Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Mario Brega, Aldo Giuffre, Luigi Pistilli, Chelo Alonso, Enzo Petito, Rada Rassimov, Claudio Scarchilli

Director: Sergio Leone

Summary: Set during the American Civil War, the story deals with three mean desperadoes who have their eyes on a 200,000 dollar treasure. Besides battling with the local authorities, they also have each other to contend with...

The culmination of Leone's renowned "Dollars" series of spaghetti westerns that includes A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) and FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965). Set during the Civil War, this wagonload of grit carries three desperados whose squinting eyes are fixed on a Confederate treasure. While dodging authorities, the Good (Eastwood) the Bad (Van Kleef) and the Ugly (Wallach) keep busy by stabbing each other firmly in the back hoping to beat the others to the gold. The climax comes with the gripping stand-off at the cemetery. A typical Leone picture with brooding vistas, leisurely langorous pacing, operatic violence and a haunting score from Morricone.

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This two-disc Special Edition presents the restored, extended English-language version of Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, now clocking in at almost three hours (actually 171 minutes on this Region 2 DVD as a result of the faster frames-per-second ratio of the PAL format). It includes some 14 minutes of previously cut scenes, with both Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach returning to the editing suite in 2003 to add their voices to scenes that had never before been dubbed into English (Wallach's voice is noticeably that of a much older man in these additional sequences). The extra material contains nothing of vital importance, but it's good to have the movie returned to pretty much the way Leone originally wanted it. The anamorphic widescreen picture is now also accompanied by a handsome Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, making this the most complete and satisfactory version so far released.

Film historian Richard Schickel provides an authoritative and engaging commentary on Disc 1. On the second disc there are featurettes on Leone's West (20 mins), The Leone Style (24 mins), Reconstructing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (11 mins) and a documentary about the historical background of the Sibley campaign, The Man Who Lost the Civil War (15 mins). In addition, there's a two-part appreciation of composer Ennio Morricone, Il Maestro, by film-music expert John Burlinghame. Tuco's extended torture scene can be found here, along with a reconstruction of the fragmentary "Socorro Sequence". In short, exemplary bonus features that will satisfy every Leone aficionado. --Mark Walker

Main Language:	English
Year:	1966
Release Date:	August 1, 2008
Runtime:	163 minutes
Certification:
Keywords:	Special, Bad, Edition, Good, Ugly, Westerns
Genre:	Westerns