The film is known for Leone's use oflong shots andclose-up cinematography, as well as his distinctive use of violence, tension, and highly stylised gunfights. The plot revolves around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in a buried cache ofConfederate gold amid the violent chaos of theAmerican Civil War (specifically theBattle of Glorieta Pass of theNew Mexico campaign in 1862) while participating in many battles, confrontations, and duels along the way.[11] The film was the third collaboration between Leone and Eastwood, and the second of those with Van Cleef.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was marketed in the United States as the third and final installment in theDollars Trilogy, followingA Fistful of Dollars (1964) andFor a Few Dollars More (1965). The film was a financial success, grossing over $38 million at the worldwide box office, and is credited with having catapulted Eastwood into stardom.[12] Due to general disapproval of the spaghetti Western genre at the time, some critics dismissed the movie, but it soon garnered critical praise, and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential westerns of all time.
In theAmerican Southwest during the Civil War, a mercenary known as "Angel Eyes" interrogates a former Confederate soldier to learn the alias of a man who stole a stash of Confederate gold. The soldier, Stevens, reveals the name "Bill Carson" and attempts to bribe Angel Eyes to kill his employer. Angel Eyes insists he must follow the orders of his paymasters and kills Stevens. After reporting the name to his employer, Angel Eyes also murders him, having accepted the bribe.
Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez, fleeing frombounty hunters, is captured byan unnamed drifter he nicknames "Blondie" who delivers him to a sheriff and collects the bounty. As Tuco is about to be hanged, Blondie severs the noose with a rifle bullet and the two escape to split the bounty. They repeat the process in another town but Blondie grows weary of Tuco's complaints, keeps the money, and strands Tuco in the desert.
Bent on revenge, Tuco reassembles his gang and tracks down Blondie. Although his gang dies in a failed attempt, Tuco captures Blondie in his hotel room, but an artillery round destroys the room and allows Blondie to escape. Tuco recaptures Blondie after a lengthy pursuit and force-marches him through the desert until he collapses from dehydration. A runaway ambulance arrives with several dead Confederate soldiers and Bill Carson. Near death, Carson begs Tuco for help, offering $200,000 in gold buried inSad Hill Cemetery. When Tuco returns with water, Carson has died, having revealed the exact location of the gold to Blondie.
The two reluctantly agree to work together, unwilling to disclose their knowledge of the gold's location. They pose as Confederate soldiers at amission while Blondie recovers and Tuco reunites with his brother, a priest, who rejects Tuco. They leave the mission and are taken prisoner by Union cavalry. Tuco gives the name Bill Carson, alerting Angel Eyes, who has infiltrated thePOW camp as a Union sergeant. Tuco is tortured into revealing the cemetery's name and sent away to be hanged. Knowing torture won't work on Blondie, Angel Eyes joins forces with him. Tuco escapes from custody and tracks Angel Eyes' gang to a ghost town.
Distrusting of Angel Eyes, Blondie finds Tuco and kill the gang members, but Angel Eyes escapes. Tuco and Blondie witness a battle over a strategic bridge they need to cross, and blow it up to disperse the armies and clear their path. As they wire the bridge with explosives, Tuco suggests they exchange their secrets in case either is killed. Tuco reveals the cemetery's name, and Blondie says "Arch Stanton" is the name on the grave.
After the bridge is demolished, Tuco rushes towards Sad Hill to claim the gold for himself. Blondie catches up to him as he digs up the grave, and Angel Eyes arrives soon after. When no gold is found in the grave, Blondie admits lying about the name. He then places a stone in the middle of the cemetery's pavement, on which he says the true name is written. The three men face off in aMexican standoff. Angel Eyes draws first, however Blondie is quicker and shoots him in the abdomen. Falling to his knees, Angel attempts to fire again, but Blondie delivers the killing shot to his head and kills him, causing his body to tumble into an open grave.
Tuco attempts to randomly shoot at them both afterwards, but his gun is revealed to be empty. Blondie admits he unloaded it the night before, and that the gold is in the grave marked "Unknown" beside Stanton's. After Tuco digs up several large bags of gold, Blondie orders him at gunpoint into ahangman's noose. With hands bound, Tuco stands atop a rickety grave marker while Blondie takes half the gold and rides away. As Tuco screams for mercy, Blondie severs the rope with a rifle shot, dropping Tuco face-first onto the remaining gold. Tuco furiously curses Blondie, who only sarcastically smiles at him before riding over the nearby hills into the desert.
