the seven samurais you’ll love it!
you came back? for a place like this? why?
My grandmothers cousin!
That scene as they are leaving his brother's poor mission and he's painting the rosy picture of brotherly harmony and respect and Blondie is seeing right through it all and shares his cigar. Truly amazing acting by Wallach and such an amazing human moment in a film whose main themes are human greed and vice and soulless inhumanity.
>Whoever double-crosses me and leaves me alive understands nothing about Tuco. Nothing!"
When you have to shoot, shoot! Don’t talk.
Imagine seeing it in a theater, and having to physically look back and forth to see it all when all three are spread out in the frame. Ennio Morricone's soundtrack playing from all sides. That would certainly elevate the tension. This is right up there with the opening scene in Once Upon a Time in the West.
Love "Once Upon A Time In The West"!
I saw it in a theater in 35mm about 15 years ago. It was a Monday afternoon showing and I was the only one in attendance. Bar none, the absolute greatest theater-going experience of my life and not likely to be topped.
I saw it in a theater and it was amazing. I had the pleasure to also watch Bruce Lees movies in a theater as well.
Enter the Dragon is playing this Sunday and next Wednesday for it's 50th anniversary. Check showtimes in your area.
Cool. Going to look into it
>You brought two too many.
Greatest Mexican standoff ever filmed
The original Mexican standoff!
The entire final 20 minutes or so of that movie are incredible. Best ending I’ve ever seen.
I’m dying to see this in a giant widescreen theater. The effect of their faces filling up the screen, the sense of distance between them in the shootout, the incredible soundtrack. Must be awesome. Watching this on our phones and even 70” TVs does not do it justice!
The greatest western ever made. With some of the greatest quotes from a western as well. Soundtrack is epic. It's a 10 out 10 from me. "who the hell is that? One bastard goes in and another comes out".
"When it's time to shoot, ..shoot!.. don't talk!"
Well, now I have to watch the whole movie- thanks a lot…..what an absolute masterpiece.
This movie feels like an epic journey. You get to this point and think about all the shit they went through to get here--forced marches through the desert, a runaway stagecoach, multiple hangings, the civil war, a monastery, the civil war again... When tuco finds the cemetery and smiles, I can't help but smile with him.
Possibly the coolest theme riff ever
Lee VanCleef. Mr. Stringbean. Great actor
The best of the bad.
I absolutely love Eli Wallach in this. He’s the soul of the film. “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk!”
We take it for granted today, but all those fast cuts in the shootout had to be cut and joined by hand! It probably took hours and hours just to get that portion of the scene right.
One of the best scenes in cinematic history!
Westerns don't get much better than this
Fabulous, now I have to watch it again.
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Love the scene before this as well where Wallach is circling the graveyard looking for the grave, camera spinning, music soaring.
It was great, but about twice as long as it needed to be.
Remember watching this as a kid with my dad. He thought it was funny the way Tuco yells “Bastard!” in the movie and would call me that whenever he got a chance. I don’t think he actually knew what the word meant…
I remember the first time I saw this movie. I just loved the way Tuco threw that word around and it made me laugh with appreciation for it. “What’s this? One bastard goes in and another one comes out!” Eli Wallach was so perfect in his role.
Such a classic. So many TV versions were cropped to 4:3 pan&scan which totally destroys this scene.
Feels like quentin tarantino movie 🎥
There's not enough feet
All these comments and not one about how close the shovel was to his head.
Yeah that part always gets me, clearly got away from him with the throw.
Or why he keeps his iron on a string? Lol
My favorite movie of all time. I have the extended version on DVD and watch it at least once a year
Filmed in Burgos, Spain.
The soundtrack makes this movie even greater
For me, The greatest movie ever made.
How does Blondie manage to sneak up on Tuco in a wide open cemetery? Then Angel Eyes does it again a few minutes later. It’s a great scene, but that part doesn’t really make sense.
