Charlie Goose

Eastwood is my favorite all time actor, so it never seemed right that I hadn't see the three movies that made him a superstar. Thanks to TCM, I've watched them all within the past month or so.

All three were excellent, with GBU one of the greatest movies I've ever seen.
Eastwood may have been the star, but the movie belongs to Eli Wallach.
I watched GBU three times so far, just to enjoy things I missed.

Rockmjd23

Leone is really primal, amirite?

JumpCutz

Supermallet

I still maintain that the second one is the best.

DaveyJoe

stvn1974

Now you need to watch Leone's true masterpiece...One Upon A Time In The West.

Jules Winfield

Eli Wallach is a God in this movie. I remember being genuinely concerned as a young one that Eastwood was going to kill him at the end.

P.S.-Supermallet's right about the second one. The Pocket Watch theme is one of my favorite Morricone tunes.

Mondo Kane

When I first saw it as a kid, I was certain he was gonna die in the prison camp (The sad song being played by the prisoners was so fitting)

But ever the untrustworthy, Tuco still would've gladly killed Blondie in the end if his gun wasn't loaded. This is why I actually perfer the extended version because it briefly shows the night when Blondie unloads the gun. This was always a plothole to me in the theatrical cut.

Charlie Goose

Already saw that one years ago.

Mabuse

I agree that For a Few Dollars More is the best of the three.

I honestly don't like Fist Full of Dollars much at all. It's overlong and has so little scope. GBU is great but it's kind of overkill. The honest simplicity of For a Few Dollars More makes it the stand out. For a Few Dollars More proves that less is more. GBU is just MORE.

Ash Ketchum

GBU's my favorite, but not the extended version. The added scenes completely destroyed the carefully-constructed circular rhythms of the U.S. cut's original editing.

Supermallet

Did Leone even have a hand in the US cut?

Ash Ketchum

As far as I know, the U.S. cut was the exact same as the one that played Italy and most of the Continent in 1967. (Different countries might have cut out different things.) I don't believe the "restored" scenes in the extended cut were ever shown in theaters. But don't quote me on that. I'm not 100% sure and I don't even know the best source to confirm that. There was an article in The New York Times around the time of the extended cut but it was so full of basic errors that I dismissed it as a reliable source at the time. (I think Elvis Mitchell wrote it.)

EDIT: Okay, as I understand it, there was a longer version shown in Rome right at the start of its release, but it was quickly cut to 161 minutes for "general release" in Italy and the Continent. That's the version that was shown in the U.S. and the one I saw and loved right from the start. The extended scenes never got shown beyond that Rome engagement and one of them, "the Grotto," wasn't even in that version.

Glenn Erickson's DVD Savant review provides some more info:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s1139gbu.html

movielib

At least you got the first five words of his masterpiece (except for the typo) right.

Why So Blu?

Once Upon A Time In The West is my favorite Leone flick. Bronson and Fonda are Gods in that flick.

Harmonica: I saw three of these dusters a short time ago, they were waiting for a train. Inside the dusters, there were three men.

Cheyenne: So?

Harmonica: Inside the men, there were three bullets.



Straight up ballin'!

mostaccioli

be sure you have gotten plenty of sleep before you watch it.
cause it can put you to sleep.

mostaccioli

fonda yes and bronson no.

Why So Blu?

both!!!!!!!

bootsy

I just blind bought this the other day. I'm really excited about watching it.

Why So Blu?

You're in for some magic. Watch the UNRATED version and then watch the featurette (or listen to the excellent commentary track), with John Carpenter, Alex Cox, and others, as they talk about what a badass flick it is.

bootsy

I will make sure to do that.

Charlie Goose

According to the IMDB, Leone offered the Col. Mortimer role in FaFDM and the Angel Eyes role in GBU to Bronson first, but he turned them down.
How astronomically awesome would either one of those been?
Bronson teamed up with Eastwood, or Bronson in a shootout against Eastwood, either one would've been amazing.

Why So Blu?

Yup! ^

Ash Ketchum

Esp. if Bronson had won!

Or how about a Dirty Harry/Death Wish crossover with Eastwood and Bronson, where Harry is assigned to track down and apprehend this mysterious vigilante who just showed up in San Francisco? Talk about astronomically awesome.

Solid Snake

Whoa. That would be too much to process. It'd be amazing.