| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
 Posted - 06/25/2007 : 10:42:46 PM
|
[img]http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/WanadooFilms/Western/GoodBadUgly2.jpg[/img][img]http://blog.uncovering.org/archives/2004/Lee_van_cleef.jpg[/img][img]http://www.hirnkarate.de/user/admin/eli_wallach.jpg[/img]
Fist Full of Dollars.
A Few Dollars More.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
I have been reading literature about these movies and "the making of.."
And the problem I have, is that most people that write about these movies treat them like they are connected in some way. Or to be more specific that one sequals or prequals another.
For example, in the DVD jacket of "A Few Dollars More," it says "In The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, a third killer(Eli Wallach) joins the two men to form a trinity of contrasts." What?
That doesn't make sense. True they all feature the great poncho wearing gunslinger. But he had a different name in each film. In "Fist Full of Dollars" his name was Joe. In "A Few Dollars More" his name was Monco. In "The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly" he was Blondie.
He also had different jobs in each film. In "Dollars" he was a drifter. In "More" he was a bounty hunter/killer. In "Ugly" he was a con artist.
So did Lee Van Cleef's character. In "More" his character name was Colonel Mortimer and was a okay guy. In "Ugly" his character name was Angel Eyes and he was a cold blooded assasin.
Also all the films started out with Eastwood being broke. Then, with the exception of "Dollars", the films ended with him being rich. This would negate the fact that a sequal was nessasary because he didn't need to go out and find money.
And there is many more comparisons.
The question here is how should we take these three films. Are they 3 films about the same characters? Is Eastwood's character the same in all three films?
________________________________________________________________________
"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
|
|
andy80
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
81 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2007 : 02:03:01 AM
|
| I think its all nitpicking. It the same actor, same director, personality changes almost zero. Maybe the Man With No Name blew the money between films, and maybe leone just liked working with van Cleef. I mean your points all technically make sense, I just think the details are clouding the big picture in this case. |
 |
|
|
Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2007 : 07:23:17 AM
|
Each film represents the possible actions of the main character in an alternate reality. They were part of a proposed series of an infinite number of films that Sergio Leone had planned but was interrupted by his death.
*g*
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
|
|
|
Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2007 : 07:25:31 AM
|
I guess you might be able to view The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as a sort of prequel to the other two as that's where the Eastwood character first finds and dons the famous poncho. Though, really, these movies occur in a parallel spagetti western universe which has only superficial resemblences to our own so it's a bit futile to try to make too much sense out of them. They seem to be related symbolically rather than narratively.
"I reserve the right to look as well as be boring." - Robert Fripp |
|
|
|
Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2007 : 8:26:03 PM
|
I came to much the same conclusion, Ericb. I figured that in A fist Full Of Dollars, Eastwood's character was serving time for his crimes in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly when he got that suicide mission deal. After that he decided to do the bounty hunter thing FOR REAL.
PS: "The Man With No Name" DOES have a name! As Capt Nemo points out, it's Joe Manco. "Blondie" to his friends.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
|
|
|
Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2007 : 11:34:47 PM
|
I'm with Sardu and Ericb on this.
I've always viewed these films as "What if..." scenarios. What if he was a bounty hunter? What if a con man?
To do it this way would require that these films take place in alternate realities were the rules were different.
And THAT is interesting. It gives Eastwood's character freedom. By doing it this way they can throw off any cannon set by the previous film and start new. How else would we get the mega-cool "Angel Eyes" after seeing the same actor play Colonel Mortimer? As for Blondie, he can have new motivations in play in each film.
The only other films that came close to doing this were the James Bond pictures. The only glue that held that together were the books by Ian Fleming. They tried to do them in order.
But I'm surprised that people say each film arch's into another. Richard Schickel who wrote Eastwood's biography seems to think so.
________________________________________________________________________
"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
|
|
|
Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2007 : 03:21:24 AM
|
| I've always regarded them as different films. |
|
|
|
Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2007 : 07:12:24 AM
|
One little, interesting overlap in the movies occurs during the climactic gunfight scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. If you listen to the sountrack music you will hear a short snippet of the music chime melody from Col. Mortimer's watch from For a Few Dollars More. I have no idea what the significance is though.
"I reserve the right to look as well as be boring." - Robert Fripp |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Forum Locked
Topic Locked