Clint Eastwood as 'Blondie' (theMan with No Name): The Good, a taciturn, confidentbounty-hunter who, to find buried gold, teams up with Tuco and Angel Eyes temporarily. 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 is buried, forcing them to work together to find the treasure. Despite 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 remarks. He also comforts a dying soldier by laying his coat over him and letting him smoke his cigar.
Eli Wallach as Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramírez (known as "The Rat" according to Blondie): The Ugly, a fast-talking, comically oafish yet also cunning, cagey, resilient, and resourceful Mexican bandit who is wanted by the authorities for a long list of crimes.
Lee Van Cleef as 'Angel Eyes': The Bad, a ruthless, confident, borderline-sadistic mercenary who takes pleasure in killing and always finishes a job for which he is paid, usually tracking and assassination.
The iconicMexican standoff, with Tuco seen on the left, Angel Eyes in the middle, and Blondie on the right. The scene is accompanied by Ennio Morricone's "The Trio".
After the success ofFor a Few Dollars More, executives atUnited Artists approached the film's screenwriter, Luciano Vincenzoni, to sign a contract for the rights to the film and the production of its sequel. Along with producers Alberto Grimaldi and Sergio Leone, Vincenzoni pitched an idea about "a film about three rogues who are looking for some treasure at the time of the American Civil War".[17] An agreement was struck with UA for a million-dollar budget, with the studio advancing $500,000 upfront and 50% of the box-office takings outside of Italy. The total budget was eventually increased to $1.2 million.[10]
As Leone developed Vincenzoni's idea into a script, he 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, it is useless, stupid: it does not involve a 'good cause',"[18] saying, "I had read somewhere that 120,000 people died in Southern camps such asAndersonville.[19] Many shots in the film were influenced by archival Civil War photographs taken byMathew Brady andAlexander Gardner.[20] As the film took place during the Civil War, it served as a prequel for the other two films in the trilogy, which took place after the war.[21] The three main characters all contain autobiographical elements of Leone.[22]
Film directorAlex Cox suggested that the cemetery-buried gold hunted by the protagonists may have been inspired by rumours surrounding theanti-CommunistGladio organisation, who hid many of their 138 weapons caches in cemeteries.[23]
The film's working title wasI due magnifici straccioni (The Two Magnificent Tramps). It was changed just before shooting began, when Vincenzoni thought ofIl buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Ugly, the Bad), which Leone loved. In the United States, United Artists considered using the original Italian translation,River of Dollars, orThe Man With No Name, but decided onThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly.[24]
After Leone offered Clint Eastwood a role in his next movie, traveling to California to persuade him, Eastwood agreed to make the film, playing Blondie, upon being paid $250,000[25] and receiving 10 percent of the profits from the North American markets—a deal with which Leone was not happy.[26]
The director originally consideredGian Maria Volonté (who portrayed the villains in both the preceding films) for the role of Tuco, but felt that the role required someone with "natural comic talent". In the end, Leone chose Eli Wallach, based on his role in the "Railroads" scene ofHow the West Was Won (1962).[27] Upon meeting Leone, Wallach was sceptical about playing this type of character again, but immediately agreed after Leone screened the opening credit sequence fromFor a Few Dollars More.[28] The two men got along well, sharing the same bizarre sense of humour. Leone allowed Wallach to make changes to his character in terms of his outfit and recurring gestures. Both Eastwood and Van Cleef realised that the character of Tuco was close to Leone's heart, and the director and Wallach also became good friends. They communicated in French, which Wallach spoke badly and Leone spoke well. 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."[29]
For the role of Angel Eyes, Leone originally wantedEnrico Maria Salerno (who had dubbed Eastwood's voice for the Italian versions of theDollars Trilogy films)[30] orCharles Bronson, but the latter was already committed to playing inThe Dirty Dozen (1967). Leone eventually wished to work with Lee Van Cleef again, saying, "I said to myself that Van Cleef had first played a romantic character inFor a Few Dollars More. The idea of getting him to play a character who was the opposite of that began to appeal to me."[31]
Set ofThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly with the distinctive rugged terrain in the background.Sad Hill Cemetery photographed in 2016.
