Stephen King Loves This Violent and Gritty Clint Eastwood Western Now Streaming for Free
If you count yourself a fan of Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood and additionally enjoy a good spaghetti Western, I have got a spot of good news for you, dear reader. What is this good news of which I speak? Well, here goes: A celebrated spaghetti Western is now free to stream, and would you believe that it stars Clint Eastwood in the lead role? Well, it does. If you haven’t already pieced it together, I’m talking about Sergio Leone’s lauded classic The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly amassed its fair share of controversy when it first played theaters in 1966. The film is unflinchingly violent. Though it may not be quite as spicy by modern standards, the flick is still plenty gritty.
Stephen King has an unbelievable amount of influence. He has a massive social media following. And any time he shares a film, television, or literary recommendation, various outlets quickly pick up what he’s putting down and pass the news along to their audience, further amplifying the author’s substantial reach. On that very note, I have a cinematic suggestion from Stephen King to share with you. Can you even stand the excitement?
What Stephen King Had To Say
I was astounded by the sheer size of things, and by the outrageous tricks of pacing that Sergio Leone tried… and pulled off, more often than not.
King is an occasional Entertainment Weekly columnist. And a while back, the It author penned an editorial fondly remembering some of his favorite movies. Among them is a classic Clint Eastwood Western. King’s write-up praises the picture, saying: “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a film I’ve written about too often to rehash here; suffice it to say that I was astounded by the sheer size of things, and by the outrageous tricks of pacing that Sergio Leone tried… and pulled off, more often than not.”
The universally acclaimed flick stars Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Antonio Casas, Aldo Giuffrè, Rada Rassimov, and Aldo Sambrell. Sergio Leone directed the picture. Italian screenwriting duo Age & Scarpelli penned the script alongside Luciano Vincenzoni and director Leone. Normally I would call that too many cooks in the kitchen, but this is a case where multiple writers came together to make magic, rather than a mess.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, although too graphic for some back in its day, has something to say. Director Leone actually described the film as a satire of the Western genre, taking care to explain that his depictions of gruesome thematic elements are sending up the classic Westerns of yesteryear. In doing so, Leone successfully made what is considered by many film scholars to be the greatest spaghetti Western of all time.
The setup for this celebrated effort goes as follows:
In the Southwest during the Civil War, a mysterious stranger, Joe (Eastwood), and a Mexican outlaw, Tuco (Eli Wallach), form an uneasy partnership—Joe turns in the bandit for the reward money, then rescues him just as he is being hanged. When Joe’s shot at the noose goes awry during one escapade, a furious Tuco tries to have him murdered. The men re-team abruptly, however, to beat out a sadistic criminal and the Union army and find $20,000 that a soldier has buried in the desert.
Where is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Available to Stream?
If you’ve slept on this cinematic classic, it’s not too late for you to remedy that oversight. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is now available to stream for free (with ads) on Tubi!
That’s just about all that we have for you at present. Stay tuned to Dread Central for more essential updates on films within your interest set that are available to stream. If you’d like to consume more of my nonsense in the meantime, feel free to look me up on Threads. I am on the platform as @FunWithHorror.
Categorized: News