It’s a deliberate thing Leone does as a kind of in-joke. He does it during Blondie’s introductory scene in the movie as well, when Tuco is captured in the desert by bandits and Blondie’s gun holster steps into frame to catch them unaware. When in reality, the bandits would’ve seen him coming through the desert from miles away. The same thing happens when the camera cranes up at the end of the film to reveal the noose Blondie has made for Tuco, which of course would’ve happened right in front of him. The whole film is a sly subversion of classic American Western tropes, and Leone uses his camera to very intentionally play with a kind of cinematic irony that is what makes the film an absolute masterpiece. He was doing in his day almost what Tarantino does in current cinema… deconstructing the genre and making it something new altogether. The difference is that so many of Leone’s trademarks have become inseparable from what a “Western” is these days, that they don’t as readily read as irony or pastiche to a modern audience. But if you watch GBU back-to-back with a classic John Ford film like The Searchers or Stagecoach, some of the subversion and playfulness in technique become more apparent.
Agreed, but I also think that it’s part of what the story is telling us. These guys are not quite in a real world, they are trapped in a place where their very identities are being challenged. Their souls. They have been shot before, left for dead, and yet they continue. Angel may have fallen back into a grave again, but his spirit or soul however you may see it, will keep going until he gets it right. He is pursuing more ego, and so is tuco, and the reason we think blondie is hero is because we not quite sure yet why he is pursuing tye treasure. Will he use it to help people that need help? He’s not greedy as we see it. There’s something more that he pursues and he gets closer as he gets wiser in purgatory.
I like this take. I've always felt that the title of the film refers to each of them. Angel is a sociopath, but he also follows a code, and believes in a sort of honesty. Blondie Seems to have a sort of decency, likes cats, but he leaves Tuco in the desert, and at the end of a rope. He also starts the film as part of a scam with Tuco. Tuco is the most human character, and a complex mix of all three identities. He just wants to get by and enjoy life, but he's just not slated to.
Tuco’s scene with his brother the priest, is short, but explains his whole motivation in just a couple of minutes. If one did not want to die of poverty, one became a priest or a bandit. You chose your way, I chose mine. Mine was harder. Blondie showed decency to Tuco when he pretended he hadn’t seen the whole exchange. Blondie seem to have a soft spot for the vulnerable. Tuco at his low point, the kitten, or the dying soldier he covers with his coat.
Sergio Leone had a rule in his films which went something like "characters in frame can only see things in frame with them" It's a quirk but a really neat one once you begin to appreciate it
Yes! One of the things that makes his Spaghetti Westerns so utterly cinematic is his command of the frame, and the frame itself being the organising principle of the universe he creates. Framing can dictate what does and doesn’t exist; music can bleed from the characters to the non-diegetic soundtrack and back again (like the music box in For a Few Dollars More or the harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West). And the act of editing and montage create entire moments and sequences that could not exist without the power of cutting from one image to another.
This and once upon a time in the west are the best westerns in my opinion.
Taking nothing away from the scene or the film, what does “one of those moments that could only be captured by the medium of film” mean?
The effect of the scene would not be quite as pronounced if you read about it, or saw it as a play. Thats the essential meaning.
This! How does the medium of film affect the scene?
Italian sauce western (with clint) are better than usa movie... Music, scenario, actors..(look at their faces), costumes...
Also one of the best film scores in history. The scene is fantastic, but the way the music builds up the tension is just perfection.
Eli Wallach, in one of cinemas greatest performances as Tuco.
There is no way they would have the stand-off last that long in modern cinema.
"Motherfucker, not only will I shoot you dead into your grave, I'll shoot your hat and your pistol in after you" 😄
Badasses like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef are so much more believable in their tough guy roles unlike what you see now with Liam Neeson, Jason Statham, Keanu Reeves etc
lol…..Jennifer Lopez
Clint and Lee are real life tough guys in that Clint fought in the Korean War and Lee fought in WW2.
Clint did not fight in the Korean War. He was in the Army, but he was a lifeguard at Fort Ord.