Production began at theCinecittà studio in Rome mid-May 1966.[32] It then moved on to Spain's northern plateau region nearBurgos, which doubled for the Southwestern United States, and again in southern Spain'sAlmería.[33] The production required elaborate sets, including a town under cannon fire, an extensive prison camp, and an American Civil War battlefield; for the climax, several hundred Spanish soldiers were employed to build a cemetery with several thousand gravestones and wooden crosses to resemble an ancientRoman circus.[33] A scene where a bridge was blown up had to be filmed twice because the explosion destroyed all three cameras in the first take.[34]
Italian cinematographerTonino Delli Colli was brought in to shoot the film and was prompted by Leone to pay more attention to lighting than in the previous two films. The score was once again composed by Ennio Morricone, and for the finalMexican standoff scene in the cemetery, Leone asked Morricone to compose what felt like "the corpses were laughing from inside their tombs".[33] Filming concluded in July 1966.[25]
Eastwood was displeased with the script and was concerned he might be upstaged by Wallach. "In the first film, I was alone," he told Leone. "In the second, we were two. Here we are three. If it goes on this way, in the next one I will be starring with the American cavalry."[35] As Eastwood played hard-to-get in accepting the role (inflating his earnings up to $250,000, twoFerraris,[36] and 10% of the profits in the United States when eventually released there), he was again encountering publicist disputes between Ruth Marsh, who urged him to accept the third film of the trilogy, and theWilliam Morris Agency andIrving Leonard, who were unhappy with Marsh's influence on the actor.[35] Eastwood banished Marsh from having any further influence in his career, and he fired her as his business manager.[35]
Wallach and Eastwood flew toMadrid together, and between shooting scenes, Eastwood would relax and practice his golf swing.[37] 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[38] and complained that while Leone was a brilliant director, he was very lax about ensuring the safety of his actors during dangerous scenes.[39] For instance, in one scene, where he was to be hanged after a pistol was fired, the horse underneath him was supposed to bolt. While the rope around Wallach's neck was severed, the horse was frightened a little too well. It galloped for about a mile with Wallach still mounted and his hands bound behind his back.[40] The third time Wallach's life was threatened was during the scene where Mario Brega and he—who are chained together—jump out of a moving train. The jumping part went as planned, but Wallach's life was endangered when his character attempts to sever the chain binding him to the (now dead) soldier. Tuco places the body on the railroad tracks, waiting for the train to roll over the chain and 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.[41]
The bridge in the film was constructed twice bysappers of the Spanish army and rigged for on-camera explosive demolition. On the first occasion, an Italian camera operator signalled that he was ready to shoot, which was misconstrued by an army captain as the similar-sounding Spanish word meaning "start". Nobody was injured in the resulting explosion. The army rebuilt the bridge while other shots were filmed. As the bridge was not a prop, but a rather heavy and sturdy functional structure, powerful explosives were required to destroy it.[42] Leone said that this scene was, in part, inspired byBuster Keaton's silent filmThe General.[10]
As an international cast was employed, actors performed in their native languages. Eastwood, Van Cleef, and Wallach spoke English and were dubbed into Italian for their debut release in Rome. For the American version, the lead acting voices were used, but supporting cast members were dubbed into English.[43] The result is noticeable in the bad synchronisation of voices to lip movements on screen; none of the dialogue is completely in sync because Leone rarely shot his scenes with synchronised sound.[44] Various reasons have been cited for this: Leone often liked to play Morricone's music over a scene and possibly shout things at the actors to get them in the mood. Leone cared more for visuals than dialogue (his English was limited at best). Given the technical limitations of the time, recording the sound cleanly would have been difficult in most of the extremely wide shots Leone frequently used. Also, it was standard practice in Italian films at this time to shoot silently and post-dub. Whatever the actual reason, all dialogue in the film was recorded in postproduction.[45]
By the end of filming, Eastwood had finally had enough of Leone's perfectionist directorial traits. Leone insisted, often forcefully, on shooting scenes from many different angles, paying attention to the most minute of details, which often exhausted the actors.[37] Leone, who was obese, prompted amusement through his excesses, and Eastwood found a way to deal with the stresses of being directed by him by making jokes about him and nicknamed him "Yosemite Sam" for his bad temper.[37] After the film was completed, Eastwood never worked with Leone again, later turning down the role of Harmonica inOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968), for which Leone had personally flown to Los Angeles to give him the script. The role eventually went to Charles Bronson.[46] Years later, Leone exacted his revenge upon Eastwood during the filming ofOnce Upon a Time in America when he described Eastwood's abilities as an actor as being like a block of marble or wax and inferior to the acting abilities ofRobert De Niro, saying, "Eastwood moves like a sleepwalker between explosions and hails of bullets, and he is always the same—a block of marble. Bobby, first of all, is an actor, and Clint first of all is a star. Bobby suffers and Clint yawns."[47] Eastwood later gave a friend theponcho he wore in the three films, where it was hung in a Mexican restaurant inCarmel, California.[48]
