Those who study film even casually know that one of the great “arts” behind a successful film is that of editing, i.e. splicing scenes together to make an impact.

It’s been said that Alfred Hitchcock became so good at making his films that editing didn’t matter as much as he essentially did all the edits in camera.  I believe it was stated that when he directed Rear Window, a film that was made entirely on an elaborate set, the editors simply cut out the frames which showed the director yelling action and cut and put them together with the next scenes filmed.

But Alfred Hitchcock was a unique talent in his field and directors often “create” their movies while in the editing room and with their editor, unless of course they are also the editors of their films.

Steven Spielberg, in talking about Jaws in the extras on the movie’s disc, offered praise for the work of editor Verna Fields in “making” the film such a hit.

Here then is a fascinating bit of film which I found at vimeo.com.  In it is a great examination of the editing in the final gunfight from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and shows the mathematical precision of what was going on in this scene: