The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Italian: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo) is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone. Director of photography Tonino Delli Colli was responsible for the film's sweeping widescreen cinematography and Ennio Morricone composed the famous film score. It is the third film in the Dollars trilogy following A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). The plot centers around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in buried Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of gunfights, hangings, Civil War battles, and prison camps.^[1]

Opening on December 23, 1966 in Italy and in the USA on December 29, 1967, the film grossed $6.1 million,^[1] but was criticized for its depiction of violence.^[2] Leone explains that "the killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns... The west was made by violent, uncomplicated men, and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures."^[3] To this day, Leone's effort to reinvigorate the timeworn Western is widely acknowledged:^[4] The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been described as European cinema's best representative of the Western genre film,^[5] and Quentin Tarantino has called it "the best-directed film of all time."^[6]

[edit] Plot

Three unnamed bounty hunters ambush Tuco in the restaurant of a desolate ghost town, before Tuco successfully shoots his way to freedom. Later, presumably miles away, Angel Eyes, employed by Baker, a bed-ridden former Confederate soldier, arrives at a distant farm to interrogate Stevens, a farmer and former soldier, regarding information about a missing man named Jackson. Stevens, Baker and Jackson were all previously involved in a scheme regarding stolen Confederate gold, with only Jackson knowing its current location. After revealing Jackson's alias as Bill Carson, Stevens offers Angel Eyes money to shoot Baker. Angel Eyes accepts the contract before fulfilling Baker's contract and shooting Stevens. Later, in the dead of night, Angel Eyes approaches a bed-ridden Baker and updates him on Carson and the hidden Confederate gold. He then slides a pillow over Baker's face and murders him.

Meanwhile, Tuco's journey across an empty desert inadvertently wanders into the rifle sights of three bounty hunters, who knock him off his horse and apprehend him. They are subsequently approached by Blondie, a mysterious lone gunman who challenges all three to a draw, which he wins with lightning speed. Tuco, appreciative of the stranger's assistance, is dismayed to learn that Blondie simply wants to deliver Tuco to the local authorities for the reward money himself. Hours later, Tuco sits atop a horse, a noose around his neck. As the authorities prepare to execute him, Blondie appears from the rafters of a barn and shoots the noose rope, allowing Tuco a quick escape. The two later meet at a secret location to split the reward money, revealing their secret partnership and lucrative money-making scheme.

They ride into the next town, where Tuco is summarily surrendered again for more reward money. In that same town is Angel Eyes, following information and leads directing him to Bill Carson. Shortly before departing in a horse-drawn carriage, he notices Tuco in the noose and Blondie nearby with a rifle and predicts Tuco's imminent escape, courtesy of a "golden-haired angel." Blondie fires just as Tuco's execution is carried out, but needs two shots to sever the rope. After their escape, Tuco is furious, spitting ominous warnings to Blondie as they stop at a desolate patch of desert. Blondie, annoyed and weary of Tuco's consistent complaints, abandons him in the desert without a horse or water while keeping the reward money for himself.

Angel Eyes follows clues leading him across the Western frontier, in the footprints of Confederate and Union soldiers alike, gradually closing the distance between himself and Bill Carson. Tuco survives the 70-mile trip back to civilization, where he assembles a custom pistol from designer Remington and Colt parts of a hapless gun store owner, whom he later robs. Tuco tracks Blondie to a town filled with Confederate soldiers fleeing Union cannon fire and ambushes him in his hotel room, standing Blondie atop a chair with a noose around his neck. As Tuco prepares to hang Blondie, a cannonball demolishes the hotel, disintegrating the floor beneath them. When Tuco regains his senses, Blondie has escaped.

Tuco relentlessly tracks Blondie through the frontier, ambushing him in the middle of another catch-and-release scheme arranged with another criminal, currently awaiting execution. After forcing Blondie to let the criminal die, Tuco travels through the harsh desert, dragging Blondie along without a hat or water. After Blondie collapses from exhaustion and dehydration, Tuco prepares to kill him when he sees a runaway horse carriage approach on the horizon. He stops the carriage and discovers a small group of dead Confederates inside. While searching the bodies, he encounters a survivor, Bill Carson, who reveals the existence of stolen Confederate gold worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in a grave in Sad Hill cemetery. Carson falls unconscious before giving the name on the grave, and Tuco runs to his horse to find water. When he returns, Carson is dead, and Blondie lies slumped against the side of the carriage. Just as Tuco prepares to kill Blondie, he reveals that he knows the name of the grave, shortly before passing out.

