Buono, il brutto, il cattivo., Il (1966)

Director:

Sergio Leone

Writers:

Luciano Vincenzoni (story) &
Sergio Leone (story) ...

Release Date:

29 December 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Western

Tagline:

They formed an alliance of hate to steal a fortune in dead man's gold

Plot:

A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.

Plot Keywords:

Mexican Standoff | Trilogy | Moral Ambiguity | New Mexico | Good Versus Evil

Awards:

1 win

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Aug. 25	10:30 PM	AMC
Tue. Aug. 26	11:00 AM	AMC

Cast

Eli Wallach	...	Tuco
Clint Eastwood	...	Blondie
Lee Van Cleef	...	Sentenza / Angel Eyes
Aldo Giuffrè	...	Alcoholic Union Captain
Luigi Pistilli	...	Father Pablo Ramirez
Rada Rassimov	...	Maria
Enzo Petito	...	Storekeeper
Claudio Scarchilli	...	Bounty Hunter in Ghost Town
John Bartha	...	Sheriff (as John Bartho)
Livio Lorenzon	...	Baker
Antonio Casale	...	Jackson / Bill Carson
Sandro Scarchilli	...	Deputy
Benito Stefanelli	...	Member of Angel Eyes' Gang
Angelo Novi	...	Monk
Antonio Casas	...	Stevens

Also Known As:

Bo, el lleig i el dolent, El (Spain: Catalan title)
Bueno, el feo y el malo, El (Spain)
Due magnifici straccioni, I (Italy) (working title)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (USA)
The Good, the Ugly, the Bad (USA) (literal English title)
The Magnificent Rogues (UK)
Bon, la brute et le truand, Le (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Bueno, el malo y el feo, El (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
Zwei glorreiche Halunken (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A Jó, a rossz és a csúf (Hungary) [hu]
Bom, o Mau e o Vilão, O (Portugal) [pt]
Bunul, raul si urâtul (Romania) [ro]
Dobar, los, zao (Yugoslavia: Serbian title) [sr]
Dobry, zly i brzydki (Poland) [pl]
Goda, onda och fula (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Gode, den onde och den fule, Den (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Gode, den onde og den grusomme, Den (Denmark) [da]
Gode, den onde, den fule, Den (Sweden) [sv]
Gode, den vonde og den hjartelause, Den (Norway) (TV title) [no]
Goede, de harde, de vagebond, De (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Hyvät pahat rumat (Finland) [fi]
Hyvät, pahat ja rumat (Finland) [fi]
Iyi, kötü ve çirkin (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Kalos, o kakos kai o ashimos, O (Greece) [el]
O Bom, O Mal e O Feio (Brazil) [pt]
Três Homens em Conflito (Brazil) [pt]

Runtime:

161 min | 179 min (2005 DVD Special Edition) | Finland:142 min (1984) (cut version) | France:186 min (dubbed version) | Spain:182 min | UK:180 min (re-release)

Country:

Italy | Spain

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (DVD Release) | Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (1982) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1968) | Italy:VM14 | Brazil:Livre (original DVD rating) | USA:TV-14 (cable rating) | Spain:13 | South Korea:12 | West Germany:18 (nf) (original rating) | UK:15 (2008) | USA:Approved (PCA #21520) | Germany:16 (DVD release) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (extended version) (2003) | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating) | Australia:MA (re-rating) (2003) | Brazil:14 | West Germany:16 (nf) (re-rating) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R (original rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:18 | France:-16 (original rating) | France:U (re-rating) | Iceland:16 | Ireland:15 (re-rating) | Ireland:18 (original rating) | New Zealand:M (video rating) | New Zealand:R13 (Special Edition DVD) | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:M (re-rating) (1969) | USA:R (re-rating) (1989) | Netherlands:12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Arturo González Producciones Cinematográficas, S.A

Trivia:

In the theatrical trailer, Angel Eyes is "The Ugly" and Tuco "The Bad," which is the reverse of their designations in the actual film. This is because the Italian title translated into English is actually The Good, the Ugly, the Bad, not The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and the Italian trailer had "The Ugly" and "The Bad" in that order. When the trailer was transferred to English, The Ugly and The Bad were not reversed to coincide with the altered title, causing the incorrect designations.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Blondie and Tuco are carrying the explosives on the stretcher, at first the stretcher is missing several wooden slats, but as they approach the bridge, it changes into a completely different stretcher with no missing slats.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Stevens: You're... from Baker... Tell Baker that I told him all that I know already. Tell him I want to live in peace, understand? That it's no use to go on tormenting me! I know nothing at all about that case of coins. Now that gold has disappeared, but if he'd listened, we could have avoided this altogether. I went to the Army court; there were no witnesses. They couldn't uncover any more. I can't tell Baker what happened to the money; go back and tell him that!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Boom (2003/I)

Soundtrack:

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Sergio Leone's penultimate Italian-western; a film that gets better with each passing year...

...and though those last several words could also be attributed to Leone's "Once Upon a Time" films (West and America) as well as the other pieces in his trilogy of films with Clint Eastwood- Fistful of Dollars and For a Few More Dollars- arguably this is the most ambitious and spellbinding one of the bunch, and one that has inspired (i.e. Quentin Tarantino, Sam Raimi, Robert Rodriguez) and will most likely continue to inspire filmmakers and fans into the 21st century. There's something in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that's nearly (or perhaps is) mythical in it's craft, certain scenes come off as being more than relevant and exquisite for that scene/sequence- it transcends into aspects of humanity.

For example, in the first part of the film (this is after the extraordinary introductions to Tuco, played by Eli Wallach, Sentenza or 'Angel Eyes', played by Lee Van Cleef, and as Blondie by a 35/36 year old Clint), Joe gets Tuco out of a hanging, which is something of a regular practice for them, but Joe decides to leave his 'buddy' out in the desert to walk the rest of the way back into town. A little later, the situation gets reversed, as Tuco has a horse and water and Joe doesn't, and they both go to cross the desert. Leone decides to not follow Tuco coming back to town as much as he follows in earnest Tuco and Joe going across that desert, as Joe starts to burn and dry up, going towards a story that will soon unfold. There is something to these scenes that I can barely describe, that they're executed in the mind-set of a Western, but in the abstract Leone lets the audience know this is a story that is bold and bigger than life.

What makes much of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly such a huge success is the trust Leone had in his own style he spun into his own after the first two westerns, his trust in his collaborators, and in his leading players as well. I, for one, had to mistakenly figure out that it is near depressing to watch this film on a regular VCR tape due to the pan & scan process. There is such a clear, distinct visual scope that Leone and camera director Tonino Delli Colli achieve that it's practically a must to get the DVD (preferably the extended version, which was Leone's original cut more or less). The editing, too, is unique in many sequences (the climax is the most noted and memorable). The score, with usual collaborator Ennio Morricone, is one of the landmark movie scores, and themes, of not just in the western genre but in all movie history. And the three main players who take on the screen have their own chops to show off: Eastwood, technically, was playing a Joe that took place before Fistful of Dollars, yet by this film had it down to a T (it's still my favorite performance from him, despite having few words and reactions); Cleef's cold, cunning Angel Eyes steals the scenes he's in; ditto for Wallach, who gets under the skin of his co-patriots as much as he sometimes does under the viewer's.

Overall, The Good, the Bad and Ugly, is an entirely satisfying western, at least one of my five favorites ever made, and it's an endearing bravo to all who were involved. A++