In its depiction of violence, Leone used his signaturelong drawn andclose-up style of filming, which he did by mixing extreme face shots and sweeping long shots. By doing so, Leone managed to stage epic sequences punctuated by extreme eyes and face shots, or hands slowly reaching for a holstered gun.[49] Leone also incorporated music to heighten the tension and pressure before and during the film's many gunfights.[10]
In filming the pivotal gunfights, Leone largely removes dialogue to focus more on the actions of the characters, which was important during the film's iconic Mexican standoff. This style can also be seen in one of the film's protagonists, Blondie (The Man with No Name), who is described by critics as more defined by his actions than his words.[50] All three characters can be seen as anti-heroes, killing for their personal gain. Leone also employedtrick shooting, such as Blondie shooting the hat off a person's head and severing ahangman's noose with a well-placed shot, in many of the film's noted shootouts.[51]
Like many of his films, director Sergio Leone noted that the film is a satire of the western genre. He has noted the film's theme ofemphasis on violence and the deconstruction ofOld Westromanticism. The emphasis on violence is seen in how the three leads (Blondie, Angel Eyes, and Tuco) are introduced to various acts of violence. With Blondie, it is seen in his attempt to free Tuco which results in a gun battle. Angel Eyes is set up in a scene in which he learns about hidden treasure from Stevens, kills Stevens when he draws on him, then his employer Baker (fulfilling his title as 'The Bad'). Tuco is set up in a scene in which three bounty-hunters try to kill him. In the film's opening scene, three bounty-hunters enter a building in which Tuco is hiding. After the sound of gunfire is heard, Tuco escapes through a window after shooting the three, one of whom survives (fulfilling his title as 'The Ugly'). They are all after gold and will stop at nothing until they get it. The film deconstructs Old West Romanticism by portraying the characters as antiheroes. Even the character considered by the film as 'The Good' can still be considered as not living up to that title in a moral sense. Critic Drew Marton describes it as a "baroque manipulation" that criticises the American Ideology of the Western,[50] by replacing the heroiccowboy popularised byJohn Wayne with morally complexantiheroes.
Negative themes such ascruelty andgreed are also given focus and are traits shared by the three leads in the story. Cruelty is shown in the character of Blondie in how he treats Tuco throughout the film. He is seen to sometimes be friendly with him and in other scenes double-cross him and throw him to the side. It is shown in Angel Eyes through his attitudes in the film and his tendency for committing violent acts throughout the film. For example, when he kills Stevens he also kills his son. It is also seen when he is violently torturing Tuco later in the film. It is shown in Tuco how he shows concern for Blondie when he is heavily dehydrated but in truth, he is only keeping him alive to find the gold. It is also shown in his conversation with his brother which reveals that a life of cruelty is all he knows.Richard Aquila writes "The violent antiheroes of Italian westerns also fit into a folk tradition in southern Italy that honored mafioso and vigilante who used any means to combat corrupt government or church officials who threatened the peasants of the Mezzogiorno".[52]
Greed is shown in the film through its main core plotline of the three characters wanting to find the $200,000 (equivalent to $6,000,000 in 2024) that Bill Carson has said is buried in a grave in Sad Hill Cemetery. The main plot concerns their greed as there is a series of double crossings and changing allegiances to get the gold. Russ Hunter writes that the film will "stress the formation of homosocial relationships as being functional only in the pursuit of wealth".[53]
Many critics have also noticed the film'santi-war theme.[49][54] Taking place in theAmerican Civil War, the film takes the viewpoint of people such as civilians, bandits, and most notably soldiers, and presents their daily hardships during the war. This is seen in the film's rugged and rough aesthetic. The film has an air of dirtiness that can be attributed to the Civil War and in turn, it affects the actions of people, showing how the war deep down has affected the lives of many people. A scene in the extended version presents Angel Eyes arriving in an embattled Confederate outpost. Angel Eyes shows compassion towards the agonising soldiers, pointing out that even 'The Bad' is shocked by the horrors of the war.[citation needed]
Although not fighting in the war, the three gunslingers gradually become entangled in the battles that ensue (similar toThe Great War, a film that screenwriters Luciano Vincenzoni and Age & Scarpelli had contributed to).[10] An example of this is how Tuco and Blondie blow up a bridge to disperse two sides of the battle. They need to clear a way to the cemetery and succeed in doing so. It is also seen in how Angel Eyes disguises himself as a union sergeant so he can attack and torture Tuco to get the information he needs, intertwining himself in the battle in the process.[citation needed]
