Western Comparison

Stagecoach vs. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

When thinking of Westerns the first name that comes to mind is John Wayne. After becoming a star in 1939’s Stagecoach, Wayne went on to act in nearly 100 movies till his death in 1979. Other than Wayne one of the Western genres biggest stars was Clint Eastwood. Eastwood stared in numerous Westerns including 1966’s The Good the Bad and the Ugly. The film centers primarily around three individuals Tuco (the ugly), Angel Eyes (the bad) and Blondie (the good). These three all begin to pursue the same treasure, $200,000 in gold buried in a graveyard during the Civil War. Their pursuit takes them from a Union prison camp to the barren deserts with a brilliant final standoff between the three in a fight for the gold.
One of the clear distinctions between Stagecoach and The Good the Bad and the Ugly that I noticed was the lack of a great deal of dialogue between the characters, with none of them speaking more than Tuco (Eli Wallach). While the dialogue was sparse the cinematography was brilliant with each camera angle chosen carefully and the iconic theme music, which remains as one of the most popular and commonly known in the Western genre. Overall with this being the oldest genre of film I would say that not much had changed in the typical Western although there was an increase in action and numerous violent deaths.

Silent Movie

Upon seeing Charlie Chaplin work for the first time in the short film Police, I was amazed that even over 90 years later his movies remain comical and entertaining. While Chaplin’s films were silent, with various subtitles it was fairly straightforward and even without sound viewers can easily follow the story line. In addition the subject of theft and people lacking money is one that has been with man for much of our existence and allowed viewers in no matter what time period to understand the main character plight.