| “ | But you know, the pity is when I'm paid, I always follow my job through. | „ |
| ~ Angel Eyes |
Angel Eyes (Sentenza in the original Italian version), also known as "The Bad", is the primary antagonist in Sergio Leone's legendary 1966 western film, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). He is a traitorous and cruel assassin who crosses path with the other two titular characters, all looking for a stash of Confederate Gold.
He was portrayed by the late Lee Van Cleef, and has become one of the most iconic bad guys in film history.
History
Angel Eyes is a ruthless and cunning killer, who has been hired to get clues on the whereabouts of a man called Jackson, finding out he has changed his name to Bill Carson and is gone missing. Upon being told that a fortune in cash is in the middle of this thing, he kills Carson's former associate and his own employer and goes on a search by himself.
After learning that Carson is with the Confederacy, he gets a job as a Sergeant at a Union prison camp in case the man is captured. When Blondie (The Good) and Tuco (The Ugly) fall in this camp, he deduces that Carson is dead and that Tuco was one of the last people to see him alive. He gets one of his henchmen to brutally beat Tuco in order to find out about the money, which works, as he reveals the name of the cemetery it's buried at.
Angel Eyes then recruits Blondie as a member of his gang, since he knows the specific grave where the treasure is, and offers him a 50/50 deal. In the meantime, Tuco has been put on a train which is headed to a far town where he is to be hanged, but he manages to escape and kill his guard (thus getting revenge for the beating, too). Blondie eventually breaks free from Angel Eyes' custody and reunites with Tuco, reaching the cemetery after spending a day and a night at a Union fort. While they are looking for the money, Angel Eyes suddenly shows up for the final duel.
Ironically, of the three main characters, Angel Eyes is the one who (explicitly) kills less people throughout the film; yet he clearly is the most vicious, as he takes a certain joy in killing and has the cold blood to joke with Tuco during the latter's torture and interrogatory.
Trivia
- Park Chang-yi was based on him.
- Rattlesnake Jake was also indirectly based on him.