Disguised as Confederate soldiers, Tuco takes an unconscious Blondie to a local Catholic mission run by his brother, Father Pablo Ramirez, a Franciscan friar. While Blondie recovers, Tuco and his brother (Luigi Pistilli) confront each other about the mistakes each has made in life. After Blondie's recovery, the two leave the mission, impersonating Confederate soldiers. Days into their journey, they notice a group of apparent Confederates approaching on the horizon. To Blondie's distress, Tuco calls out, praising Confederate generals and admonishing the Union cause, before realizing the soldiers are really Union soldiers with dusty uniforms. The Union forces capture Blondie and Tuco as prisoners of war, and the two are led to a Union prison camp.

At the camp, Corporal Wallace begins a roll call, and Tuco answers for Bill Carson, catching the attention of Angel Eyes, a Union Sergeant stationed at the camp. Tuco and Angel Eyes recognize each other, and Angel Eyes arranges for a private meeting and lunch between the two, where Corporal Wallace ambushes Tuco and tortures him into revealing everything he knows about Sad Hill Cemetery, but confesses that only Blondie knows the name on the grave. Later, Blondie is forced into the same room and meets Angel Eyes, who proposes an equal partnership in recovering the Confederate gold. Blondie agrees and rides out with Angel Eyes and his posse. Tuco meanwhile, is escorted aboard a train by Corporal Wallace, to be executed at a different location. During the journey, Tuco escapes from the train and kills Wallace, shedding his Confederate uniform before jumping aboard another passing train.

Meanwhile, Blondie, Angel Eyes and his posse ride into a war-ravaged town, where they stop to rest and wait for the Union Army to march through. Across town, a healed Tuco aimlessly wanders through the wreckage, oblivious to the bounty hunter (Al Mulock) tracking him. The bounty hunter, a survivor of the shootout from the beginning of the film, ambushes Tuco in the middle of a bath, relishing his good fortune but failing to notice Tuco's concealed gun, which Tuco uses to kill him. Blocks away, Blondie hears the gunshots and leaves to investigate. Angel Eyes sends one of his men to follow Blondie, who later ambushes the henchman and shoots him. Blondie tracks down Tuco and briefs him on Angel Eyes's involvement. Tuco offers to team up with Blondie and renew their old partnership, and together they skulk through the wrecked town, killing Angel Eyes' henchmen one at a time, only to discover that Angel Eyes has escaped.

Tuco and Blondie ride further into the frontier, tracking Sad Hill Cemetery, before being ambushed by a team of Union soldiers, who disarm and deliver them to the ranking Union Captain. A great battle is brewing, Union soldiers on one side and the Confederates on the other, separated only by a narrow bridge, itself the objective of the battle, although one of questionable strategic value. As the battle starts and thousands of soldiers charge over the roar of cannon and gunfire, Blondie and Tuco disguise themselves as medics and transport a crate of dynamite to the bridge, wiring it to explode. Acknowledging that either could die at a moment's notice, they trade information regarding the Confederate gold. Tuco reveals it's in Sad Hill Cemetery, while Blondie says it's buried in a grave marked Arch Stanton. The two detonate the bridge and take cover in an alcove while the two sides angrily resume their battle.

The next morning, all is silent. Both the Confederate and Union soldiers have disappeared, and Tuco and Blondie stumble across an empty battlefield to the Confederates' abandoned post. While Blondie observes and comforts a dying Confederate soldier, Tuco steals a horse and abandons Blondie to dig up the gold for himself, finally stumbling upon the sprawling Sad Hill Cemetery, filled with thousands of graves. Blondie sees him ride off toward the cemetery and fires a cannon toward him, knocking Tuco and the horse to the ground. Blondie fires a second cannonball toward Tuco, this time knocking Tuco into a headstone at the edge of the cemetery. Tuco gets up and frantically runs through the massive graveyard, searching for Arch Stanton's name in a sea of makeshift tombstones. He discovers it and feverishly digs through the sand and dirt before hitting the coffin. Blondie suddenly appears, in time to offer Tuco a shovel, which Tuco puts to use. Moments later, another shovel is thrown onto the grave. Blondie and Tuco turn and find themselves staring at Angel Eyes, who holds them at gunpoint. Blondie refuses to dig, instead kicking open Arch Stanton's grave, revealing a skeleton clad in rags. Blondie says only he knows the true name of the grave, choosing to write it onto a rock in the middle of the graveyard, and challenging Angel Eyes and Tuco to a Mexican standoff, the winner of which will have the name and the gold.