The score is composed by frequent Leone collaboratorEnnio Morricone.The Good, the Bad and the Ugly broke previous conventions on how the two had previously collaborated. Instead of scoring the film in the post-production stage, they decided to work on the themes together before shooting had started, this was so that the music helped inspire the film instead of the film inspiring the music. Leone even played the music on set and coordinated camera movements to match the music.[55]
The vocals of Italian singerEdda Dell'Orso are sung in the composition "The Ecstasy of Gold". Guitarist Bruno Battisti D'Amario played in the compositions 'The Sundown' and 'Padre Ramirez'. Trumpet players Michele Lacerenza and Francesco Cataniaare played on 'The Trio'.[56]
The only song to have a lyric is 'The Story of a Soldier', the words of which were written by Tommie Connor.[57]
The main theme, resembling the howling of acoyote (which blends in with an actual coyote howl in the first shot after the opening credits), is a two-pitch melody that is a frequentmotif, and is used for the three main characters. A different instrument was used for each:flute for Blondie,ocarina for Angel Eyes, and human voices for Tuco.[59][60][61][62]
The score complements the film's American Civil War setting, containing the ballad, "The Story of a Soldier", which is sung byprisoners as Tuco is being tortured by Angel Eyes.[11] The film's climax, a three-way Mexican standoff, begins with the melody of "The Ecstasy of Gold" and is followed by "The Trio" (which contains a musical allusion to Morricone's previous work onFor a Few Dollars More).
The main theme, also titled "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", was a hit in 1968 with the soundtrack album on the charts for more than a year,[62] reaching No. 4 on theBillboard pop album chart and No. 10 on the black album chart.[63] The main theme was also a hit forHugo Montenegro, whose rendition was a No. 2Billboard pop single in 1968.[64]
Americanheavy metal bandMetallica has played "The Ecstasy of Gold" as prelude music at their concerts since 1985 (except 1996–1998), and in 2007 recorded a version of the instrumental for a compilation tribute to Morricone.[65] Other bands such as theRamones have featured the song in their albums and live shows. The song has also been sampled within the genre of Hip Hop, most notably by rappers such asImmortal Technique andJay-Z. "The Ecstasy of Gold" has also been used ceremoniously by theLos Angeles Football Club to open home games.[66]XM Satellite Radio'sThe Opie & Anthony Show also opens every show with "The Ecstasy of Gold".
Punk rock bandRamones playedthe main theme as the opening for their live albumLoco Live as well as in concerts until their disbandment in 1996. The British heavy metal bandMotörhead played the main theme as the overture music on the 1981 "No sleep 'til Hammersmith" tour. The American punk rock bandThe Vandals' song "Urban Struggle" begins with the main theme. Britishelectronica actBomb the Bass used the main theme as one of severalsamples on their 1988 single "Beat Dis", and used sections of dialogue from Tuco's hanging on "Throughout The Entire World", the opening track from their 1991 albumUnknown Territory. This dialogue along with some of themule dialogue from Fistful of Dollars was also sampled byBig Audio Dynamite on their 1986 singleMedicine Show. The main theme was also sampled/re-created by British bandNew Order for the album version of their 1993 single "Ruined in a Day". A song from the bandGorillaz is named "Clint Eastwood", and features references to the actor, along with a repeated sample of the theme song; the iconic yell featured inThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly's score is heard at the beginning of the music video.[67]
Americannew wave groupWall 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 onThe Index Masters.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was released in Italy on 23 December 1966.[68] In the United States, all three of Leone's Dollars Trilogy films were released in 1967:A Fistful of Dollars on 18 January;[69]For a Few Dollars More on 10 May;[70] andThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly on 29 December.[71] The original Italian domestic version was 177 minutes long,[72] but the international version was shown at various lengths. Most prints, specifically those shown in the United States, had a runtime of 161 minutes, 16 minutes shorter than the Italian premiere version, but others, especially British prints, ran as short as 148 minutes.[10][73]
On 28 January 1998, the film was released onDVD byMGM Home Video.[5] Its release from MGM contained 14 minutes of scenes that were cut from the film's North American release.[73] In 2002, the film was restored with the 14 minutes of scenes cut for US release re-inserted 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 actorSimon Prescott substituted for Lee Van Cleef, who had died in 1989, and other voice actors filled in for since deceased actors. In 2004, MGM released this version in a two-disc special edition DVD.[74]
Disc 1 contained anaudio commentary withwriter andcriticRichard Schickel. Disc 2 contained twodocumentaries, "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 titled "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.[74]
