Oversight Marathon: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)



There’s something about seeing the Civil War portrayed in movies that just doesn’t do much for me.  That’s not to say that I don’t like some movies that involve the American Civil War.  That would be wrong for me to say.  I’m saying that, in most cases, something about the Civil War doesn’t connect with me.

It might be because I’m Canadian.  I am not going to rule that out of the equation.  Movies that involve the Civil War might connect more to an American audience than with anyone else.  Since I am not American, I don’t have the national historical connection to the events portrayed in many movies.  Even with the USA being right across the border from my homeland, I don’t fully grasp the stakes of the Union and the Confederacy fighting one another.  It doesn’t have the same punch as I think it might to an American.

Another reason I might not care is because I don’t find musket fighting all that exciting.  Most of what I see in movies that involve the civil war is people running around with muskets and bayonets.  The muskets take forever to load, and the bayonets are used only for stabbing.  There is never a gripping gunfight or swordfight with this equipment.  No, that’s not right.  There is barely ever a gripping gunfight or swordfight with this equipment.  It bores me to near death to watch a battle where almost nothing happens.

I would also like to point out that I detest the uniforms from both sides.  There’s nothing to elaborate about there.  I just don’t like the uniforms from either side.

My cause for bringing all of this up is the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  This spaghetti western relies quite heavily on the Civil War.  Aside from the bridge and the random explosions, the Civil War portion of the story is what I find to be the weakest aspect.  It is necessary to the plot, but tends to slow everything down for me.

I’m very petty, it seems, when it comes to the Civil War being portrayed in movies.  I simply do not like it.  There are exceptions, of course.  But in most cases I won’t like a Civil War plot in a movie because I don’t typically like the Civil War, I guess.

I have no idea why I wrote any of this.  Maybe it’s because I needed something to write about when it came to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  Actually, let’s not lie.  That’s exactly why I wrote this.  However, this helps me put everything out there.  It helps me to scratch the surface on my distaste for the Civil War.  That’s all I ask of myself.  I want to dig deeper into myself and find out why I am who I am.  That’s all that anyone should want.

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