I love this movie.

No, that's not strong enough...I LOVE THIS MOVIE!

No, that still doesn't really convey the way I feel...let's try this:

I REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE THIS MOVIE A WHOLE LOT!!!

Okay, that's better.

So this is a western, directed and partially written by Sergio Leone, the first name in spaghetti westerns. This is the third about the same character, The Man with No Name (guess why he's called that?) but is kind of a prequel to the other two starring Eastwood, A Fistful Of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. These are the movies that made Eastwood famous, and then he went on to do Dirty Harry, and history was made. And no, you don't have to email and tell me that Fistful was based on/a ripoff of Yojimbo, I know that.

But I digress. Get used to it, this one rambles like crazy.

So yes, this is just about a perfect movie. Pretty much the opposite of a chick flick, which is a genre I often dislike; there are very few women here, and all of them are wives or whores. Not surprising, it's a guy movie. But as an example of its kind? perfection.

Lee Van Cleef is just evil. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Everything he says and does convinces us of this.

Eli Wallach is the hapless bandit who talks too much, grovels to anyone he thinks will give him a piece of the pie, and is generally useless.

And Eastwood is the tall nameless stranger. At the end of this, Mr. Otter turned to me and said, and HE'S the GOOD? Sure, I said, think about it- the worst thing he did in this movie was running a scam to turn outlaws in for the reward and rescue them before they are hanged (except in one case...). That's not so bad. He does what he says he will, he doesn't tell other people's secrets, and he shares nicely. Oh, and he likes kittens, there's a sure sign.

So anyway, the actors are good. And if Clint Eastwood was ever a honey, this is the movie. He isn't, although he's damn talented and fun to watch. But this is the closest he gets to honey status. Especially when he's playing with a KITTEN.

So anyway. This epic has a convoluted but acceptable plot (not helped by the US movie distributor cutting something like 19 minutes from it when it came over from Italy, some of which is plot points that made me say, But how can that be? when I first saw it...so if you rent the dvd, check out the deleted scenes**, about half of them are really worthwhile. Especially Eastwood's philosophical ramblings about life and death, in the stagecoach, passing the dead soldiers from a recent battle, which are EXCELLENT character development...that nobody in the US saw til the dvd was released a few years ago. Sigh.)

And I totally love the desert scenery that is a believeable stand-in for New Mexico and Texas. And the lovely horses. Not to mention the music that will (happily) reverberate through your head for the rest of your life, and the writing that combines humor, pathos, explosions...oh, this brings back memories...

When I was a young otter, my mom and I would watch movies downstairs on our (cool at the time) COLOR TV. It was probably about a 15 inch screen, but we loved it because it was ***COLOR***, and the first one we had ever had. And we had pretty much the same tastes in movies: westerns, gunshots, explosions. And we discovered this movie, and watched it together EVERY SINGLE TIME it was on.

Back in the day, you had to do that. Watch stuff when the tv gods scheduled it. Because there was no way to own it or watch it when you wanted to, or it was convenient. So we'd stay up for the late show, or whatever, because we LOVED THIS MOVIE.

I can remember being amused when they showed it on TV, because they'd cut out all the English language obscenities (which are pretty mild now) but leave all the Spanish language ones.

Last Sunday night. I had had a hard day, and wanted to chill with a comfort movie. I had been thinking about this one for a while, wanting to see it again (the only reason I haven't yet reviewed it was that the last time I watched it I was actually packing for moving, and didn't pay full enough attention to it to feel like I was allowed to review it. Not that I couldn't quote all the dialog along with the actors or anything, but it's the principle of the thing.)

So anyway. I love this movie. I have seen it a billion times. And (here's the important part) even when you HAVE seen it a billion times, know all the dialog, and even know where the three-second scene of Clint Eastwood playing with the adorable kitten is...IT'S STILL WONDERFUL.

One of the hallmarks of a really good movie is that you never get tired of it. And this one is no exception. Mr. Otter can whinge about there not being a prison camp in New Mexico, and the guns being wrong, and whatever else he wants to say...but me? I LOVE THIS MOVIE and am ready to watch it again anytime. Come on over, it's all queued up and waiting.

**This movie has been cleaned up, completely restored (with Eastwood and Wallach dubbing their own voices on the restored footage) and released on blu-ray. It is absolutely wonderful, and my happiness at seeing what a good job they did on it is only to be imagined. Thank you, Maid-of-Awesome and The Fiance! one of the best presents ever.

*So I'm watching this, and Mr. Otter is kind of coming and going, since all he likes is the Civil War stuff, and he says, Oh, it must be 1862. How can you know that? I said. Well, he said, putting on his 'historian-on-a-stick' hat, they're in the Southwest, and they're talking about Sibley and Canby...Is that the same Canby that was in the Modoc wars? I asked, remembering our visit to Lava Beds National Monument, which is where I found out about that, and which is well worth a visit, if you have a chance.

Yes, said Mr. Otter, pleased that a bit of history had actually found a resting place in my brain and that I could articulate it competently. The Confederates under Sibley went into New Mexico to try and take it over, and the Union forces under Canby whomped them good. Remember Glorieta Pass? (I did.) That's what that battle was.

Well. When you put a military action in the context of one of my FAVORITE MOVIES IN THE WORLD, I can certainly remember it! Thanks, Mr. Otter, for that interesting sideline.