The three stare each other down, calculating alliances, odds, dangers, advantages and predicting each other's thoughts. Finally, they draw. Blondie shoots Angel Eyes, who collapses before he can fire a shot. Tuco fires at Angel Eyes, but is surprised to find his gun unloaded. Angel Eyes, on the verge of death, tries to return fire when Blondie shoots him again, rolling his body into an open grave. Blondie explains to Tuco that he unloaded his pistol the night before, and says:

Blondie directs Tuco to the grave marked Unknown next to Arch Stanton's, and throws him a shovel. Tuco digs and is overjoyed to find bags of gold inside the coffin, but is shocked when he turns back to Blondie only to find himself staring at a noose. Tuco is forced to climb atop the crosspiece of a grave marker and wrap the noose around his own neck as Blondie ties his hands together and forces him to balance there. Blondie takes half of the gold coins and rides off into the sunset, leaving Tuco screaming for mercy. Moments later, Blondie's horse reappears on the horizon. Tuco, at first elated with Blondie's apparent change of heart, realizes Blondie is just calibrating the sights on his rifle and taking aim at Tuco. Tuco screams, Blondie fires and the noose rope is sliced in two, dropping Tuco face first onto his share of the gold. From across the field, Blondie smiles at the livid Tuco screaming "Hey Blondie, you know what you are? Just a dirty son-of-a bitch!", before turning and riding into the frontier.

[edit] Cast

[edit] The Trio

• Clint Eastwood as Blondie: The Good, a subdued, cocksure bounty hunter who competes with Tuco and Angel Eyes to find the buried gold in the middle of the two warring factions of the American Civil War. Blondie and Tuco have an ambivalent partnership. Tuco knows the name of the cemetery where the gold is hidden, but Blondie knows the name of the grave where it's buried, forcing them to work together to find the treasure. In spite of this greedy quest, Blondie's pity for the dying soldiers in the chaotic carnage of the War is evident. "I've never seen so many men wasted so badly," he laments. Rawhide had ended its run in 1965 and at that point none of Clint Eastwood's Italian films had been released in the United States. When Leone offered him a role in his next movie it was the only big film offer he had but the actor still needed to be convinced to do it. Leone and his wife traveled to California to persuade Eastwood. Two days later, he agreed to make the movie and would be paid $250,000 plus 10% of the profits from the North American markets – a deal that Leone was not happy with.
• Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes: The Bad, a ruthless, unfeeling mercenary named "Angel Eyes" Sentenza who kills anyone in his path. When Blondie and Tuco are captured while posing as Confederate soldiers, Angel Eyes is the Union sergeant who interrogates them and tortures Tuco, eventually learning the name of the cemetery where the gold is buried, but not the tombstone. Angel Eyes forms a fleeting partnership with Blondie, but Tuco and Blondie turn on Angel Eyes when they get their chance. Originally, Leone wanted Charles Bronson to play Angel Eyes but he had already committed to The Dirty Dozen (1967). Leone thought about working with Lee Van Cleef again: "I said to myself that Van Cleef had first played a romantic character in For a Few Dollars More. The idea of getting him to play a character who was the opposite of that began to appeal to me."^[7]
• Eli Wallach as Tuco: The Ugly, Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, a comical, oafish, fast talking bandit who is wanted by the authorities. Tuco manages to discover the name of the cemetery where the gold is buried, but he doesn't know the name of the grave - only Blondie does. This state of affairs forces Tuco to become reluctant partners with Blondie. The director originally considered Gian Maria Volonté for the role of Tuco, but felt that the role required someone with "natural comic talent". In the end, Leone chose actor Eli Wallach based on his role in How the West Was Won (1962), in particular, his performance in "The Railroads" scene.^[7] Leone met with Wallach in L.A. who was skeptical about playing this type of character again, but after Leone screened the opening credit sequence from For a Few Dollars More, Wallach said: "When do you want me?"^[7] The two men got along famously, sharing the same bizarre sense of humor. Leone allowed Wallach to make changes to his character in terms of his outfit and recurring gestures. Both Eastwood and Van Cleef realized that the character of Tuco was close to Leone's heart, and director and Wallach became good friends. Van Cleef observed, "Tuco is the only one of the trio the audience gets to know all about. We meet his brother and find out where he came from and why he became a bandit. But Clint's character and mine remain mysteries."^[7]

