Three outsiders seek their fortunes amidst the American Civil War in the Southwest.

I’m breaking down movies by their three-act structure. What is three-act structure? I explain it here.

Note: I break the story down into five-minute blocks to make it easier to see the length of each section. Rough time codes follow.

Prolog

Opening credits. Tuco kills bounty hunters. 5

Act 1

Angel Eyes visits Stevens for info about “Jackson” and the gold their gang had stolen: Jackson has it and renamed himself “Bill Carson”. (Introducing what will become a secondary conflict and its villain). 10

Because Baker has paid him, Angel Eyes kills Stevens and his son. Angel Eyes takes the money Stevens offered him to kill Baker instead. 15

Angel Eyes reports to Baker and kills him for Stevens. Blondie shoots some bounty hunters that nearly captured Tuco and takes Tuco prisoner himself (introducing the hero and villain, altho the two of them become heroes in the secondary conflict). 20

Blondie turns Tuco in for the reward. But as Tuco is set to hang, Blondie saves him by shooting the noose (the call to adventure). They meet up later and split the reward money. 25

Tuco and Blondie pull the scam again. Angel Eyes learns Carson has a woman in Santa Ana and indicates he knows Blondie. Tuco harangues Blondie, so Blondie leaves him in the desert with nothing (introducing the conflict). 30

In Santa Ana, Angel Eyes brutally interrogates Maria, Carson’s woman: Carson went to Santa Fe with his army unit. Tuco manages to get to a town. 35

Tuco tests some pistols and assembles one from various guns. He then robs the shopkeeper. He gets some help from old friends holed up in an underground grotto. 40

Tuco and friends find Blondie in a hotel, but Blondie kills some of them. 45

This doesn’t make a lot of sense as the end of act 1 of a 3-act story. Tuco has had this revenge cooking for some time. And Blondie isn’t moved to take action against Tuco. And neither is even aware of the gold.

Act 2

Tuco captures Blondie in his room and puts him in a noose, but a Union-Confederate battle occurs outside, and a cannonball crashes into the room. Blondie escapes. 50

Angel Eyes visits a ruined town (Santa Fe?) and learns Carson’s unit has gone to Glorieta. 55

Tuco tracks and captures Blondie in the middle of pulling another bounty hunting scam. He forces Blondie to walk thru the desert (plot twist 1!). 60

Tuco torments Blondie in the desert. 65

Tuco stops a runaway Confederate ambulance coach containing Bill Carson, who offers the location of the gold for help: Sad Hill Cemetery. 70

While Tuco is getting water, Blondie–nearly dead himself–gets Carson’s final words–the name on the grave where the gold is buried. Tuco now tries to save Blondie by taking him to Mission San Antonio in Confederate disguise. 75

Here, Blondie and Tuco take over the central conflict from Jackson/Carson, a very unusual development, particularly because Angel Eyes doesn’t know about it. Can you have a conflict when the people involved don’t know they are in conflict?

Tuco gets Blondie help from the monks at Mission San Antonio. Tuco expresses remorse. 80

Altho told he is dying by Tuco, Blondie refuses to say where the gold is and says they’ll go after it together. Tuco argues with his brother, Father Ramirez, over their life choices. 85

Blondie and Tuco go after the gold together, still in Confederate disguise. 90

When they encounter a Union army unit, Tuco and Blondie get captured. (Crisis!) They are marched to Batterville prison camp, where Angel Eyes is disguised as a Union officer. 95

Midpoint, a little late

The commandant, dying of gangrene, berates Angel Eyes for repeated cruelty to the prisoners. Angel Eyes invites Tuco for a meal and tries to learn Bill Carson’s secret. 100

Angel Eyes has Tuco tortured by a sergeant while prisoners are forced to play music to cover the noise. 105

Angel Eyes gets the name of the cemetery from Tuco and, knowing Blondie wouldn’t break, offers to partner with him to get the gold (plot twist 2). 110

Tuco is put on a train to go to the gallows. Blondie kills one of Angel Eyes’ men, who is following. 115

Tuco kills the sadistic sergeant, escapes the train, and hops one going the other way. He and Angel Eyes end up in the same abandoned town on the way to the cemetery, and so does a bounty hunter from the beginning of the film. 120

Tuco, taking a bath, kills the bounty hunter. Blondie hears it and finds him. They renew their deal. 125

Blondie and Tuco go to kill Angel Eyes. They kill his men, but Angel Eyes escapes, leaving a taunting note. 130

Tuco and Blondie set off for the cemetery but get captured by Union soldiers at the siege of a bridge (the defeat, sort of; it’s not like they’re in a race with Angel Eyes at this point; he doesn’t know where to dig and presumably also can’t cross the river). 135

Act 3

The captain complains about the standoff at the bridge. Both sides want it intact. 140

Blondie and Tuco watch the battle and, when the captain is brought back wounded, form a plan (turning the tables). 145

Blondie and Tuco set explosives on the log bridge. They reveal their secrets (the secret key): they need to dig up the grave of Arch Stanton in Sad Hill cemetery. They blow up the bridge. The captain dies. 150

The area now abandoned by the two armies, Tuco and Blondie cross the river safely. Blondie comforts a mortally wounded soldier and then takes his serape. 155

The character wears the serape in A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, which are set later.

Tuco takes an abandoned horse and rides for Sad Hill, leaving Blondie behind (turning the tables on Blondie as the conflict is between the two of them). Blondie fires an abandoned cannon at him. Tuco falls off his horse but runs all over the cemetery. 160

As Tuco starts digging up Arch Stanton’s grave, Blondie catches up. Angel Eyes sneaks up on them. Blondie explains the gold isn’t actually in Arch Stanton’s grave but one nearby. Blondie writes the name on a stone and proposes a shootout. 165

Blondie and Tuco both shoot at Angel Eyes, but Tuco’s gun has no bullets. Blondie dumps Angel Eyes into an open grave and explains that he unloaded Tuco’s pistol the night before. He reveals the stone says nothing and makes Tuco dig up a nearby unmarked grave. Tuco digs up the bags of gold coins. (Resolving the the central conflict.) 170

Epilog

Blondie makes Tuco stand on a grave marker and put a noose around his neck. He rides off, leaving half the gold for Tuco. As Tuco struggles, Blondie stops and shoots the noose to free him, as he had done in their scam (resolving the new conflict Tuco created by leaving Blondie behind). 175

Blondie rides off as Tuco curses him. 180