by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 10, 2008   Last Updated: January 08, 2009

Clint Eastwood stars as his famous "man with no name" character in one of the best westerns ever made. Director Sergio Leone included spectacular shots of barren western landscapes to amplify the action in his exciting story. (And the film's opening theme, composed by the legendary Ennio Morricone, is one of the most recognized ever.)

But other great western actors also appear in the movie, including the rascally Eli Wallach as Tuco and a very sadistic Lee Van Cleef, and comic western star Jack Elam even appears as a prison guard. Pretentious film critics could dissect their performances and the movie's hidden messages - but mostly it's just a lot of fun!

Sergio Leone came up with a new vision for the west - as a desolate wasteland where violent and ruthless men scramble for advantage. It's been called existential - unexpected death arrives instantly, power shifts, and three loners cross a hostile landscape that hides gold, war, and death. This creates intensity, as the characters' lives are threatened by a variety of forces - remorseless bounty hunters, attacking armies, and ultimately each other, in the film's classic three-way showdown.

The film jolts audiences with one stark scene after another. Tuco flees the bounty hunters, but is soon facing death again, wearing a hangman's noose early in the film and apparently seconds away from execution. Clint Eastwood emerges as his partner, a sharp-shooter who cuts his rope with a long-distance rifle shot. But there's another surprise almost instantly - Eastwood betrays his partner. And inevitably, this sparks a fierce revenge. ("Whoever double-crosses me and leaves me alive, he understands nothing about Tuco," his former partner warns.) The tables turn, and Eastwood is tortured with long-distance march across the desert. But then everything changes yet again with the arrival of a runaway stagecoach full of dead and dying men. One of them has whispered the location of a cache of buried gold...

Filmed in Spain, Leone was finally given a budget over one million dollars, which he spent to create a sweeping military battle - only to show the two men passing through it obliviously. The American Civil War is just more meaningless violence to them, another obstacle in their quest for the buried riches. It's a very "modern" message of men choosing their own ambitions and inventing their own codes. When Tuco's brother, a preacher, scolds him for his wicked ways, Tuco insists that he's fighting for survival instead of hiding behind an easy answer. Tuco lies repeatedly to Clint Eastwood, who knowingly overlooks it, and shares a cigar with his partner as they head down the road together.

The film's excitement comes from the raw emotions its captures, including the primal greed for both power and gold. It's an epic - Leone had previously worked as an assistant director on the blockbuster film "Ben-Hur," and he understood the way to create a grand and magnificent spectacle. Every scene is glorious and satisfying, with action, surprises, and intensity.

Ultimately Time magazine called it one of the 100 greatest movies ever made. And Quentin Tarantino has declared it to be the best-directed film of all time.

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