The Legend of Clint Eastwood
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, 1966
Some stateside genius at United Artists had dubbed Clint's character The Man With No Name. Actually, he had monikers in all three films: Joe in Fistful, Manco (One Arm) in For a Few Dollars More and Blondy in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. And by that third film, even middle-aged critics were starting to notice that Eastwood's wry stillness was the perfect counterpoint both to Leone's elaborate, indeed operatic camerawork and to the director's bleak view that, in a society run by outlaws, the only moral choice was among various shades of black. The last and greatest of the Eastwood-Leone collaborations set up a triangular shootout involving the good-by-default (Clint), the proudly bad (Van Cleef) and the sneaky-scurvy ugly (Eli Wallach). Set to Morricone's vigorous, immortal score, that climax was a series of gimlet-eyed closeups, subtle facial twitches and a suspenseful eternity of waiting to see who'd shoot first. By now, there was no question about who'd be the last man standing.