The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
"Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo." (original title)

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.

Director:

Sergio Leone

Writers:

Luciano Vincenzoni (story), Sergio Leone (story),

Stars:

Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef

Top 250 #5 | 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eli Wallach	...	Tuco
Clint Eastwood	...	Blondie
Lee Van Cleef	...	Sentenza / Angel Eyes
Aldo Giuffrè	...	Alcoholic Union Captain (as Aldo Giuffre')
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

Storyline

Blondie (The Good) is a professional gunslinger who is out trying to earn a few dollars. Angel Eyes (The Bad) is a hit man who always commits to a task and sees it through, as long as he is paid to do so. And Tuco (The Ugly) is a wanted outlaw trying to take care of his own hide. Tuco and Blondie share a partnership together making money off Tuco's bounty, but when Blondie unties the partnership, Tuco tries to hunt down Blondie. When Blondie and Tuco comes across a horse carriage loaded with dead bodies, they soon learn from the only survivor (Bill Carson) that he and a few other men have buried a stash of gold in a cemetery. Unfortunately Carson dies and Tuco only finds out the name of the cemetery, while Blondie finds out the name on the grave. Now the two must keep each other alive in order to find the gold. Angel Eyes (who had been looking for Bill Carson) discovers that Tuco and Blondie meet with Carson and knows they know the location of the gold. All he needs is for the two to ...

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Plot Keywords:

gold | cemetery | battle | treasure | american civil war | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Adventure | Western

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Certificate:

M

Details

Country:

Italy Spain West Germany

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

29 December 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Good, the Ugly, the Bad

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$6,100,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA), Arturo González Producciones Cinematográficas, S.A, Constantin Film Produktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

161 min 186 min (dubbed) 179 min (2003 extended English) 142 min (1984) (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the scene right before the final duel where Tuco (Eli Wallach) is running frantically through the cemetery, a dog can be seen running on-screen at the beginning of the scene. In reality, that was improvised on the spot. Sergio Leone, who was afraid that the scene was going to slip into melodrama, released the dog without informing Eli Wallach first - thus, his look of surprise is quite genuine.

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Goofs

When Tuco is balancing himself on the cross at the end of the movie, a motor vehicle is visible on the right. It is moving right to left.

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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!

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Connections

Referenced in We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005)

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Soundtracks

The Lyrics of the Song "The Soldiers Story"
by Tommie Connor

User Reviews

The Good, the Better, the Best

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or the Good, the Better and the Best, as I prefer calling it, is a bizarrely sublime and a uniquely aesthetic masterpiece. The actors in title roles have given such extraordinarily superb performances, that it would be impertinent and disparaging to merely regard their swell work as acting. In fact their brilliant portrayals have immortalized Blondie, Sentenza/ Angel Eyes and the enigmatic Tuco. Lee Van Cleef is fiendishly unforgiving as the merciless Angel Eyes. Clint Eastwood is rugged yet suave, cocky yet adorable as laconic cigar-smoker Blondie, a role that laid the foundations of his illustrious career. But it is Eli Wallach, who steals the show with his captivating portrayal of Tuco, a portrayal that is as entrancing as it is enlightening. Wallach is amusing, capricious, nonchalant, uncanny and yet tenacious as Tuco, perturbed by his insecurities and dampened by his solitude. It is the tacit amicability between Blondie and Tuco and their mutual hostility towards the evil Angel Eyes owing to the vestiges of virtue present in them, redolent of their moribund morality, which gives the story, the impetus and the characters, a screen presence that is not only awe inspiring but also unparalleled.

Sergio Leone's magnificent and ingenious direction in synergy with Ennio Morricone's surreal music, Tonino Delli Colli's breathtaking cinematography and Joe D'Augustine's punctilious editing makes the movie, a treat to watch and ineffably unforgettable. Initially aimed to be a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, continues to stand the test of time in its endeavor to attain apotheosis (if it hasn't attained it yet). It will always be remembered as European cinema's greatest lagniappe, not only to the Western genre, but to the world of cinema.

It's a must watch for any movie lover. 10/10