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"The
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"-the third episode of the
Bounty Golden Trilogy, which was produced in the same year
(1966) shortly after " A Fistful of Dollars",
further established the Leone Style, which was gradually
formed in the previous two films. With the addition in the
length and the amount of information of the film, the setting
of the characters and the plots of "The Good, the Bad,
and the Ugly" became more complicated and devious.
It was exactly on the basis of this film that was the most
significant film among all the products of Leone established-the
"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968), followed
by the whole trilogy.
The
style of the incidental music, which was represented by
the theme song played in the beginning of the film, came
down in one continuous line of the previous two films. The
composer added more elements like the sound of the gun while
maintaining the fundamental elements (whistle, electric
guitar and the sound of chorus by men), and he also magnified
the effect of the original part of mockery, humor and the
purposely introduced sense of wildness as well. The structure
of the theme song of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"
was comparably integrated, which was presented by three
paragraphs. The leading sound model of the first paragraph,
which could be vividly called the "freak yell model",
came directly from the sound of the domestic animals, and
it was imitated by human and the "wa" sound played
by harmonica. It was exactly the "freak yell model"
which was introduced between music and sound and therefore
carried different timbres that played an important role
in the process of narration throughout the whole film. The
solo played by electric guitar in the second paragraph possessed
a extremely rough and fierce timbre, and was, in the process
of forward and upward, in persistent correspondence with
the chorus by men, which carried a bright rhythm and a nearly
bellow sound. It came back to the strong wildness and comedic
atmosphere generated by the "freak yell model"
in the third paragraph, followed by the climax produced
by the pressing melody, which was played by the trumpet
with a sharp timbre. The wonderful little-scale symphony,
which was constructed by all kinds of irregular music instruments
and the tone which carried a property of sound, ultimately
ended up with the effect of the more and more frequently
sound of guns.
In the
very beginning of the film, the boy appeared in the previous
film was bailing beside a well on a donkey, while a man
riding on a horse was found coming gradually from far away
which was folded by twilight. It was the first episode of
the incidental music emerged from the plot of the story
that was in exaggerating contrast with the strongly comedic
and wild effect produced by the opening theme. With the
soft string background music, combining with the wild and
vacant scenery of mountains in the establishing shot, the
guitar solo expressed obviously the moving tune in Spanish
style. The magnificent melody appeared only once in the
film, though, it left an unforgettable impression. Simple,
but overwhelmingly refreshing, that's exactly the character
and genius of the great musician Morricone. The pacing of
the horse under the crotch of the man coming even seemed
graceful in the lyric atmosphere produced by the music.
The tune turned to be wan and a little cattish with the
close shot where the guest dismounted, and the "freak
yell model" was heard exactly simultaneously. This
was the first and yet informal pose on the stage of the
"bad man" played by Lee Van Cleef in the film......
The
endless inspiration and gushing ideas of Morricone as a
composer was revealed from the time he was composing the
incidental music for the Bounty Golden Trilogy. In the following
plot, the music played when Sentenza dismounted (finished
when he inquired the information in cost of bottles of wine)-the
trumpet solo which carried a sense of sorrow and melancholy
was obviously replacing the words and dialogues and conveying
the information in the scene independently. The music composed
by Morricone and the classic actions created by Leone, as
well as the scenes about the habitats of the wounded soldiers
during the state war were combined together, and came into
a string of thought that carried fruitful and ineffable
connotations. In the scene that the "ugly man"
Tuco chased the "good guy" Joe, the theme music
was emerged in a relative integrate fashion. It's obvious
to be heard that the same "freak yell model" combined
with the image of Tuco was exactly presented by the most
comedic and the easily-felt "ugly" human voice.
The mountain by which Tuco ran passed on the horse in the
scene was the same one that appeared in the second film-A
Fistful of Dollars-a regular mountain with strange shape.
The music and the scene were in perfect correspondence all
the time. In the variation part of the theme, the music
combined with the close-up shot which Leone was adept at,
vividly depicted the imperceptible inner world and even
the expression of the characters.
Near
the end of the film, the scene from the time Joe headed
up and looked into the distance, and then fired the second
bomb soberly by his cigar, to the time Tuco ran through
the great cemetery to look for a tomb, became the most frequently
discussed scene by the researchers and the critics of the
work of Leone. On the base of the repeated model played
by piano, the English tube performed a sorrow melody once
more. Then the singer Edda
Dell'Orso
sang out the moving tune. It's emphasized that, it was the
first time-in the film "The Good, the Bad, and the
Ugly"-for the so-called "the appropriate soprano
of Morricone" to perform in the masterpieces of Morricone.
Furthermore, the music for this scene was the few pieces
of incidental music that done after the accomplishment of
the scene in the early works of Leone, and at the same time,
it fulfilled a classic scene in the history of film. The
music combined with the telephoto lens of Tuco's running,
from different distances and different points of view, along
with the close shot and the close-up scene of the characters,
produced a fabulous seeing and hearing effect with deep
meanings, and brought endless imaginary space and spiritual
shock to the audiences. From now on, the special style of
the incidental music of the Spaghetti Western film was elementarily
established.
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