[edit] Supporting

• Aldo Giuffrè as Union Captain: A drunken Union captain who befriends Tuco and Blondie. He feels that the bloody siege his men are involved in is a futile waste, and dreams of destroying the bridge - a wish carried out by Blondie and Tuco. Mortally wounded in the Battle of Langstone Bridge, he dies just after hearing the bridge's destruction. Giuffre was an Italian comedian who had become an actor.
• Mario Brega as Cpl. Wallace. A thuggish prison guard who works for Angel Eyes and tortures Tuco to get him to reveal the hidden location of the treasure. Angel Eyes turns Tuco over to Wallace so that he can turn Tuco in for the reward money; Tuco, however, kills Wallace by pushing him out of a moving train. A butcher-turned-actor, the imposing, heavyset Brega was a mainstay in Leone's films and Spaghetti Westerns in general.
• Antonio Casale as Jackson: The dying Bill Carson, also known as Jackson. He shares the secret of the gold's location with Tuco, telling him the name of the cemetery where it can be found, but tells only Blondie the name of the gravestone where it is hidden, and then dies. Casale would later appear in Leone's A Fistful of Dynamite.
• Luigi Pistilli as Father Pablo Ramirez: Tuco's brother, a Catholic friar. He holds Tuco in contempt for his choice of life as a bandit, but ultimately loves him. Pistilli was a veteran of many Spaghetti Westerns, usually playing a villain (as in Leone's For a Few Dollars More).
• Antonio Casas as Stevens: The farmer involved in the deal with Baker and Bill Carson. He and his son are quickly killed by Angel Eyes after he divulges information about Jackson's new identity and the money scam. Casas was a well-known Spanish soccer player-turned-actor who appeared in over 170 TV shows and films through his career.
• Rada Rassimov as Maria: A prostitute beaten by Angel Eyes, she is involved with Carson.
• Al Mulock as One-armed Bounty Hunter: Wounded by Tuco in the films opening sequence, he loses his right arm. He seeks revenge, only to be killed by Tuco, leading to the line: "If you have to shoot, shoot! Don't talk." Mulock was a Canadian actor who later appeared in Once Upon a Time in the West as one of the three gunmen in the film's opening. He committed suicide on the set of the latter film.

[edit] Background

• Claudio Scarchilli as Bounty Hunter in Ghost Town
• Frank Brana as Bounty Hunter in Ghost Town
• Sergio Mendizábal as Blonde Bounty Hunter. One of the three bounty hunters killed by Blondie during an attempted arrest of Tuco.
• John Bartha as Sheriff: Captures Tuco.
• Sandro Scarchilli as Deputy:
• Antonio Molino Rojo as Captain Harper: The good captain at the Union concentration camp whose leg is slowly deteriorating by gangrene. Harper warns Angel Eyes not to be dishonest on his watch, but Angel Eyes holds him in contempt and deliberately ignores his orders. Rojo usually played henchmen in Leone's films and other Spaghettis, but here played a more sympathetic character.
• Benito Stefanelli as Angel Eyes Gang Member: Henchman. Killed by Blondie. Leone's stunt coordinator who frequently had bit parts in Spaghettis.
• Aldo Sambrell as Angel Eyes Gang Member: Henchman. Killed by Tuco. Sambrell was a Spanish actor whose initially small parts in Spaghetti Westerns made him somewhat famous in his home country.
• Lorenzo Robledo as Angel Eyes Gang Member. Henchman. Sent to follow Blondie when he leaves Angel Eyes' hideout, after Tuco kills the bounty hunter. Blondie discovers him and shoots in the stomach.
• Enzo Petito as General store owner: The guileless store keeper robbed by Tuco.
• Livio Lorenzon as Baker: The Confederate soldier involved in the money scheme with Stevens and Carson, he sends Angel Eyes to kill Stevens and extract information from him. However, Baker himself is killed by Angel Eyes, who was paid by Stevens before his death to kill Baker.
• Angelo Novi as Monk: Head of the San Antonio Mission. Novi was one of the film's still photographers.
• Chelo Alonso as Stevens' Wife. An Italian star of the peplum films in the '50s and early '60s, she had worked with Leone on several of his films as an assistant director.