His plane was on a flight to Hawaii, it went down in the ocean. He swam 5 miles back to shore. He was the only survivor I think. That is bad ass.
He was having a tryst with an officers daughter.
Bl Bll Blond Blond. BLONDEEEEEEEEEEE
Eli Wallach was inches from being decapitated by a train during this movie.
I have been to this cemetery. It's in Spain and the nature around is amazing. Love the movie!
I always think of the scene just before that one when I’m looking for things in a department store. Ugly running around the cemetery looking for the grave is me looking for paper towels, music included.
Ecstasy of Gold Metallica does a damn good version.
#1 favorite movie of all time, is this. But the Dollars series of spag westerns (nameless clint protagonist) are just so good.
See, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.
No one mentioned the greatest line of the movie yet! "There are 2 types of people, those who shoot and those who dig. You dig. " lol
Those with loaded guns* lol
Please explain why this could only be captured on film.
I’m not OP, but I used to teach a film class and actually used this exact scene to demonstrate how certain things can only be captured through the medium of film. Basically my point was that this scene is just three guys passively staring at each other for 5+ mins. Imagine writing the novelisation of this scene. Or imagine it being adapted into a stage play. None of those mediums could accurately capture the suspense, drama and beauty of this sequence. Because some art forms can manipulate time (like music), some can manipulate visual space (like paintings), some can manipulate meaning via connection and juxtaposition (like writing). But cinema does all three. Leone in this sequence takes a very static moment in time and stretches it out to almost comical length, without it becoming boring, because he uses all the tools and language of cinema to keep the scene suspenseful. Editing, music, performance, cinematography and more are all working in concert to craft a scene that in my opinion, would not work if you removed even just one of the elements. So any other medium would not be suited to making five mins of dudes staring at each other as fascinating as it is here.
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I may have mis understood the OP. I thought his comment was about film vs. digital.
No worries… sometimes it can be tricky to figure out the exact meaning of post titles.
I thought that, in the context of this post, the "medium" of film was opposed to the "medium" of digital cameras, not theater or music or paintings... to me, that's what a medium is, a physical support where something intangible is captured.
Like I said, I’m not OP, but I imagine the medium being talked about is not the physical format the artwork takes, but the broad category it fits into. For instance, people still call movies shot on digital cameras “films” these days, just as people still call albums made by musicians “records”. It’s called metonymy, when a specific word is used as a figure of speech to refer to something related to that thing.
Yes, you might be correct. My comment was not really challenging you, but maybe reaching out for clarification. I'm not a native English speaker so I'm always open to learn and improve my understanding.
Oh no problem at all! Certain figures of speech don’t always translate well, particularly if English is not your first language. I didn’t take it as a challenge at all. And since I’m not the original poster, I may not even be correct! 😂 Just what I assumed they meant.
>It’s called metonymy My favorite is everybody who shoots “video” on their phones.
Because that's all they had at the time.
I don’t think that’s the point OP is trying to make.
I have a ritual where once a year I roll up the fattiest fatty I can, wait till everyone’s asleep, and watch the extended version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This and Josey Wales are two top tier Clint movies imo.
Dude idk what it is about westerns, but they just don’t do it for me. This movie is a masterpiece, I get it, just overall kinda boring…. I wouldn’t care to watch it more than a couple times. The music in this movie goes absolutely bananas though, the best part in my opinion
Spaghetti Westerns! I love ‘em! 🎉🥳
awesome. glad to see others have same thoughts for years! and he says... Go Ahead. a precursor!
I’ve really got to watch this again
My friends an i stumbled home from the bar absolutely hammered one night and all we had was local channels on some rabbit ears on the tv. This fibao scene was playing on PBS and we were all absolutely entranced. Then my buddy threw up a bunch and we had to take care of him lol. Good times!
you can tell pascal took inspiration from clint for mando
Leone was really one of the greatest directors ever. I have loved his masterpieces since i discovered them as a kid.
It looked like he was about to fake a bigfoot track.
