Almost 60 Years Later, Clint Eastwood's Iconic Western That Was Initially Panned by Critics Is a Streaming Hit

There really is no one else like Clint Eastwood. One of the most important figures in cinema history, the 95-year-old has had perhaps the most illustrious career of any living actor/director, including four Academy Awards wins across different categories, the Cannes Film Festival’s Honorary Golden Palm Award, and some of the most quotable lines from the movies. Given his pedigree, it is no small feat when general discourse labels an Eastwood film as his best, especially considering he has either starred in or directed over 100 titles.

Under the guidance of the great Sergio Leone, Eastwood produced one of the finest works of his career in the 1966 Western classic, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Almost 60 years on, with Eastwood’s latest movie having only recently debuted to positive praise last year, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a free streaming hit in America. At the time of writing, the pivotal piece of cinema is one of the ten most-streamed movies on Tubi, among a list of similarly heralded masterpieces. This includes Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element, the genius Scarface, the Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal-starring Life, and, at the top of the list, Martin Scorsese’s magnum opus, Goodfellas. For anyone yet to see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, here’s a look at the movie’s synopsis:

“In the Southwest during the Civil War, a mysterious stranger, Joe (Clint Eastwood), and a Mexican outlaw, Tuco (Eli Wallach), form an uneasy partnership — Joe turns in the bandit for the reward money, then rescues him just as he is being hanged. When Joe’s shot at the noose goes awry during one escapade, a furious Tuco tries to have him murdered. The men re-team abruptly, however, to beat out a sadistic criminal and the Union army and find $20,000 that a soldier has buried in the desert.”

‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ Wasn’t Always Considered a Work of Genius

Often, films we consider masterpieces today are met with much more scrutiny when first released, a fact giving hope to many of the movies facing mixed reception today. As hard to believe as it is, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was one of these, receiving negative-leaning reviews upon its U.S. debut. Today, the film holds a 97% rating from both critics and audiences on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the dramatic shift in its reception one of the most important reevaluations modern audiences have made.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is streaming now on Tubi.