[edit] Development

After the success of For a Few Dollars More, executives at United Artists approached the film’s screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni to sign a contract for the rights to the film and for the next one. He, producer Alberto Grimaldi and Sergio Leone had no plans but with their blessing Vincenzoni pitched an idea about “a film about three rogues who are looking for some treasure at the time of the American Civil War.”^[7] The studio agreed but wanted to know the cost for this next film. At the same time, Grimaldi was trying to broker his own deal but Vincenzoni’s deal was more lucrative. The two men struck an agreement with UA for a million dollar budget with the studio advancing $500,000 up front and 50% of the box office takings outside of Italy. The total budget would end up being $1.3 million.

Leone built upon the screenwriter’s original concept to “show the absurdity of war...the Civil War which the characters encounter, in my frame of reference, is useless, stupid: it does not involve a 'good cause.'"^[7] An avid history buff, Leone said, “I had read somewhere that 120,000 people died in Southern camps such as Andersonville. And I was not ignorant of the fact that there were camps in the North. You always get to hear about the shameful behaviour of the losers, never the winners.”^[7] The Betterville Camp where Blondie and Tuco are imprisoned was based on steel engravings of Andersonville. Many shots in the film were influenced by archival photographs taken by Mathew Brady.

While Leone developed Vincenzoni’s idea into a script, the screenwriter recommended the comedy-writing team of Agenore Incrucci and Furio Scarpelli to work on it with Leone and Sergio Donati. According to Leone, "I couldn’t use a single thing they’d written. It was the grossest deception of my life."^[7] Donati agreed, saying, "There was next to nothing of them in the final script. They wrote only the first part. Just one line."^[7] Vincenzoni claims that he wrote the screenplay in 11 days, but he soon left the project after his relationship with Leone became strained. The three main characters all contain autobiographical elements of Leone. In an interview he said, "[Sentenza] has no spirit, he's a professional in the most banal sense of the term. Like a robot. This isn't the case with the other two. On the methodical and careful side of my character, I’d be nearer Blondie: but my most profound sympathy always goes towards the Tuco side...He can be touching with all that tenderness and all that wounded humanity.”^[7]

The film’s working title was The Two Magnificent Tramps and was changed just before shooting began when Vincenzoni thought up The Good, The Bad & The Ugly which Leone loved. The Italian title, Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, translates to The Good, The Ugly, The Bad.

[edit] Production

The film was made with approval from the Franco regime. The Spanish army gave technical assistance. The cast includes 1,500 local militia members as extras.^{[citation needed]} Eastwood remembers, “They would care if you were doing a story about Spaniards and about Spain. Then they’d scrutinize you very tough, but the fact that you’re doing a western that’s supposed to be laid in southwest America or Mexico, they couldn’t care less what your story or subject is.”^[7]

Wallach was almost poisoned during filming when he accidentally drank from a bottle of acid that a film technician had set next to his soda bottle. Wallach mentioned this in his autobiography and complained that while Leone was a brilliant director, he was very lax about ensuring the safety of his actors during dangerous scenes.^[7] Wallach was endangered in another scene, where he was to be hanged after a pistol was shot and the horse underneath him was to run away in fright. While the rope around Wallach's neck was severed, the horse was frightened a little too well. The horse rode off for about a mile with Wallach still on top of the horse and his hands bound behind his back.^[7] The third time Wallach's life was threatened was during the scene where he and the actor to whom he is handcuffed jump out of a moving train. The jumping part was fine, but Wallach's life was endangered when his character attempts to sever the chain binding him to the (now dead) henchman. Tuco places the body on the railroad tracks, making the train roll over the chain to sever it. Wallach and presumably, the entire film crew were not aware of the heavy iron steps that jutted one foot out of every box car. If Wallach had stood up from his prone position at the wrong time, one of the jutting steps could have decapitated him.^[7]

The bridge in the film had to be constructed two times by sappers of the Spanish army. The first time an Italian camera operator signaled that he was ready to shoot which was misconstrued by an army captain as the similar sounding Spanish word meant to start. Luckily nobody was injured in the mistiming and mistake. Naturally, the army had to rebuild the bridge while other shots were being filmed. As the bridge was not a prop but a rather heavy and sturdy design it took a great amount of explosives to blow it up.^[7] Leone has said that this scene was, in part, inspired by Buster Keaton’s silent film, The General.

