Filed under: Columns, Cinematical
http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2010/12/framedtitle2.jpg
*Welcome to **Framed**, a column at Cinematical that runs every Thursday and celebrates the artistry of cinema -- one frame at a time.*
It’s been six months since ‘Framed’ started at Cinematical – with Duncan Jones’ haunting tale, ‘Moon’](http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/07/01/framed-moon/) – and during that time I’ve examined a variety of films, but I can’t think of a movie I’d be more excited to close out the year with than Sergio Leone’s epic western, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.’](The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967) - Movie | Moviefone) Leone’s film reimagines the classic western and shakes the dust off of Hollywood’s good guys versus bad guys gimmick. There’s a bit of everything in Leone’s final installment of the ‘The Man with No Name’ Trilogy (aka the Dollars Trilogy): it’s beautifully violent, offbeat and humorous, has an unforgettable soundtrack (thanks to maestro Ennio Morricone), impeccable direction, colorful characters and a palpable atmosphere.
While the plot is entertaining enough, it serves mainly as a canvas for Leone’s craft: three gunslingers (Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach) race to uncover a fortune in buried gold during the Civil War. We quickly learn that the good guy earns his title by only a slight and sketchy margin, the bad guy makes his predecessors look like pussycats, and the ugly guy is brilliant enough to secure the most screen time.