I don't think it's possible to have not heard of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The name has countless other uses, it sits within the top ten on IMDB and the theme is entirely iconic. Have you seen it? I finally showed it to my wife over the weekend.
The 'Dollars' trilogy, of which this is the conclusion, were all made by the Italian director Sergio Leone and starred Clint Eastwood. They're considered 'Spaghetti Westerns' due to their Italian production and methods. Casts were diverse and each person spoke in their native language, with all sound (including speaking) added after filming. The stars would speak English but the timing of the added dub is still sometimes off. Other characters mouths don't sync well at all. This shouldn't take away from the stellar moviemaking. The films are not connected in any meaningful way, so you don't need to have seen A Fistful of Dollars or For a Few Dollars More to enjoy this one.
Clint Eastwood plays the same character throughout, the 'Man with No Name' (though he's called something different in each). As westerns, they take place in the American wild west. Clint's character isn't your typical John Wayne or Gary Cooper western hero, as there's no honor to preserve or lives to save. Instead he's an outlaw intent on making himself money, and does it outsmarting and outshooting his enemies. All the main characters are talented and greedy men without scruples. The Man with No Name is just the best of them.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly takes place during the Civil War, and intersects with the 1862 New Mexico campaign. The Man with No Name, called 'Blondie' here, along with an erstwhile partner scheme to take money from several small towns. Blondie is more typical in the respect he's tall, thin and a protagonist of few words. His partner Tuco is the opposite, brash and obnoxious, yet manages to steal the show. While they work together, each man is looking out for #1 and shows no real loyalty to the other. Things change when they hear of a truly massive prize, $200,000 in gold, resulting in a journey across the west to find it. Another dangerous man, 'Angel Eyes,' also seeks the gold. These three make up the title characters. The Civil War, meanwhile, serves as a fantastic backdrop for these men to make it rich. There are armies to infiltrate, towns in chaos to use and abuse, plus the surrounding desert looms.
The film is truly epic in scope and style. There are gorgeous wide shots of the landscape, extreme close ups on the characters, and long periods of no one talking. Tension punishingly builds to quick action gunfights. Leone always takes his time, and while I absolutely think the apprehension is to the movie's benefit, my wife wasn't always a fan. Ennio Morricone's beautiful score adds so much too. The coyote trumpet wail is famous, but the best piece of music is The Ecstasy of Gold (a song also covered by Metallica). The search culminates in a sprint through a graveyard and an ultimate showdown. I had forgotten the very last scene and it brought a huge smile to my face.
As epics generally are, it's long at nearly three hours in total. It's worth every second. Somewhat under-appreciated on release, it's become arguably the most influential western of all time and one to which all others are compared. Eastwood was already well known for playing Rowdy Yates on Rawhide but this film in particular rocketed him to movie stardom, leading to roles in a number of other westerns and Dirty Harry. In case you can't tell, I think it's a must-see.
Something I have to add. While I do love this film, Leone's next is my absolute favorite. I'm not only talking favorite western, but any movie ever. Called Once Upon a Time in the West that'll have to be a post for another time.
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