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

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Director:

Sergio Leone

Writers:

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

Release Date:

29 December 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Western

Tagline:

The Man with No Name Returns !

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 | Scam | Outlaw | Hitman

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 | UK:180 min (re-release) | 179 min (2005 DVD Special Edition) | Finland:142 min (1984) (cut version)

Country:

Italy | Spain | West Germany

Language:

English

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) | 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:

Sergio Leone had wanted established star Rory Calhoun for the lead but settled for Eastwood (then 34) because Calhoun's asking price was too prohibitive.

Goofs:

Factual errors: If each gold coin had approximately 1 troy ounce of gold in it worth $20, $200,000 implies there were approximately 10,000 coins in the eight bags that Blondie and Tuco recovered. The weight of those 10,000 coins would be (10,000 coins * 1 ozt/coin * 31.1 g/ozt * 1 kg/1,000 g * 2.2 lbs/kg) = 684.2 lbs. Each bag would then weigh approximately 85.5 lbs. Blondie is seen loading up his horse with the gold two bags at a time (170 lbs). It doesn't seem likely that a person could lift that much gold without much more difficulty. Also, could a horse carry 340 lbs of gold, approximately 200 lbs of rider, and maybe another 50 lbs of provisions (roughly 600 lbs total load)?

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 Der Schuh des Manitu (2001)

Soundtrack:

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The world is not black and white

Ok- first, as mentioned in another review, the geographic/historical errors in this film are GLARING. You've got men carrying revolvers that look like old style cap-and-ball pistols, but they're loading them with metallic cartridges- historically about five years early. Eastwood carries a rifle that hasn't been invented yet, Tuco assembles a "superpistol" out of a Colt, a Remington, and a Smith and Wesson- impossible. And there was nothing of merit taking place between the North and South during the Civil War in the Southwest. Now, that aside, I must say that this is the Greatest western ever. I first saw this film when I was about ten. I'd never sat through an entire Western befor, even though my Dad watched them constantly. Since then, I've been through film school, watched hundreds of Westerns, learned to appreciate them- but NOTHING matches up to this. The Searchers, Stagecoach, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Gunfighter, High Noon, Shane- all great films, but saddled with the standard American Western morality- the good guy never takes liberties with the eastern schoolmarm, the bad guy wears a black hat, etc. Coming from Italy, TG,TB &TU isn't bound by these conventions. Blondie's the "good guy"- but he's also a bounty hunter. He makes a living in a highly immoral way, but is obviously the "good"- not because we're told, but from small acts- giving the dying soldier a cigar, making sure the Captain knows to hold on till he hears the bridge blow, the genuine regret he feel for having to let Shorty die. And while Angel Eyes may be the Bad, we at least know he has prinicpals- when he's hired for a job, he always sees the job through. And Tuco may be more immoral than the other two, but he's so savvy and his role so humorous that one can't bring oneself to look upon him disfavorably. In other words, historical inaccuracies aside, TG, TB, & TU maybe one of the most accurate portrayals of the West ever put on film- there are no clear-cut lines of conduct, no black and white, or even grey, but just a swirled palette of various facets of the human condition.