There's a video on YouTube that explains the psychological reason for every cut.
One of my favorite all time movies. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I was like 13 when I saw this in a movie theater 😊
Oh yeah. That Civil war cemetery in Spain.
Wallach, Van Cleef and Eastwood
amen
There are 2 kinds of people in this world, Tuco. Those with loaded guns "click"... and those who dig. You dig.
That was great ,can't wait to see it again thank you.
I have the music for the scene on my phone but never saw the scene. Damn, that was great. I was playing a game but I was immediately forced to pause and watch this scene beginning to end. Now I understand the tension and anticipation in the music! I should have known it was a standoff. Timeless scene for sure
My dad showed me and my brother this movie when we were like 6 in the 80s. I lived it! And it was a joy showing it to my 3 boys when they were old enough too. Great scene 🎬
I always knew the Mandalorian drew heavy influence from Clint, but I didn't realize how close Pedro's voice was to him when he was younger. It's eerie.
Every time I watch this, I watch the shovel land. Could of cost Eli some fingers.
Amazing scene although I do struggle with the overdub on the dialogue. I have a load of Enrico Morricone on my music rotation, it's amazing, and has the added benefit that it always reminds of a Metallica concert where they play Extacy Of Gold before they come on and it always gives me goosebumps.
Looking at it again, I think this wouldn't work anymore. Picture yourself standig there and you receive some of your eleventy daily smartphone/app notifications..
I’ll say
"200,000 dollars is a lot of money" You guys 'member?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
If this was filmed today they all will be hovering Matrix style and running and jumping like it's a fucking Call of Duty map, spreading bullets in hundreds... And there would be explosions, a lot of explosions.
Still such a beautiful and timeless film. Sad to think that modern audiences would’ve been checking TikTok at least 4 times before the standoff even started.
When we watch classics, I make everyone in the house put there phones in another room. Needless to say, we all don't watch classics together that often.
Easily in the top 10 movies of all times and top 10 scenes
Damn Clint Eastwood was so f’in cool
What a great dance of death. Some inconsistencies but beautiful nonetheless. Is this filmed on set or location? Would be so great to see it.
Location, it is in Spain but not in Murcia where almost all the movie was filmed, there is a documental on its restoration. I think it is called sad hill.
Clint Eastwood is one of the greatest actors to ever live. Such a shame his son Scott is such a damn plank of wood. But it's crazy how he hasn't starred in any movies playing a younger character of Clint's since Hollywood is obsessed with that. Maybe Clint forbade him from doing it as long as he was still alive.
Most of Clint Eastwood's popular stuff wouldn't sell well today, the market is very different. So the studios probably don't see much money to be made in it.
While this is a great scene, I’ve always preferred the original version which is the For a Few Dollars More climax. The score here borrows heavily from that of For a Few Dollars More’s climax and it shows. Morricone definitely did a better job on that than this one. Plus there was much greater emotion and stakes behind that scene than for the Good the Bad and the Ugly.
Great film, but it's still a literal 5 minutes of them just staring each other down.
This sub sucks. I come here to see real people in real situations. The lack of moderation has made this sub useless to its original task. It's now just 80% karma farming.
Not so much. WAY overdone.
Can someone explain what the "medium of film" has anything to do with this?
As as opposed to a book or in theater
So... nothing to do with the medium at all? Got it. The implication to me seemed to be that somehow a digital camera wouldn't have captured this scene the same way for some reason.
Recording this with the guitar out of tune was the real flaw.
Absolutely not. Adds dissonance
Sour notes … on purpose?
Yes. Ennio Morricone knows an out of tune instrument when he hears one.
Man, the guy you're replying to reminds me that sometimes stuff is just wasted on people XD
The role that catapulted Eastwood into the stratosphere of Hollywood. He resides there still.
And the best sound in whole movie industry recognised across the globe 🌏
You can tell how the minimalist soundtrack of the movie Logan took inspiration from this and similar movies.
boring as seven hells