The Best Movie Of Each Year From 1925-2025

60. 1966 - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Honourable Mentions: The Battle of Algiers, The Professionals, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Despite For a Few Dollars More being a high for Leone, there's no disputing the majesty of its successor, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Possibly the definitive Western, let alone the definitive Spaghetti Western, Leone's Civil War epic re-teamed Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef but played the latter more to type as the villainous Angel Eyes, with Eastwood assuming the role of a younger Man with no Name, this time called "Blondie".

The real star of the film, though, is Eli Wallach as Tuco - "the Ugly" from the title - whose performance combines a perfect mixture of comedic timing and genuine pathos so as to outwrestle the film from his two co-leads.

With his third entry in the Dollars Trilogy, Leone's formula was fully established, only blown up to a more sweeping scale that would become the hallmark of his (sadly just three) remaining efforts. Whether you favour his preceding or succeeding films, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is still a masterpiece.