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Taking an entirely sardonic attitude in its depiction of the west, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is the final instalment in Sergio Leone's unofficial Dollars trilogy. "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For A Few Dollars More" were unequivocally episodic and exponentially expelled to classic status by Clint Eastwood's laconic, enigmatic Man With No Name. Central to the series and its distinctive visual language were the landscapes of New Mexico, explicitly showcased rough, bloody violence and highly ambiguous morals and mercenary motives of the characters. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" deviated from the blueprint set by Leone in delivering more adeptly composed cinematography and a cohesive, substantial narrative worthy of its near-three-hour runtime whilst retaining and extending the showdown aspect of its predecessors. Conversely suffused with poignancy and jocularity, the trilogy's fetishistic emphasis on excessive beatings and sudden gunfights, illustrative realism, authentic minutiae and dishevelled, unprincipled, cigar-smoking killers reaches its apex here, with the core plotline acting as a deconstruction of Old West romanticism, favouring the complexities and double-crossing antics between sympathetic criminal antiheroes and callous, irredeemable villains over plain old good versus evil. Leone magnifies and expands upon every element of his previous films, becoming more grandiose with his own iconography: a mythical figure raised by the American spirit now enters even more perilous territory, attacking the Puritanism of its heartland by interspersing long shots of dustlands, graveyards and war-torn scenery. It is this visual signature that notably progresses the film's character development, the continuous extreme close-up; demonstrated by a stony stare, reactionary expression or itchy-fingered hand hovering beside a gun, are one of many recurring keynotes throughout, thus defining the characters by their deeply nefarious actions, variegated by levels of relentlessness, not their humour-laden functional dialogue.
Narrating the search for gold through the classification of violence, uneasy alliance of a trio of reprobates and dispensing with the faster pacing of other Spaghetti Westerns, Leone opts to use scope and time, protracting the spell between reactions and the sudden shootout, employed perhaps to build suspense and also underscore his film with cinematographic techniques, stylistic touches and motifs now synonymous with the genre. Kill or be killed, backstab or be backstabbed designate the mentality of the males inhabiting Leone's arid west; devoid of exoticism, hope or beauty, it is a troublesome, decaying world beset by ruthlessness, murder and brutality. The only opportunity for any of the characters is to kill for profit, so the prospect of gold is a welcome change from this monotonous existence. Leone's propensity for re-invention sees him place the pursuit of monetary acquisition by any means necessary amongst the historical context of the American Civil War, entwining the characters in the battle as they travel to the uncertain location of the stolen Confederate gold. Operatic and intense, there is also a boyishness to the adventure aspect of the narrative that dulls the action, infusing a melancholy into the proceedings on several occasions, thus fortifying the plot and ensuring that the audience remains engrossed until the climactic standoff. What is most integral to the film's sustained dramatic tension is its musical theme by Ennio Morricone, which succeeds in accentuating pivotal moments, such as the breathtaking Mexican standoff at the cemetery. As with other facets of Leone's direction, the music breaks with convention; coordination with scenes, as well as adding vocals and alluding to other compositions within and outside of the trilogy, are all factors in its complimenting of the setting and camera movements. All of these fundamentals combine to distinguish it as a classic, moreover, its rewatchable qualities. It is a near-perfect masterpiece, and there are not many western satires that can be certain of that merit.
