Clint Eastwood – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I love Spaghetti Westerns and this is one of the very best. Let’s see…great writing, great acting, and great music. The Good (Clint Eastwood – Blondie), The Bad (Lee Van Cleef -Angel Eyes or Sentenza), and The Ugly (Eli Wallach – Tuco) is a classic movie with a great film score by Ennio Morricone.

While I was re-watching the movie my son Bailey came in and asked me…so you are watching the best movie ever again? Where do I begin with this movie? I like the story and the atmosphere draws me in for repeat viewings. In 1964 Sergio Leone started his trilogy of westerns starring Clint Eastwood. It’s sometimes called the Dollars Trilogy. A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For A Few More Dollars More (1965), and finally this one…The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966).

This is not your typical John Wayne-style Hollywood western…although I love a lot of his movies. Funny, in the early 2000’s I never thought much about Westerns or really liked them…but this one changed my mind about the entire genre…it’s that good.

This film has an epic scope and therefore covers a lot of ground. There is not a dull spot in this film. From the beginning, we are guessing and it all leads up to one of the very best suspenseful endings ever filmed. As much of an Eastwood fan as I am…Eli Wallach grabbed my attention before anyone did. His character is such a wild card. I can’t say enough about his acting in this. He IS Tuco. All three leads were fantastic.

What exactly is a Spaghetti Western? I was asked this before when I would talk about them to different people about Westerns. I think the biggest difference between a regular Western and these would be the realism and the grittiness of the Spaghetti Western. Also with regular Westerns, you have good vs evil…Spaghetti Westerns often feature the in-between anti-heroes, huge stark landscapes, and a more cynical tone. But that is just my opinion.

These films were primarily made in Italy (hence the term “Spaghetti”) during the 1960s and 1970s. They were often directed by Italian filmmakers like Sergio Leone and featured international casts, including American actors.

There is one more thing I would like to say about the movie. On top of everything else…the cinematography is some of the best I’ve ever seen. You also have Eastwood in probably his most iconic role. Out of all of the movies I’ve featured…I have probably watched this one the most.

My favorite scene was the last bit between Blondie and Tuco.

Plot from IMDB

During the American Civil War, three men set off to find $200,000.00 in buried gold coins. Tuco and Blondie have known each other for some time now, having used the reward on Tuco’s head as a way of earning money. They come across a dying man, Bill Carson, who tells them of a treasure in gold coins. By chance, he reveals the name of the cemetery and the name of the grave where the gold is buried. Now rivals, the two men have good reason to keep each other alive. The third man, Angel Eyes, hears of the gold stash from someone he’s been hired to kill. All he knows is to look for someone named Bill Carson. The three ultimately meet in a showdown that takes place amid a major battle between Confederate and Union forces.

Quotes:

Blondie: You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.

______

[Tuco is in a bubble bath. The One Armed Man enters the room]
One Armed Man: I’ve been looking for you for 8 months. Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you. Now I find you in exactly the position that suits me. I had lots of time to learn to shoot with my left.
[Tuco kills him with the gun he has hidden in the foam]
Tuco: When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.

______

Tuco: I’m very happy you are working with me! And we’re together again.
[pause]
Tuco: I get dressed, I kill him and be right back.
Blondie: Listen, I forgot to mention… He’s not alone. There’s five of ’em.
Tuco: Five?
Blondie: Yeah, five of ’em.
Tuco: So, that’s why you came to Tuco.
[pause]
Tuco: It doesn’t matter, I’ll kill them all

..,

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Dirty Harry

Drive your car up to my place and find your spot….and we won’t even check the trunks for free stowaways (which I was a lot). Sit back while we watch some movies. I will keep each of these as short as possible.

CB sparked this idea…I wanted to review more movies and what better movies than 1960s – 1970s drive-in flicks? I love these movies because they are mostly gritty and realistic looking…you never know what you will see or hear. I will try not to give away the ending of these films because many might not have seen them.

