Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (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:

Gold | Cemetery | Hitman | Bandit | Honor

Awards:

1 win

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	...	Mexican peon
John Bartha	...	Sheriff (as John Bartho)
Livio Lorenzon	...	Baker
Antonio Casale	...	Jackson / Bill Carson
Sandro Scarchilli	...	Mexican peon
Benito Stefanelli	...	Member of Angel Eyes' Gang
Angelo Novi	...	Monk
Antonio Casas	...	Stevens

Also Known As:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (UK) (USA)
El bo, el lleig i el dolent (Spain: Catalan title)
El bueno, el feo y el malo (Spain)
I due magnifici straccioni (Italy) (working title)
The Good, the Ugly, the Bad (USA) (literal English title)
The Magnificent Rogues (UK)
Zwei glorreiche Halunken (West Germany)

Runtime:

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

Country:

Italy | Spain | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #21520) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (extended version) (2003) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Italy:VM14 | Spain:13 | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1968) | Norway:16 (1982) | Australia:MA (re-rating) (2003) | South Korea:12 | Brazil:14 | Germany:16 (DVD release) | West Germany:16 (nf) (re-rating) | West Germany:18 (nf) (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating) | UK:15 (2008) | USA:TV-14 (cable rating) | France:-12 (DVD rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R (original rating) | Canada:14+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:18 | France:U (orginal 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:

Jack Elam turned down the role of Elam, the one-armed gunslinger who attempts to kill Tuco in the bathtub.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the deserted town, Blondie hears Tuco's pistol as he shoots the one-armed bounty hunter and says "every gun makes its own tune." But Tuco had been captured by Union cavalry, held in a prisoner of war camp, and was being transported for execution, and would presumably not be allowed to retain his handgun. Cpl Wallace, the brutal guard, also doesn't have the gun when they exit the train - Tuco's gun has a ring on the handle he used for a cord. When Tuco tried to use Wallace's gun to break the chain attaching him to Wallace's corpse, it clearly doesn't have a ring, and Tuco tosses it aside. From Blondie's words, we know it's not a similar gun - it must be the SAME gun, since it makes "its own tune." The gun Tuco has in the deserted town has the ring again.

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 Versus (2000/II)

The King of Cool

On a partial first viewing, I didn't like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." I thought it was a slow, tedious story about a bunch of unpleasant jerk characters involved in a bog-standard conflict over money. It all seemed very macho and self-consciously cool, and it had obviously inspired all the overrated macho directors I don't like in my own generation - Tarantino, for example, and Robert Rodriguez. In short, I was unimpressed.

Years later, I gave the film a second shot, watching it all the way through this time. I loved it. What had changed?

For one thing, I took more notice of the technical side of the film. I paid attention to Leone's famous use of close-ups, his selection of memorable character actors, and his wonderful scene-setting. I admired the detailed sets and the sweeping landscapes, the props and the costumes and all those weird, wonderful faces that Leone clearly loved to photograph.

I also got hooked by some of the quieter moments that I had skipped over in my first viewing. One of the most effective scenes involves Eli Wallach's character, Tuco, quarreling with his brother when they meet after they've been apart for years. Their argument is great, emotionally charged stuff, made all the more effective by the suggestion that they really do love and care about each other. It's the kind of sensitive, human scene you never get to see in a Tarantino or Rodriguez movie.

Before I get too fuzzy-wuzzy, I should also like to point out that, on my second viewing, I LOVED all the action, too. Every gunfight is great, in its own way, and they're all a bit different. The greatest of them all is, of course, the final confrontation between the trio, which is accompanied by some of the most rousing music I've ever heard in a film. And hey, there's even a huge Civil War battle to provide a change of pace from all the small-scale action.

Ultimately, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is probably just a potboiler of a film, without too much to say about, for example, the human condition. But what a potboiler! It doesn't have to try to be cool - it simply IS cool. In fact, it probably defined heroic coolness for an entire generation. Eli Wallach's performance, Leone's direction and Morricone's music alone are enough to elevate it to classic status - and the fact that everything else in the movie is great, too, helps elevate it to the level of perhaps the greatest action film ever made.

And to think, I missed all that the first time through...