This DVD was generally well received, though some purists complained about the re-mixed stereo soundtrack with many completely new sound effects (notably, the gunshots were replaced), with no option for the original soundtrack.[75] At least one scene that was re-inserted had been cut by Leone before the film's release in Italy but had been shown once at the Italian premiere. According to Richard Schickel,[74] Leone willingly cut the scene for pacing reasons; thus, restoring it was contrary to the director's wishes.[76] MGM re-released the 2004 DVD edition in their "Sergio Leone Anthology" box set in 2007. Also included were the two other "Dollars" films, andDuck, You Sucker!. On 12 May 2009, the extended version of the film was released onBlu-ray.[44] It contains the same special features as the 2004 special edition DVD, except that it includes an added commentary by film historianSir Christopher Frayling.[10]
The film was re-released on Blu-ray in 2014 using a new4K remaster, featuring improved picture quality and detail but a change ofcolour timing, resulting in the film having a more yellow hue than on previous releases.[75] It was re-released on Blu-ray and DVD byKino Lorber Studio Classics on 15 August 2017, in a new 50th Anniversary release that featured both theatrical and extended cuts, as well as new bonus features, and an attempt to correct the yellow colour timing from the earlier disc.[77] On 27 April 2021, Kino released anUltra HD Blu-ray version of the theatrical cut, using the same scan from the 2014 remaster, but with extensive colour correction.[citation needed]
The following scenes were originally deleted by distributors from the British and American theatrical versions of the film but were restored after the release of the 2004 Special Edition DVD.[74]
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 soldier (Víctor Israel, dubbed by Tom Wyner[78]) for clues about Bill Carson.
After being betrayed by Blondie, surviving the desert on his way to civilisation, and assembling a good revolver from the parts of worn-out guns being sold at a general store, Tuco meets with members of his gang in a distant cave, where he conspires with them to hunt and kill Blondie.
The sequence with Tuco and Blondie crossing the desert has been extended: Tuco mentally tortures a severely dehydrated Blondie by eating and bathing in front of him.
Tuco, transporting a dehydrated Blondie, finds a Confederate camp whose occupants tell him that Father Ramirez's monastery is nearby.
Tuco and Blondie discuss their plans when departing in a wagon from Father Ramirez's monastery.
A scene where Blondie and Angel Eyes are resting by a creek when a man appears and Blondie shoots him. Angel Eyes asks the rest of his men to come out of hiding. When the five men come out, Blondie counts them (including Angel Eyes), and concludes that six is the perfect number, implying one for each bullet in hisgun.
The sequence with Tuco, Blondie, and Captain Clinton has been extended: Clinton asks for their names, which they are reluctant to give.
The footage below is all featured within supplementary features of the 2004 DVD release
Additional footage of the sequence where Tuco is tortured by Angel Eyes's henchman was discovered. The original negative of this footage was deemed too badly damaged to be used in the theatrical cut.
Lost footage of the missing Socorro Sequence where Tuco continues his search for Blondie in a Texican pueblo while Blondie is in a hotel room with a Mexican woman (Silvana Bacci) is reconstructed with photos and unfinished snippets from the French trailer. Also, in the documentary "Reconstructing The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", what looks to be footage of Tuco lighting cannons before the Ecstasy of the Gold sequence appears briefly. None of these scenes or sequences appear in the 2004 re-release but are featured in the supplementary features.[44]
In Italy, the film grossed $6.3 million at the time.[79] In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $25.1 million.[71] It also grossed$7.5 million in other international territories,[80] for a total of$38.9 million grossed worldwide.
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,The Good, the Bad and the Ugly holds an approval rating of 97% based on 77 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Arguably the greatest of the spaghetti westerns, this epic features a compelling story, memorable performances, breathtaking landscapes, and a haunting score."[81]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[82]
Upon release,The Good, the Bad and the Ugly received criticism for its depiction of violence.[83] Leone explains that "the killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make atongue-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."[84] To this day, Leone's effort to reinvigorate the timeworn Western is widely acknowledged.[85] Furthermore, individual critics attacked the movie for its violence content and the fact it was a "Spaghetti Westerns". In a negative review inThe New York Times, a criticRenata Adler said that the film "must be the most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre."[86]Charles Champlin of theLos Angeles Times wrote that the "temptation is hereby proved irresistible to callThe Good, The Bad and the Ugly, now playing citywide,The Bad, The Dull, and the Interminable, only because it is."[87]Roger Ebert, who later included the film in his list of Great Movies,[88] 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." He would retrospectively give the movie a full 4 star rating.