The cast for the movie was from all around the world; actors spoke in their native languages. Eastwood, Van Cleef and Wallach spoke in English, and were dubbed in Italian for the debut release in Rome. For the American version, their voices were left alone, and the other cast members were dubbed into English. This is noticeable in the synchronization of voices to lip movements on screen. In fact, none of the dialogue is completely in sync, because Leone rarely (if ever) shot his scenes with synched sound. Various reasons have been cited for this: Leone often liked to play Morricone's music over a scene (and possibly shout things at them as well) to get the actors in the mood; Leone cared more for visuals than dialogue (his English was limited, at best); and given the technical limitations of the time, it would have been difficult to record the sound cleanly in most of the extremely wide shots Leone frequently used. Whatever the actual reason, all dialogue in the film was recorded in post-production. The relationship between Eastwood and Leone had remained strained from their previous collaboration and it only worsened during the dubbing sessions for the U.S. version because the actor was presented with a different script than the one they had shot with. He refused to read from this new script, insisting on using the shooting one instead.

What about the Sad Hill Cemetery in the movie? Was it real or not? The Daily Mail (London, England) in its May 6, 2005 column entitled, "On the Graveyard Shift," reports: "For some scenes in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, including the shootout in the cemetery, locations were chosen north of Madrid.

Leone could not find a real cemetery that matched his requirements so he asked his Spanish chief of pyrotechnics to get him 250 soldiers from the Spanish Army to build one at Carazo near Salas De Los Infantes: it took two days."

[edit] Release

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was not released in the U.S. until 29 December 1967, and in some places not until January of 1968.^{[citation needed]} The original, Italian version was 2 hours, 57 minutes long, but the U.S. version was 2 hours, 41 minutes, cut 16 minutes shorter. Since the scenes were deleted before the entire film was dubbed to English, that quarter-hour's-worth of story footage rarely was shown in U.S. cinemas, nevertheless, MGM's 1998 U.S. DVD release includes them, in the original Italian, sans English subtitles.

Given that the Italian Il buono, Il brutto, Il cattivo literally translates to the English: The Good, the Ugly, the Bad, reversing the last two adjectives, advertisements for the original Italian release show Tuco before Angel Eyes, and, when translated to English, erroneously label Angel Eyes as "The Ugly" and Tuco as "The Bad".

[edit] Reception

Critical opinion of the film on initial release was mixed as many reviewers at that time looked down on spaghetti westerns. Roger Ebert, who later included the film in his list of Great Movies,^[8] retrospectively noted that in his original review he had "described a four-star movie but only gave it three stars, perhaps because it was a 'spaghetti western' and so could not be art".^[9] Ebert also points out Leone's unique perspective that enables the audience to be closer to the character as we see what he sees:

Today, the film is regarded by many critics as a classic. It remains one of the most popular and well known westerns and is considered to be one of the greatest of its genre. It was part of Time's "100 Greatest movies of the last century" as selected by critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel.^[4] In addition, it is one of the few films which enjoy a 100% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[10]

In a 2002 Sight & Sound magazine poll, Quentin Tarantino voted The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as his choice for the best film ever made.^[11]

Empire magazine added The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to their Masterpiece collection in the September 2007 issue.

[edit] DVD

The film was first released on DVD by MGM in 1998. The special features contain 18 minutes of scenes which were cut for the film's North American release, including a scene which explains how Angel Eyes came to be waiting for Blondie and Tuco at the Union prison camp. Because they were cut, the scenes had not been dubbed in English and were only available in the original Italian dub on the DVD release.

In 2002, the film was restored with the 18 minutes of scenes cut for U.S. release edited back into the film. Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach were brought back in to dub their characters' lines more than 35 years after the film's original release. Voice actor Simon Prescott substituted for Lee Van Cleef who died in 1989. Other voice actors filled in to dub for other actors who had since passed away. In 2004, MGM released this version in a two-disc special edition DVD.

Disc 1 contains an audio commentary with writer and critic Richard Schickel. Disc 2 contains two documentaries, "Leone's West" and "The Man Who Lost The Civil War", followed by the featurette, "Restoring 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'"; an animated gallery of missing sequences entitled, "The Socorro Sequence: A Reconstruction"; an extended Tuco torture scene; a featurette called "Il Maestro"; an audio featurette named, "Il Maestro, Part 2"; a French trailer; and a poster gallery.^{[citation needed]}

This DVD was generally well received, though some purists complained about the re-mixed stereo soundtrack with many completely new sound effects (notably, all the gunshots were replaced), with no option for the original soundtrack. At least one scene which was edited back in had been cut by Leone prior to the film's release in Italy, but had shown once at the Italian premiere. It is generally believed that Leone willingly cut the scene for pacing reasons and, thus, restoring it was contrary to the director's wishes. The 1998 DVD with the original US cut with the original mono soundtrack is still available in stores, although the transfer is vastly inferior to that on the restored DVD. (However, unlike the original DVD releases of the other two "Dollars" films, the transfer is anamorphically enhanced for 16:9 televisions.)

