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[absoluta-nihil]

God imagine being Lee Van Cleef and you get typecast as a villain a lot because you are capable of looking Like This 

But you’re also just like. a guy who lost a fingertip trying to build a playhouse for your daughter and an EXCELLENT actor who initially was offered a main heroic supporting role in High Noon on the strength of your acting skills before some fuckwad who I would love to go back in time and strangle said your nose looked villainous and tried to convince you to get plastic surgery and demoted you to minor villain when you refused

And you almost die in a car crash, your acting career never really took off, then out of nowhere some Italian director called Sergio Leone loses the actor he wanted for his secondary protagonist for his second movie with this new guy called Clint Eastwood, panics, looks around, decides on you and hauls you across the ocean to play a sympathetic antihero protagonist in a role that makes you famous across Europe. You are now a Spaghetti Western Guy. You play another villain in another Leone movie, what turns out to be one of the most famous Westerns, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, along with many other roles across the spectrum of villainous to heroic. 

Anyways I love how much character we get to see in For a Few Dollars More. He comes in with the steely-eyed “out of my way or I will shoot you” but then we get to see, for example, the confusion and consternation of having to deal with Manco:

The “sorry, you don’t have enough friendship points to ask about the tragic backstory yet, try again later” face

here he is growing increasingly concerned at what he sees from his surveillance window

a silent “oh. fuck.” 

experiencing a partnership breakup

trying to process how on earth intentionally letting him escape benefits his enemy’s schemes 

being rescued in the eleventh hour by a guy who he thought hated him (why is my copy of this scene the grungiest quality I’ve seen) 

Is this what it feels like to care about actors? Am I only capable of caring about actors if they’re deceased WWII veterans with villain-typecast faces? Anyways I think LVC is very cool 

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[absoluta-nihil]

Agree 100%

My vision is evolving

So, I rewatched the GBU yesterday, and I have to say that my sentiment towards Sentenza (Angel Eyes) has drastically changed, and I do in fact ship him with Blondie.  Despite being framed as the bad guy and being the film’s antagonist, he is, eh, not bad. Definitely not much worse than Tuco or Blondie, they all are made from the same mold: opportunistic conmen & killers. During my close watching I was surprised to discover that Sentenza is not only NOT excessively violent despite every descriptions of the film reinforcing this idea, he might be even less of a sadist than Tuco, lol. He is efficient and ruthless, but I can’t brand him unscrupulous. He is generally not prone to excessive violence. And he is no stranger to compassion, e.g. he is deeply moved/disturbed by the sight of the wounded at that embattled Confederate outpost, not unlike Blondie during the bridge episode:

Sentenza kills Stevens because he was paid to and he kills Baker for the same reason - he is ruthless, and certainly enjoys being the best at what he does, but he is also principled and professional that way. Arguably stealing somebody’s money after killing them is worse than being of service to them posthumously?And Sentenza kills Stevens’ son because the other intends to kill him in that moment, which is a rational even if despicable act of self-defense on Sentenza’s part. But he doesn’t go after the rest of Stevens’ defenseless family. Neither does he kill Captain Harper, whom he honestly cant’t stand because of the Captain’s shining idealism, accusations and threats, even though he has the opportunity to poison him out of spite etc. Sententza gives Tuco, what, four chances to be amiable with him before he calls Wallace in? And he doesn’t enjoy Tuco being tortured either. 

He would have killed him if he had wanted to, he would have done many things differently if he had been unreasonable. But Sentenza is just cold and methodical, I don’t think that he relishes in violence per se. He lets Maria go when she gives him the information he needs, he has a spark of compassion for his legless informant and isn’t pissed off when he requires more pay for the information, he leaves the bottle he gives to the Confederate soldier he pities, again, like Blondie when he comforts dying Captain Clinton. 

And I would say that he would honestly give Blondie his half like he promised precisely because 1) he is principled/balanced, 2) he is rational and therefore probably well-aware that 200 thousand in gold is only more difficult to transport and therefore the sum would only endanger him, 3) he genuinely likes Blondie a lot, which can’t be said about his attitude towards Tuco, who, in his eyes, makes things unnecessary difficult and is generally oafish and unreliable. 

Blondie is something very different, and Blondie also at the very least respects Sentenza, although I would go as far as saying that they like each other. The moment when Blondie takes off his hat - before he sees Tuco’s blood on the floor - can even be read as having a flirtatious undercurrent.

So, yeah, if the fandom as a whole is okay with Blondie leaving Tuco behind in a desert and with Tuco’s physical and psychological torture of Blondie as well as his betrayals (or with the fact that he forces Blondie to have his new partner hanged in front of him out of sheer spite), I think it’s imperative to be ready to acknowledge that there is honesty about Sentenza that needs to be respected. 

[absoluta-nihil]

Is this movie made by LVC’s fans? Why is it filled with closeup shots emphasise how great looking Lee really was. Plus Lee wearing a white T soaked in shower and got in fight with a gang in prison. Is it made according to tags from Ao3? ;)

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Cat adopts stray kitten

(via)

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lee van cleef’s characters collecting men left and right

honestly good for them, good for them

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Here comes big nasty

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some sexy badass walking

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Badgers and coyotes hunt together. It's a thing. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explains that “studies have shown that this unusual relationship is beneficial for both species. The coyote can chase down prey if it runs and the badger can dig after prey if it heads underground into its burrow systems.”

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i love lee van cleef so much, happy birthday to my favourite actor

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Ehm, as soon as I saw the notification for this, I immediately had heart eyes🙈so I had to share it with you all

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Ducks love peas

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Little cute animals and the Old gorgeous man

@kerugiall

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