The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Leone ends his poncho trilogy with certified classic

♥♥♥♥♥

Kept in mostly earthy tones, this hand-painted poster for Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a masterwork

Three gunslingers in the West fight each other in a fierce search for a fortune in buried Confederate gold around the time of the American Civil War.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is written by Agenore Incrocci (Spaghetti House (1982)), Furio Scarpelli (Celluloid/Celluloide (1996)), Luciano Vincenzoni (Count Tacchia/Il Conte Tacchia (1982)) and co-writer/director, Italian master filmmaker Sergio Leone (The Colossus of Rhodes/Il Colosso di Rodi (1961)). It is the final film in Leone's Dollars trilogy, which also contains A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965).
An impressively grand work, this spaghetti western is a complete joy: An epic with big sets, twists, great storytelling and Ennio Morricone's (The Repenter/Il Pentito (1985)) classic legendary score and theme, which returns probably around 20 times through the film without ever getting tiring.
Clint Eastwood (The Bridges of Madison County (1995)) is the clench-jawed Clint we know and love from these films; whereas Eli Wallach (The Toe Tactic (2008)) as Tuco ('the ugly') is especially good in the film, filling out his mischievous and unpleasant yet charming character with bravado.
The desert scenes and the cemetery finale are incredibly handsome pieces of cinema, (cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli (Lovers & Liars/Viaggio con Anita (1979))). The story of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is very uncomplicated, and at its length Leone operates in a space somewhere between grandeur and at the cusp of delusions of grandeur. However that space is wonderful to be in with him here.

Related posts:

Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa, Coglione!/Duck, You Sucker (1971) - Sergio Leone's cinematic cornucopia 
For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer A Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho
 

Watch a clip from the movie here with Van Cleef

Cost: Estimated 1.2 mil. $
Box office: 25.1 mil. $ (North America only)
= Mega-hit (returned more than 20.91 times its cost)
[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly premiered 23 December (Italy) and runs 177 minutes. United Artists reportedly put up 0.5 mil. $ of the budget, following the success of the two previous Dollars movies in Europe especially, (all three were not released in North America until 1967.) Eastwood reportedly negotiated his salary up to 250k $, a Ferrari and 10 % of the US profits. Shooting took place in Spain, including Madrid, and in Italy, including Rome, around July 1966. The cemetery set was built by Spanish soldiers in 2 days. The film is said to have grossed 6.3 mil. $ in its initial North-American release. It was released slowly to more countries into the 1970s and has had many re-releases. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #9 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Pulp Fiction (1994) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Leone returned with Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968). Eastwood returned in The Witches/Le Streghe (1967); Lee Van Cleef (Shotgun Slade (1961, TV-series)) in Death Rides a Horse/Da Uomo a Uomo (1967); and Wallach in Batman (1967, TV-series) and theatrically in The Tiger Makes Out (1967). The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.76/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

Fellini Satyricon (1969) - Fellini's horny, ancient baccanale

♥♥♥♥

A delightfully brash and outrageous tagline accompanied by a great quote from the filmmaker and an unashamed picture of male homosexuality make up this incredible poster for Federico Fellini's Fellini Satyricon

At the time of Caesar's reign of the Roman Empire, we follow two merry young men at his court, who covet the same younger man and experience a serious of ... events ... on their journey ...

Fellini Satyricon is written by Bernardino Zapponi (Paprika (1991)), Brunello Rondi (Arabella (1967)) and Italian master co-writer/director Federico Fellini (The White Sheik/Lo Sceicco Bianco (1952)), adapting Petronius' Satyricon (54-68 AD).
The film is a nearly plot-free, psychedelic, dilly-dallying, carnevalic endeavor, - and perhaps the horniest motion picture ever made?
Fellini Satyricon is naughty and very elaborate, absolutely among the strangest and most transgressive of 1969's cinema trips. It is visually extraordinary, (cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno (Julia and Julia (1987))), at times arousing, and it has an ending in which the lustful gathering in posterity only exist on crumbling frescoes, which is highly moving. Fellini Satyricon makes it hard to fathom that Fellini wasn't gay, (no doubt he must have had a vivid bisexual side at least.)