Despite the initial negative reception by some critics, the film has since accumulated very positive feedback. It is listed inTime's "100 Greatest Movies of the Last Century" as selected by criticsRichard Corliss andRichard Schickel.[85][89]The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been described asEuropean cinema's bestWestern,[90] andQuentin Tarantino has called it "the best-directed film of all time" and "the greatest achievement in the history of cinema".[91] This was reflected in his votes for the 2002 and 2012Sight & Sound magazine polls, in which he voted forThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly as his choice for the best film ever made.[92] Its main music theme from the soundtrack is regarded by Classic FM as one of the most iconic themes of all time.[93]Variety magazine ranked the film number 49 on their list of the 50 greatest movies.[94] In 2002,Film4 held a poll of the 100 Greatest Movies, on whichThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly was voted in at number 46.[95]Premiere magazine included the film on their100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made list.[96] Mr. Showbiz ranked the film #81 on its100 Best Movies of All Time list.[97]
Empire magazine addedThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly to theirMasterpiece collection in the September 2007 issue, and their poll of "The 500 Greatest Movies",The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was voted in at number 25. In 2014,The Good the Bad and the Ugly was ranked the 47th greatest film ever made onEmpire's list of "The 301 Greatest Movies Of All Time" as voted by the magazine's readers.[98] It was also placed on a similar list of 1000 movies byThe New York Times.[99] In 2014,Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films.The Good, The Bad and the Ugly placed 52nd on their list.[100] An article on the BBC website considers the 'lasting legacy of the film, and describes the trio scene as "one of the most riveting and acclaimed feature films sequences of all time".[101]
The film's title has entered the English language as an idiomatic expression. Typically used when describing something thoroughly, the respective phrases refer to upsides, downsides, and the parts that could, or should have been done better, but were not.[102]
The film was novelised in 1967 by Joe Millard as part of the "Dollars Western" series based on the "Man with No Name". The South Korean western movieThe Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) is inspired by the film, with much of its plot and character elements borrowed from Leone's film.[103] In his introduction to the 2003 revised edition of his novelThe Dark Tower: The Gunslinger,Stephen King said the film was a primary influence for theDark Tower series, with Eastwood's character inspiring the creation of King's protagonist,Roland Deschain.[104]
While theDollars Trilogy was not the beginning of the so-calledSpaghetti Western cycle in Italy, many in the US saw it as the beginning of an Italian invasion of the most recognisably American film genre.Christopher Frayling argues that, on the whole, Americans had become "bored with an exhausted Hollywood genre". He notes thatPauline Kael, for example, had appreciated how non-American films of the time "could exploit the conventions of the Western genre, while debunking its morality". Along withPeter Bondanella and others, Frayling argues that suchrevisionism was the key to Leone's success and, to some degree, to that of the Spaghetti Western genre as a whole.[106]The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, like the laterOnce Upon A Time In The West, belongs to multiple Western sub-genres: Epic Western, Outlaw (Gunfighter) Film, Revisionist Western and Spaghetti Western.[107][108]
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly has been called the definitive Spaghetti Western – colloquially, these are Westerns produced and directed by Italians, often in collaboration with other European countries, especially Spain and West Germany. The name 'Spaghetti Western' originally was a pejorative term, given by foreign critics to these films because they thought they were inferior to American westerns.[109] Most of the films were made with low budgets, but several still managed to be innovative and artistic, although at the time they did not get much recognition, even in Europe.[110] The genre is unmistakably a Catholic genre, with a visual style strongly influenced by the Catholic iconography of, for instance, the crucifixion or the last supper.[111][112] The outdoor scenes of many Spaghetti Westerns, especially those with a relatively higher budget, were shot in Spain, in particular theTabernas desert of Almería andColmenar Viejo andHoyo de Manzanares. In Italy, the region ofLazio was a favourite location.[113][114][115]