In 2007 MGM re-released the 2004 DVD edition in their "Sergio Leone Anthology" box set. Also included were the two other "Dollars" films, and Duck, You Sucker.

[edit] Music

See also: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (soundtrack)

The score is composed by frequent Leone collaborator Ennio Morricone, whose distinctive original compositions, containing gunfire, whistling (by Alessandro Alessandroni), and yodeling permeate the film. The main theme, resembling the howling of a coyote, is a two-note melody that is a frequent motif, and is used for the three main characters, with a different instrument used for each one: flute for Blondie, ocarina for Angel Eyes and human voices for Tuco.^{[12][13][14][15]}

The score complements the film's American Civil War setting, containing the mournful ballad, "The Story of a Soldier", which is sung by prisoners as Tuco is being tortured by Angel Eyes.^[1] The film's famous climax, a three-way Mexican standoff, begins with the melody of "The Ecstasy of Gold" and is followed by "The Triple Duel".

The main theme was a hit in 1968, alongside the Rolling Stones song, "Jumpin' Jack Flash".^[1] The soundtrack album was on the charts for more than a year,^[15] reaching No. 4 on the Billboard pop album chart and No. 10 on the black album chart.^[16] The main theme was also a hit for Hugo Montenegro, whose rendition was a No. 2 Billboard pop single in 1968.^[17]

American New Wave group Wall of Voodoo performed a medley of Ennio Morricone's movie themes, including the theme for this movie. The only known recording of it is a live performance on The Index Masters.

Punk rock band Ramones played this song as the opening for their live album Loco Live.

For a while, hard rock band Metallica ran "The Ecstasy of Gold" as prelude music at their concerts, and recently recorded a version of the instrumental for a compilation tribute to Morricone.

[edit] Deleted Scenes

The following scenes were originally deleted from the theatrical version of the film but reinserted following the release of the 2004 Special Edition DVD.

• After being betrayed by Blondie, surviving the desert on his way to civilization and assembling a revolver from makeshift parts, Tuco meets with members of his gang in a distant cave, where he conspires with them to hunt and kill Blondie.

• During his search for Bill Carson, Angel Eyes stumbles upon an embattled Confederate outpost after a massive artillery bombardment. Once there, after witnessing the wretched conditions of the survivors, he bribes a Confederate officer for clues about Bill Carson.

• Angel Eyes appears at a Union camp, where his affiliation with the Union Army and his rank is explained.

• A scene where Blondie and Angel Eyes are resting by a creek. A man appears and Blondie shoots him. Angel Eyes asks the rest of his men to come out (all are hidden as well). When the five men come out, Blondie counts them (including Angel Eyes), and concludes that six is the perfect number. Angel Eyes asks him why, mentioning that he'd heard that three was the perfect number. Blondie responds that six is the perfect number, because he has six bullets.

[edit] See also

• A Fistful of Dollars
• For a Few Dollars More
• Man with No Name
• Spaghetti Western
• Films that have been considered the greatest ever

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo at the Internet Movie Database
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at All Movie Guide
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at Metacritic

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at the Movie Review Query Engine
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at SoundtrackNet
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at The Spaghetti Western Database
• Fistful-of-Leone.com
• Clint Eastwood.net
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Book

de:Zwei glorreiche Halunken es:Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo fr:Le Bon, la Brute et le Truand hr:Dobar, loš, zao io:La bonigo, la brutigo e la ledajo it:Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo he:הטוב, הרע והמכוער lb:Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo mk:Добриот, лошиот и грдиот nl:Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo ja:続・夕陽のガンマン no:Den gode, den onde og den grusomme pl:Dobry, zły, brzydki pt:Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo ru:Хороший, плохой, злой simple:The Good, the Bad and the Ugly sr:Добар, лош, зао fi:Hyvät, pahat ja rumat sv:Den gode, den onde, den fule vi:Thiện, ác, tà tr:İyi Kötü ve Çirkin zh:黃昏三鑣客