5 – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

One of Halle Berrys earlier works.

The last Leone film on the list and it starts in true Leone style.It’s got a cool title sequence,with animated text and what not.It’s also got all the other bucks form his other films,Van Cleef,Eastwood and the guy who had the musical watch in the last film.The beginning has his familiar beginnings;a few cowboys walking around,some good close ups and not much chat.In fact it’s 10 minutes 30 before the first word is uttered.Tense stuff.This one’s set during the civil war and revolves around 3 characters , The Good – Eastwood as Blondie (doesn’t even have blond hair), The Bad – Van Cleef and The Ugly – the fat guy.Blondie and the ugly have a racket going.The ugly is wanted and Blondie captures him and gets the bounty then frees him and they split it.About the middle of the movie Blondie ‘and the ugly find out theres $200,000 hidden somewhere.Each have half of the puzzle and are keeping it to them selves.The Bad also knows about the money and tries to muscle in.It’s a good old story,I’m not sure if it warrants a full 3 hours but my d/l said it was an extended version so maybe it’s shorter normally.As always there’s a mad soundtrack to this,Leone really goes all out.I think my dad had it on C.D. when i was a kid.I thought of a good drinking game for this film. Every time someone shoots a hat take a drink.You’ll be drunk in no time.

IMDB RATING      –     8.9
MY RATING     –    8
SEEN BEFORE     –     YES
RECOMMEND?     –     YES
OVERALL     –  YEAH IT’S OKAY.BUT I’M NOT SURE IT SHOULD BE AT THIS SPOT.

 

120 – The General (1926)

Buster knocks over a table so he can get a cheap feel of missus tits.Smart guy.

I just realised there are an awful lot of silent movies on the list near the top.In The General we have Buster Keaton as a train driver who tries to enlist in the American civil war but can’t because he’s a skilled worker.So by chance he stumbles onto a plot by the the other side to ambush his side,the confederates. There’s a big train chase that ensues and for a film from 1926 this feels like it must have had a massive budget.I liked this better than the Chaplin films because unlike Chaplins where he gets the shit end of the deal from the girls,Keaton love story has progression and they end up together in the end and there’s no mind fuckery to be had.
A good film and Keatons acting is superb,the facial expressions alone are hilarious.

IMDB RATING      –     8.2
MY RATING     –    8.1
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –     NO
OVERALL     –  FUNNY.FOR A FILM OF IT’S AGE THE PICTURE QUALITY IS EXCELLENT.

 

185 – Gandhi (1982)

Gandhi taking it easy at the St. Patricks Day parade.

Usually when i  see a really long film like this,three hours,on the list i get a bit depressed and dread having to troll through the whole thing,but this one was very interesting.I have to say myself i don’t or didn’t know much about Gandhi before watching this.I knew he pioneered the peaceful protest and that’s about it.We see Gandhi as young lawyer landing in Southern Africa for the first time  and being treated like a second class citizen because of his colour.He get the media riled and sorts out the whole situation.A few years later he’s off to India to sort them out as an independent country not ruled by the Brits.This is a bit trickier.Lots of people killed and a brutal massacre to boot.Overall the film paints a bad picture of the Brits and their whole view on the situation.Keep an eye out of Daniel-Day Lewis in the first 10 minutes with an un-credited cameo.

IMDB RATING      –     8.1
MY RATING     –     8.4
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –    YES
OVERALL     –  GREAT BIOPIC.EPIC.THOUSANDS OF EXTRAS.