GUY RAZ, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. As regular listeners to this program know, we've been asking filmmakers about the movies that they never get tired of watching, including this one from one of the founding members of the rap group the Wu-Tang Clan.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

RZA: What's up? How are you all doing out there? My name is the RZA. I'm a film director. And one of the films that I've seen a million times is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, directed by Sergio Leone and music by the great, great Morricone.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

RZA: The first time I saw "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" had to be with my grandfather. Actually, he was a great Western fan. And, well, the first I saw it, it was just the coolness of the gun shooting and everything like that.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)

RZA: But as I watched it again and, you know, in my teenage years, I was just blown away by the way the scenes were set up, the way the characters were all just uniquely separate but yet had to come together, you know what I mean?

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

ELI WALLACH: (as Tuco) There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: those with a rope around their neck, and the people who have the job of doing the cutting. Listen, that neck at the end of the rope is mine. I run the risks.

CLINT EASTWOOD: (as Blondie) You may run the risks, my friend, but I do the cutting.

RZA: For someone who never seen this film, this is a film about three different individuals all out for the same thing, which is money.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (as Bounty Hunter) Hey, amigo. You know you got a face beautiful enough to be worth $2,000?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (LAUGHTER)

EASTWOOD: (as Blondie) Yeah, but you don't look like the one who collected.

RZA: If I had to pick one scene, which is hard - this is a hard one, to pick one scene - but let's just say one of my coolest scene is Eli Wallach. He's in a tub and a guy comes in.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

AL MULOCK: (as Al Mulloch) I've been looking for you for eight months.

RZA: He had shot the guy, and the guy couldn't shoot with his right hand no more.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

MULOCK: (as Al Mulloch) Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you.

RZA: But now, I know how to shoot with my left.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

MULOCK: (as Al Mulloch) Now, I find you in exactly the position that suits me.

RZA: But right about the time he finished saying what he's going to say, Eli Wallach just shoots him.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

WALLACH: (as Tuco) When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk.

RZA: Then there's a music scene.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

RZA: Then Clint Eastwood comes up with a great line.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

EASTWOOD: (as Blondie) Every gun makes its own tune.

RZA: Every gun has its own tune.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

RZA: When I watched it on DVD, this is when I really learned to appreciate the film, because by now, TV screens got bigger, and you could see the scope of the cinematography, you know, the wide shots and how he was able to catch the barrenness of these cities or these villages. It's funny. This movie is, to me, an American classic, even though it's an Italian film.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY")

RAZ: That's the RZA talking about the movie he could watch a million times, Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." The RZA directed and cowrote the new film "The Man with the Iron Fists," which opened in theaters this weekend. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.