The quotes from this movie alone could fill up a book. This movie and The French Connection helped start the antihero movies of the seventies. I like many Eastwood films especially the Trilogy made in the sixties. In this movie, Dirty Harry has a tough, no-nonsense approach to law enforcement. He is willing to bend or break the rules to get the job done, which often puts him at odds with his superiors and the legal system. His most famous line, “Do you feel lucky, punk?” has become iconic.

The movie is based out of San Francisco and the characters are really tangible. You have the mayor and police chief fighting with Harry over regulations and Harry is single-minded going after the killer. The film was well-received by critics for the most part. It highlights both vigilante justice and the large bureaucracy that holds everything back. It gives you a view of both.

As good as Eastwood is in this movie, it’s Andrew Robinson who really got my attention. Some bad guys are like cartoon caricatures but not this one. He played The Scorpio Killer in this movie. He based some of it off the real Zodiac Killer of the 60s and 70s. Robinson played that part so well that he was stereotyped after the movie’s release. When you saw him on the screen he personified a killer. This is not Jason or slasher films bad guys…this one hit home because he was so real.

Director Don Siegel did a hell of a job directing this movie. “I enjoy the controversy because if you make a film that’s safe, you’re in trouble. I’m a liberal; I lean to the left. Clint is a conservative; he leans to the right. At no point in making the film did we ever talk politics. I don’t make political movies. I was telling the story of a hard‐nosed cop and a dangerous killer. What my liberal friends did not grasp was that the cop is just as evil, in his way, as the sniper.”

My favorite scene… Harry is eating a hotdog and notices a bank getting robbed. He takes action and single-handedly stops the robbers. He teases one robber that he shot.

I’m lifting the short storyline out of IMDB

“Dirty Harry” follows San Francisco Police Inspector Harry Callahan, a tough, rule-bending officer known for his unorthodox methods and willingness to confront criminals head-on. The film’s central antagonist is the Scorpio Killer, a sadistic serial murderer who taunts the police with cryptic messages and demands ransom money in exchange for stopping his killing spree.

Callahan’s pursuit of Scorpio takes him through the streets of San Francisco, leading to intense confrontations and moral dilemmas. As the body count rises, Callahan’s relentless quest for justice puts him at odds with his superiors, who are more concerned with following protocol than stopping the killer by any means necessary.

Favorite Quotes:

The Mayor: Callahan… I don’t want any more trouble like you had last year in the Fillmore district. You understand? That’s my policy.
Harry Callahan: Yeah, well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard – that’s my policy.
The Mayor: Intent? How’d you establish that?
Harry Callahan: When a naked man is chasing a woman through a dark alley with a butcher knife and a hard on, I figure he isn’t out collecting for the Red Cross.
The Mayor: I think he’s got a point.
Harry Callahan: Uh uh. I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?

The success of Dirty Harry led to four sequels: “Magnum Force” (1973), “The Enforcer” (1976), “Sudden Impact” (1983), and “The Dead Pool” (1988).

Quentin Tarantino talks about Dirty Harry

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Man with No Name Trilogy

A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Three great movies that happen to be westerns…maybe the best three or at least in the very top tier. At least once a year I make time to binge watch these movies back to back to back.

All were directed by Sergio Leone and were brilliant. If you watch a regular Hollywood western from this time period or a little later…they seem a little too polished…this one feels raw and realistic.

These movies started the Spaghetti Westerns…They made Clint Eastwood a movie star. He was famous for Rawhide on television but this put him over the top.

The three films are not really an ongoing story but Eastwood plays pretty much the same character in every one with different name.

The best part of all three is the atmosphere. The editing and cinematography of these movies are great…The showdown scene in The Good, Bad and the Ugly is worth watching just by itself. Personally, I like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly the best because of that scene.

You don’t have to be a big western fan to enjoy these movies… they transcend regular westerns.