Tuco (The Ugly)
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Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez ("known as the Rat"), who was "the Ugly" (or "il brutto" in the original Italian), is a character played by Eli Wallach in the spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. A wandering Mexican bandit, Tuco was primarily concerned with watching out for his own interests and had little regard for others. He was a mad bumbler of sorts who often survived more so by luck and toughness than skill or finesse.
Film viewers were often charmed by Tuco's animated, talkative and funny manner, to the point of overlooking many of his brutish, amoral actions. Tuco also occasionally seemed to contradict his dastardly behavior by crossing himself, as if by reflex due to his Catholic upbringing. This act allowed the audience to view Tuco as he must have been once - young and innocent - and served to draw affectionate laughter from the viewer during otherwise gruesome scenes. Labeled as "the Ugly," Tuco's character reflected the reality of human nature - that man is neither all good nor all bad.
A few key scenes reveal Tuco's character in a very poignant way:
1) In the opening scene of the movie, three armed men approach Tuco while he is eating in a tavern. Unseen, three shots are fired, three bodies fall and Tuco flees. This shows he is adept at survival and a man who is not easy to kill.
2) Blondie, Clint Eastwood's character, betrays him and leaves him stranded with no water in the middle of the desert. Tuco survives the trek back and makes good on his earlier words, "Whoever double-crosses me and leaves me alive, he understands nothing about Tuco."
3) While bathing, a man surprises Tuco and plans on killing him. The man is overly talkative which gives Tuco a chance to fire at him first with a pistol he had hidden in the bathwater. He then offers some amusing advice to the dead man, "When you have to shoot, SHOOT. Don't talk..."
4) After Tuco is rejected by his long lost brother Pablo, a clergy member at a mission where Blondie recovered, he begins telling Blondie lies about how much his brother loved and missed him. The sadness from being turned away from his only remaining family is evident on his face. However, as they ride on, Tuco remembers the gold he is about to recover and his grimace turns into a wide grin. This shows that greed is his overriding emotion, displacing all others.