Related posts:

Federico Fellini: Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
8½ (1963) or, Vive la Cinema!
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
La Dolce Vita (1960) - Fellini's immortal masterpiece
Nights of Cabiria/Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) - Fellini serves private infatuation as incredible masterpiece  

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 3 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 8 mil. $ outside of Italy
= Uncertain, but certainly a box office success
[Fellini Satyricon premiered 3 September (Rome, Italy) and runs 129 minutes. Shooting took place in Italy, including Rome, from November 1968 - May 1969. Fellini has said about his goal with the film; "to eliminate the borderline between dream and imagination: to invent everything and then to objectify the fantasy; to get some distance from it in order to explore it as something all of a piece and unknowable." Another Satyricon was made in Italy also in 1969; Fellini's producer Alberto Grimaldi sued to stop that film but lost, and Fellini's film was retitled to Fellini Satyricon to distinguish it from the other. The film's Venice Film Festival screenings inspired wild praise and hype, with tickets reportedly selling on the black market for prizes upwards of 100 $. The film made 1.4 mil. $ in rentals in North America, and was reportedly a big hit in France, Japan and Italy. The Italian gross is not included in the figure listed above but could likely be anywhere from 1-3 mil. $, which could possibly make the film rank as a big hit. The film was Italy's entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar but went unnominated in 1970; however, Fellini was nominated as Best Director for it in 1971 instead, losing to Franklin J. Schaffner for Patton. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe and won an award in Venice, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/6 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Fellini returned with The Clowns/I Clowns (1970, TV documentary) and theatrically with Roma (1972). Fellini Satyricon is fresh at 76 % with a 6.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Fellini Satyricon?

For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer

♥♥♥♥

A familiar figure in a poncho returns on this striking painted poster for Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More

Manco is a hard-nosed bounty hunter in the wild West, but in his hunt for the evil bank robber Niño, he runs into the vengeful colonel Mortimer, and the two partner up in what becomes an extremely dangerous duplicity.

For a Few Dollars More is written by Italian master co-writer-director Sergio Leone (The Colossus of Rhodes/Il Colosso di Rodi (1961)), Luciano Vincenzoni (Beyond Justice (1992)), Sergio Donati (Almost Blue (2000)), Enzo Dell'Aquila (The Brute and the Beast/Le Colt Cantarono la Morte e Fu... Tempo di Massacro (1966)), Fernando Di Leo (Loaded Guns/Colpo in Canna (1975)) and Fulvio Morsella (My Name Is Nobody/Il Mio Nome è Nessuno (1973)). It is the middle film in Leone's Dollars Trilogy, which starts with Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) and ends with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo (1966). There seems to be a trend among online film critics to praise this film over the others now, because it is the least commonly hailed among the three, but I still feel that For a Few Dollars More is the weakest among Leone's western films, which include two subsequent films: The masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968) and the great political epic Duck, You Sucker/A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa (1971).
This in no way makes For a Few Dollars More a poor film, however; it is extremely entertaining, but also feels a little like a playground for the champion filmmaker to develop and reuse effects, devices and techniques, which not until his following two films would place him as an incontestable western maestro.
The film is well acted: Clint Eastwood (Honkytonk Man (1982)) is great as the dogged gunslinger Manco; Lee Van Cleef (How the West Was Won (1962)) is good as the colonel, and Klaus Kinski (Paganini (1989)) is fun in a wild supporting role. But it is Ennio Morricone's (Sabato, Domenica e Lunedì (2012), TV movie) original and innovative music that to me is the greatest part of For a Few Dollars More.

Related posts:

Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa, Coglione!/Duck, You Sucker (1971) - Sergio Leone's cinematic cornucopia 
A Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho

Listen to Morricone's unequaled theme for the film here

Cost: 0.6 mil. $
Box office: 15 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[For a Few Dollars More premiered 18 December (Italy) and runs 132 minutes. As Fistful of Dollars was released to immediate success in Italy, a sequel came up fast. But locking Eastwood for it was challenged, as the film was not yet released in the US. The producers rushed an Italian print to him, and screening it along with some friends, Eastwood was impressed by the film and signed up for the sequel upon realizing Leone's talent. The first script was reportedly written by Vincenzoni in 9 days. Charles Bronson was approached for a role but passed, as he had done with the previous film as well. Eastwood was paid 50k $ and Van Cleef 17k $. Shooting took place in Spain and in the Cinecittà studios in Rome, Italy. The film became an even greater success than Fistful of Dollars in Italy, where it by 1967 had become the highest-grossing film in the country ever. It did not get a North-American release until May '67, 4 months after Fistful of Dollars, and was a big hit, grossing 5 mil. $ (33.33 % of the total listed gross) there. The film was also successful in France; there it was the 7th highest-grossing film of 1966. It has since been re-released countless times. Leone returned with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which was also Eastwood's next movie. For a Few Dollars More is fresh at 94 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of For a Few Dollars More?