The genre expanded and became an international sensation with the success of Sergio Leone'sA Fistful of Dollars, an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's samurai filmYojimbo. But a handful of westerns were made in Italy before Leone redefined the genre, and the Italians were not the first to make westerns in Europe in the sixties. But it was Leone who defined the look and attitude of the genre with his first western and the two that soon were to follow:For a Few Dollars More andThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Together these films are called theDollars Trilogy. Leone's portrayal of the west, in the latter, was not concerned with ideas of the frontier or good vs. evil but rather interested in how the world is unmistakably more complicated than that, and how the western world is one of kill or be killed. These films featured knifings, beatings, shootouts, or other violent action every five to ten minutes. "The issue of morality belongs to the American western," explains Italian director Ferdinando Baldi. "The violence in our movies is more gratuitous than in American films. There was very little morality because often the protagonist was a bad guy." Eastwood's character is a violent and ruthless killer who murders opponents for fun and profit. Behind his cold and stony stare is a cynical mind powered by a dubious morality. Unlike earlier cowboy heroes, Eastwood's character constantly smokes a small cigar and hardly ever shaves. He wears a flat-topped hat and Mexican poncho instead of more traditional western costuming. He never introduces himself when he meets anyone, and nobody ever asks his name. Furthermore, Spaghetti Westerns redefined the western genre to fit the everchanging times of the 1960s and '70s. Rather than portraying the traditional mythic West as an exotic and beautiful land of opportunity, hope, and redemption, they depicted a desolate and forsaken West. In these violent and troubled times, Spaghetti Westerns, with their antiheroes, ambiguous morals, brutality, and anti-Establishment themes, resonated with audiences. The film's gratuitous violence, surrealistic style, gloomy look, and eerie sound captured the era's melancholy. It is this new approach to the genre that defined the revisionist western of the late '70s and early '80s; a movement started by this moral ambiguity of the Spaghetti Westerns, as well as a westerns placement in the context of historical events; both attributes defined and set byThe Good, the Bad, and The Ugly.[116]
These films have a recognisable style. With grandiose wide shots and close-ups that peered into the eyes and souls of the characters,The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, had the defining cinematographic techniques of the Spaghetti Western. This was Leone's signature technique, using long drawn shots interspersed with extreme close-ups that build tension, as well as develop characters. However, Leone's movies were not just influenced by style. As Quentin Tarantino notes:
There was also realism to them: those shitty Mexican towns, the little shacks — a bit bigger to accommodate the camera — all the plates they put the beans on, the big wooden spoons. The films were so realistic, which had always seemed to be missing in the westerns of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, in the brutality and the different shades of grey and black. Leone found an even darker black and off-white. There is realism in Leone's presentation of the Civil War inThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was missing from all the Civil War movies that happened before him. Leone's film, and the genre that he defined within it, shows a west that is more violent, less talky, more complex, more theatrical, and just overall more iconic through the use of music, appearing operatic as the music is an illustrative ingredient of the narrative.[117]
With a greater sense of operatic violence than their American cousins, the cycle of spaghetti westerns lasted just a few years, but it has been said to have rewritten the genre.[118]
Fans of the film have reconstructed the location of the Sad Hill Cemetery inSanto Domingo de Silos, inSpain.[119] The reconstruction was recorded in the documentarySad Hill Unearthed (2017) by Guillermo de Oliveira.[120]In 2024, theSabinares del Arlanza Natural Park announced a plan to rebuild the Betterville prisoner camp at its filmed location about 6 km from Sad Hill.[121]
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly does not have an official sequel. However, screenwriterLuciano Vincenzoni stated on numerous occasions that he had written a treatment for a sequel, tentatively titledIl buono, il brutto, il cattivo n. 2(The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 2). According to Vincenzoni and Eli Wallach, the film would have been set 20 years after the original and would have followed Tuco pursuing Blondie's grandson for the gold. The project was ultimately vetoed by Leone, as he did not want the original film's title or characters to be reused, nor did he want to be involved in another Western film.[122]
^abcThe film was shot in three languages simultaneously: English, Italian, and Spanish. Later two partially dubbed versions were released: an English version (where Italian and Spanish dialogue were dubbed into English), and an Italian version (where English and Spanish dialogue were dubbed into Italian). See Eliot (2009), p. 66
^Beaupre, Lee (27 December 1967). "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly".Variety. Vol. 249, no. 6. p. 6.
^abcdefgSir Christopher Frayling, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly audio commentary (Blu-ray version). Retrieved on 26 April 2014.
^The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (2-Disc Collector's Edition, Reconstructing The Good, the Bad & the Ugly) (DVD). Los Angeles, California:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1967.
^abThe Good, the Bad & the Ugly (Additional Unseen Footage) (DVD). Los Angeles, California:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1967.
^abcdThe Good, the Bad & the Ugly (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD). Los Angeles: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1967.
