God I Wrote About It Before But The Subtext In The Scene Where Blondie Meets Angel Eyes After Tuco's

god i wrote about it before but the subtext in the scene where blondie meets angel eyes after tuco's torture is off the charts, i could go on it about it forever. so i will.

angel eye's first line is "the war's over for you," because for angel eyes the war is transactional, it's a costume much more than it is for blondie and tuco. but it's become so clear by this point in the movie (and will become even clearer) that the civil war is not over for anyone, that it is untold suffering and death that destroys the lives of everyone it touches. except angel eyes, death itself, the exploitation and casual cruelty of the war made manifest.

angel eyes himself is so casual that it feels outright domestic. obviously this is because of his arrogance, his belief that he's untouchable and has already won, but what's the first thing he does? walk on camera and get himself a drink, his back turned to blondie. he spends the entire scene talking to blondie like he's a domestic partner, telling him to get dressed, explaining where they're going, and reassuring him that he's "not greedy" because he'll "only take half."

compare angel eye's conversation with blondie to the one he has with tuco, just before. blondie is violently shoved through the door in the exact same way, with the exact same shot.

and in tuco's version of the scene, we get angel eyes, in the exact same shot, but it's a performance. angel eyes is already at the table, chairs set up, an over the top feast of food prepared with a god damn tablecloth, and he sits himself down as he announces "don't be bashful - there's no formalities here."

angel eyes keeps tuco in his vision, turning to watch him. but there's no suggestion of domesticity. it's what we've already seen, when angel eyes is introduced to us by having dinner with his victim - it's an interrogation. he's playing good cop. tuco knows his friendliness is false, he suspects the food is poisoned, he smells the whiskey, and he freezes in alarm when angel eyes slaps him on the back. he also keeps looking at angel eyes, or around the room, suspiciously. it's only when angel eyes is signaling to his men that he's going to start the torture that he really turns his back to tuco.

so: blondie. angel eyes keeps his back to blondie for a long time, even though he thinks blondie is far more of a threat. he smugly tells blondie that they're going to get the money, because blondie has the name of the grave. blondie smirks, looks aside, and takes off his hat...

and the song from the torture scene, mournful and haunting, plays as blondie, for a very long moment, pauses. his face falls. his shoulders slump. whatever witty comment he was going to make dies. he's, for the first time in a long time, vulnerable and human. it's a dramatic character shift that's visually represented by the loss of his hat for the rest of the scene.

and after some severe close-ups of blondie as he subtextually stands his ground against angel eyes ("and you, would you talk?" "no. probably not."), that's when blondie asks, with unusual hesitation and an even more unusual display of emotion: "and tuco... is he...?"

and god, the end of that scene. absolutely brilliant. angel eyes, still informal and arrogant, throws blondie a gun while he casually puts on his vest. blondie spins the gun, looks down at it, and smiles. and angel eyes freezes. he stares hard at the gun and puts on his vest slowly. he realizes he might have made a mistake. for the first time in the movie, ever, he's threatened.

and then blondie looks back at angel eyes and says, with emphasis, like fucking john wick, "yeah." the camera zooms in, past blondie's still smiling face, as he slides the gun into the holster, and keeps zooming in as the gun slides all the way into the holster, barrel clearly visible.

blondie is saying, without a word: "i can kill you any time. i could have killed you now. and i will kill you, for what you did to tuco."

which is exactly what he does, the final "fuck you" to the "fuck you" he gives angel eyes in this scene. it foreshadows the exact outcome of the duel perfectly. it's brilliant. what a film.