The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Three Koreans in exile cross paths in 1930s Manchuria during the Japanese occupation. Park Chang-yi, the hitman/bandit leader, is hired to steal a treasure map from a Japanese official, but a train robber, Yoon Tae-goo, beats him to the punch - only to be captured by a Bounty Hunter, Park Do-won. Tae-goo talks Do-won into helping him search for the treasure instead, and they set off through the desert together, with Chang-yi's gang and the Japanese army in pursuit. During the action-filled chase that follows, each of the three turns out to have some hidden motives.
The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a Korean remake of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but while the original is an epic Spaghetti Western, the remake is a more fast-paced and less serious action film.
Compare and Contrast with Sukiyaki Western Django.
Tropes used in The Good, the Bad, the Weird include:
- Action Survivor: Tae-goo seems to be this; no one knows what skills he has, they just know that he survives no matter what you throw at him. In several scenes he gets away only because Do-won helps him out. In truth, though, this is Obfuscating Stupidity, and he is in fact a textbook Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.
- Ass Shove: Tae-goo kills two people this way. When the Japanese find the bodies, they think he's a pervert.
- Badass Longcoat: Chang-yi and Do-won - the latter providing the movie's Shout-Out to the iconic standoff in Once Upon a Time in the West.
- Berserk Button: Chang-yi is driven into a psychopathic rage at the mention of Tae-goo's name, especially if his prowess as a fighter is also mentioned.
- Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate: Come rain, come shine or come gunfights in the desert, Chang-yi's shirt collar remains crisp and white
- Camera Abuse: The camera gets sprayed with blood, mud and shrapnel, and even hit by a horse.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Tae-goo. Most of the movie seems to be geared towards making us forget his very introduction scene.
- Disproportionate Retribution
- Downer Ending: In the International cut, at least.
- The Empire: Of Japan.
- Evil Costume Switch: A zig-zagging example. As the "Finger-chopper", Tae-goo wore a black Badass Biker outfit instead of the brown clothes he wears during the movie. In The Stinger during the credits, he's shown back in his old gear.
- Evil Is Sexy: Chang-yi is the only one who we get to see shirtless. And he's ripped.
- Expy: Do-won, Tae-goo and Chang-yi are Expies of Blondie, Tuco and Angel Eyes, respectively
- Early-Bird Cameo: Look closely in the salemen scene at the beginning, you can spot both Do-won taking his seat and Tae-goo's friend trying to talk to him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Chang-yi, a hitman, scoffs at Koreans who are loyal to Japan.
- Fast Roping: Do-won during the Ghost Market fight, wielding his rifle with one hand
- Fingore
- Good Guns, Bad Guns: Only villains and mooks use automatic weapons.
- Guns Akimbo: Tae-Goo
- Guyliner
- Handicapped Badass: Chang-yi. Missing the right index finger but can shoot just fine.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Chang-yi. Don't look, talk, interact with him in any way; the chances are, he will kill you, for no damn good reason at all.
- I Hate Past Me/But for Me It Was Tuesday: Tae-goo's past deeds, depending on your interpretation
- Imperial Japan: The occupiers of Manchuria and Korea and a major opponent
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: For all three of the protagonists: Do-won dresses like a cowboy, Chang-yi like a pop star, and Tae-goo like a hipster Rummage Sale Reject. And they are all in 1930s Manchuria.
- Improbable Aiming Skills
- Improvised Armour: The diving helmet in the Ghost Market scene
- Katanas of the Rising Sun: One of the major antagonists and providers of cannon fodder.
- Kick the Dog
- Knife Nut: Chang-yi. Tae-goo when he was the Finger-Chopper.
- Les Collaborateurs: Some of the characters in the movie are wealthy Koreans who work for the Japanese. They all tend to die rather messily.
- Mexican Standoff/Showdown At High Noon
- Mood Whiplash
- Morality Pet: Tae-goo's family
- Mr. Fanservice: Chang-yi
- New Old West: Except it's in the East
- Nice Hat: Do-won and Tae-goo
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Tae-goo
- One-Man Army: Do-won. This becomes apparent when he takes on an entire cavalry company of the Japanese Army. By himself. And wins.
- Opium Den: Tae-goo ends up in one, though he's really only looking for a room to spend the night.
- Pet the Dog: Tae-goo's kindness to those children. Do-won's expression of idealistic sentiments might also qualify. He's not a bad guy to begin with, but is more sympathetic after showing he does his work because of a code, not just for the cash.
- Quick Draw
- Quick Nip
- The Quiet One: Do-won
- Rasputinian Death: All three main characters take about a dozen bullets before going down.
- Recut: The alternative ending found on most of the DVD's is basically just a longer version of the Ending which closes some plot elements like what happened to the rest of the Japanese army and gives a clearer explanation for what we see at the end of the theatrical version.
- Recycled in Space: It's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly WITH KOREANS IN 1930s MANCHURIA!
- Retired Monster: Tae-goo AKA the Finger-chopper
- Second Sino-Japanese War
- Shout-Out:
- Toward the end of the film, Chang-yi shoots off Tae-goo's hat and keeps shooting it every time Tae-goo tries to retrieve it from the ground. This is quite similar to a scene in For a Few Dollars More where Monco and Colonel Mortimer do this to each other.
- During the climactic standoff, a panning shot shows Chang-yi and Tae-goo in the distance, with Do-won in the foreground, seen from the back, wearing his longcoat and carrying his Winchester rifle. This mirrors the scene in Once Upon a Time in the West.
- In the alternative ending, it's revealed that Tae-goo pulled the same trick as Joe in A Fistful of Dollars.
- Spaghetti Western: The film is indebted to this genre.
- Stern Chase
- Super Window Jump
- Surprisingly Good Foreign Language: Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin is spoken throughout the movie.
- Train Job/Traintop Battle
- Warrior Poet
- What a Drag
- White Shirt of Death
- Wire Fu
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: The so-called treasure map actually led to an oil well, which is of no value to the protagonists. This kind of seems to evoke The Treasure of the Sierra Madre especially in the version of the film where all three protagonists die needlessly. In other versions, there's a consolation in that Tae-goo and possibly Do-won as well are implied to have left with some of the loot Chang-yi brought with him.