2. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Inevitable. Everyone's heard of it, most have watched it and anyone who doesn't love it is no friend of mine - seriously. Leone's concluding chapter to his "dollars" trilogy is without doubt one of the most critically regarded and culturally significant films of all time. Following three men's search for hidden treasure (one good, one bad and one ugly - go figure), The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is a sprawling Spaghetti Western that takes you through barren deserts, corrupt towns and mournful battlefields as they draw ever closer to the elusive bounty. The final shootout scene is cited by many, Tarantino included, as the finest sequence ever committed to celluloid, they might not be too far wrong either. Leone builds the tension with painstaking patience, clocking in a stand-off of around 20 minutes. It really isn't for the faint hearted, or the impatient for that matter. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is an effortlessly cool, grindingly tense and unquestionably important film. It's absolutely essential viewing, much like The Godfather or Citizen Kane, it's just a bit weird if you haven't seen it, so watch it.