One of the best westerns of all time that made Clint Eastwood a mega star

Clint Eastwood has played countless roles in his eight-decade career. But one defined him like no other: The Man Without a Name, the symbol of the Western antihero who, thanks to Sergio Leone’s Dollar Trilogy, defined an entire genre. Amazon Prime has it Two glorious scoundrels to stream the best part of the series. Clint Eastwood’s western masterpiece ends with a magnificent scene

The term “Dollar Trilogy” is misleading: in fact, For a Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and Two Glorious Scoundrels are only loosely connected. In the third and final part, Eastwood’s hero, nicknamed Blondie, Eli Wallach’s bandit Tuco and the ice-cold killer Sentenza (Lee Van Cleef) search for a treasure of gold. And while around them the American Civil War is raging.

Watch the trailer for the film here:

When Leone’s film was released in 1966, the reviews were mixed: many authors considered the so-called “spaghetti western” genre to be low-quality junk. But the third dollar film became a cinema hit even more than its predecessors. Critics rightly re-evaluated the film afterwards. Today it is considered not only one of the best westerns, but also one of the best one of the best films ever.

There are many reasons for this: Thanks to film, various technical ideas are now considered the standard repertoire of the genre. Leone, cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli and composer Ennio Morricone transformed a sleazy genre into a celebratory opera about bloodshed. But unlike A Song of Death, Two Glorious Scoundrels never forgets its popcorn origins: here there are no lengths, no artistic pauses, no melodramatic lingering in the dreams of its characters. This film is from start to finish a spectacle that never gets boring.

This is not least due to various duel scenes, of which Western fans must know at least one: The three-way duel in the final, Also known in English as the “Mexican Stand-off” due to its shape, it made film history. Rarely has a scene in the genre been copied as often as the final shootout between Blondie, Tuco and Sentenza in the middle of a cemetery.

Watch the ten-minute scene in English here:

If you’re now interested in watching one of the great masterpieces of the Western genre in full length, you can stream Two Glorious Scoundrels on Amazon Prime.

Podcast: 8 brilliant westerns that are not only worthwhile for Yellowstone fans

Whether thanks to series hits like Yellowstone and 1883 or Tarantino masterpieces like Django Unchained: the Western genre is enjoying a popularity that it hasn’t seen in a long time. For all fans we have picked out the best westerns that you can stream right now.

The 8 western highlights presented on Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and MUBI include both absolute classics and lesser-known insider tips. There is something here for every genre fan: Our recommendations cover a full 55 years of Western history between 1964 and 2019.

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