The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Characters: "The Good"

 Old South Western Tribune

By Richard Garcia

Clint Eastwood plays "The Good" or "The Man With No Name", or "Blondie," a phlegmatic, arrogant bounty hunter who competes with Tuco and Sentenza in the hidden treasure race, in the midst of the Secession War. He develops a love-hate relationship with Tuco, who nicknames him "Blondie." Tuco knows the name of the cemetery where the gold is, but Blondin knows the name of his grave where he is buried. So they are forced to work together and take turns helping each other.

Clint Eastwood embodies what may be the most successful of all the characters Leone has created: grand, laconic, ace of the trigger neatly in detail. The presence of Blondin's cigar is a very important symbol in the movie. Eastwood has one in his mouth in almost every scene and he’s constantly on it. In addition, the cigar becomes a key element of the action on some occasions (the pursuit by following the trail of ever-freshly smoked cigars, the lighting of the cannon wick and explosives, sharing with the agonizing young soldier, etc.)

Her dark, pensive expression, with her eyes half-closed, could make Blondie the ideal "villain" stereotype. However, Leone manages to surprise everyone by creating a character halfway between the traditional bounty hunter and bandit, achieving a result that maybe no other director has ever achieved. In the composition of this character, Leone demonstrates that he could integrate the essence of great classics such as the Greek tragedy and Shakespeare’s work. In addition, he admits that Clint Eastwood's character is largely inspired by the style of great Latin authors such as Plaute and Térence. Sergio Donati remarks: "Among the three, Eastwood is undoubtedly the one who resembles his own character the most: closed, quiet, ironic14. »

1965 marks the end of Rawhide, an American television series in which Clint Eastwood holds one of the permanent roles, a good smooth cowboy and shadowless 15. None of Eastwood's Italian films are currently being distributed in America. When Leone offers him a role in his next movie, he hesitates, even though it's his only job offer. After reading the script, he finds that Tuco's role is more important than his. So, he's asking for his own role to be increased, whereas Leone doesn't want to decrease Tuco's. Leone needs to travel to California with his wife, to try to negotiate7. After two days of tough negotiations, the actor agrees to shoot the film and demands $250,000, plus 10% of box-office profits across the Western Territory10, a deal Leone doesn't like.

In the movie, the character of Eastwood is nicknamed Blondie because no one knows her real name. Furthermore, when Captain Clinton asks Tuco and Blondin for their names, this one remains silent, remaining true to his image. In the script of the movie, however, they refer to this one as Joe.