The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - 2 Disc Special Edition [1966]

Product Details

Director : Sergio Leone
Actor : Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli
Format : PAL
Binding : DVD
EAN : 5050070020403
Number of Discs : 2
Product Group : DVD
Region Code : 2
Release Date : 2004-04-26
Running Time : 155minutes
Studio : MGM Entertainment

ASIN : B0001EYT2A

Customers who bought this goods also bought.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

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

Special Features

Disc 1:
Commentary by film historian Richard Schickel
Spoken languages: English, German, French
Subtitles: English hard of hearing, German hard of hearing, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Portuguese

Disc 2:

Leone's West
The Leone Style
The Man Who Lost the Civil War
Reconstructing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Socorro Sequence reconstruction
Extended Tuco Torture Scene
Il Maestro, Parts 1 & 2
French Trailer
Photo Gallery

Synopsis

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.

Customer Reviews

Perfect Cinema (2008-08-23)

This is by far the best western i have ever watched and will ever watch running for nearly three hours The Good The Bad And The Ugly is a must have for any collector of fine movies.Ennio Morricone's unforgettable soundtrack provides the pacing for the film and Clint Eastwood's acting provides and supports Eli Wallach's comments and cristicisms throughout the film.Need I say more

Quite simply put... (2008-08-10)

One of the Greatest films ever made, and in my opinion, Leones greatest work.A masterpiece in direction, cinematography, costume, dialogue and casting.Watch it and own it.

Ground breaking (2008-07-18)

Of course this movie was really a prequel to Fistful of Dollars but it cemented the dominance of the spaghetti western as a new, grittier and somewhat more authentic type of western. Straight after seeing this movie I watched John Wayne, Bob MItchum and James Caan in El Dorado and the contrast could not have been more stark. El Dorado is very much a good quality standard of it's type and already out of date as a cinematic style. Eventually the conflict between the two styles led to seventies gritty westerns like the Wild Bunch and the John Wayne style disappeared. Ironically Clint Eastwood, the star of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, led the revival of the new American western retaining the best of the old and adopting the visual style of the new - and this led to The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven.A great transitional movie.

Greatest film ever (2008-04-12)

Great story, great acting and the music is just out of this world. We will never see a film on this epic scale ever again!

Some reservations (2008-02-16)

If you have never seen this film before you should get the 'vanilla' version without the 'extended' scenes which are really rubbish. You might want to watch this version for an excellent commentary and documentaries, but those who restored it should really be ashamed of themselves. (The added scene with Tuco hiring the three bandits is beyond embarassing. And it turns out -- as you will find from the documentary -- that even Leone always wanted it out.) A big puzzle is why this film is rated 18. There is no content that would warrant anything beyond a "12" rating, if that. I wrote to the BBFC about this and they gave me some nonsense about not liking to change historical ratings, yet they do it all the time.

Look for similar items by category

• Categories > Action & Adventure
• Categories > Classics

Related Link