The classic Mexican Standoff.
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- Clint Eastwood proving why he's the first one."Your spurs."
- The three-way Mexican Standoff at the end.
Three guys eyeballing one another for five minutes straight has never been so breathtaking."You pig. You wanted to get me killed! When did you unload it?""Last night."- Even more awesome in hindsight, for Blondie: Angel Eyes had to shoot Tuco first, as he couldn't risk Blondie having bluffed the name on the rock, and Tuco was already disarmed, so all Blondie had to do was wait for Angel Eyes to pick up his gun to shoot him in the distraction. He had already won, the other two just didn't know it yet.
- One of Tuco's One Liners, following him subverting a Just Between You and Me moment by shooting his would-be assailant:"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk!"
- Or the part where he sacrifices his True Companions in order to pull a *Click* Hello on Blondie - with his spurs. Simultaneously an instance of dog-kicking and an awesome moment for the character.
- The amazingly rousing music, courtesy of legend Ennio Morricone.
- "Were you gonna die alone?"
- Angel Eyes' introduction. It's so damn evil it crosses the line into awesome.
- Another example before the final showdown, where Angel Eyes manages to get to Sad Hill and get the drop on both Blondie and Tuco, one of the few times Blondie is caught off guard.
- Tuco trying to find the grave that the gold is buried in. He runs through the graveyard, searching every headstone, but as the shot continues, with Tuco running through an endless forest of headstones, one begins to get a sense of perspective, of just how insignificant these three men and their petty struggle is compared to what is happening in the world everywhere they turn. Hundreds of thousands of men are dying in this war, and three vagabonds fight over a pile of money.
- The very fact that Eli Wallach came out of filming alive after all the dangers and misfortunes he faced filming. He survived accidental poisoning and strangulation for this one role and he made it out in more or less one piece. And he enjoyed the experience so thoroughly that when his friend Henry Fonda approached him about working with Sergio Leone for Once Upon a Time in the West, Wallach heartily recommended that he take the part. Wallach died in 2014 at the age of 98 years old, nearly reaching 100. What a awesome badass he is.
- Tuco getting revenge on Corporal Wallace by throwing him off the train with him, killing him and then severing the cuffs via an oncoming train. After the brutal beating he received at the hands of the corporal, you're pretty much cheering for Tuco at this point.
- The beating is also a CMOA, if only because Tuco absolutely tanks Wallace's blows, with enough gumption still left over to utter threats and at one point grab Wallace's throat and squeeze apparently hard enough to make Wallace visibly uncomfortable.
- Blondie's scathing remark to Tuco when the latter threatened to kill him after Blondie found out the name on the grave where the gold is buried: "If you [kill me], you'll always be poor, just like the greasy rat that you are." Ouch.
- So Tuco is by the blistered Blondie's bedside, desperately begging him to tell him the name on the grave in which the gold is buried. Blondie beckons him closer... and throws coffee in the bandit's face. And then to stop Tuco from doing or saying anything violent, proceeds to shut him up with just a few words.Blondie: I'll... sleep better... knowing... my... good friend... is by my side... to protect me.
- Tuco's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Pablo, calling him out for his hypocrisy.
- Having been left behind by Blondie in the middle of nowhere, Tuco makes it back to town by having to walk day and night through a scorching desert, with no horse and no supplies, through sheer force of willpower alone. We see him at the end of his journey and he's dehydrated and absolutely exhausted. You can only imagine what he had to go through to finally reach town.
- Tuco's Establishing Character Moment, where he is accosted by a trio of Bounty Hunters. The bounty hunters kick down the door of the saloon where he's dining. We hear gunshots and see Tuco dive out the window with his pistol in one hand and a turkey leg and a bottle in the other. As Tuco flees, the camera pans to the tavern's entrance where we see two dead bounty hunters and the third seriously wounded.
- Every time the words (You see, in this world, there's two kinds of people my friend...) and whatever follows next but especially after the finale:]Blondie: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig..
- Blondie splitting that rope in the last scene with one neat shot.
