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The Good The Bad And The Ugly is directed by Sergio
Leone. The film stars Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and
Eli Wallach. Ennio Morricone composed the musical score.
The film was originally released in 1966, and this version
restores scenes previously missing in the American theatrical
release. ***
The Good The Bad And The Ugly is the third and final
film in Sergio Leone’s “Man With No Name” Trilogy, though
it serves as a prequel to the other two installments. Amidst
the conflict that is the American Civil War, three outlaws
join forces on a search for Confederate gold. Unfortunately,
the three of them are reluctant to partner with one another
since they clearly have differences and don’t care much
for each other. Will they find the fortune, or end up getting
killed, possibly by each other, in the process? ***
The Good The Bad And The Ugly is a classic, epic western
– easily the best film of Leone’s Trilogy, and arguably
Clint Eastwood’s best work. If there has ever been a single,
truly perfect Spaghetti Western, this is it. ***
The leading trio of the film is one of its greatest
assets. Before he dawned a .44 Magnum and became Dirty Harry,
Westerns were the thing for which Clint Eastwood was best
known. He’d try to revisit the genre many times well into
the future, but very few of those attempts came close to
what he managed to do here. This is Eastwood doing the outlaw
thing like only he could do – in his prime. His superb acting
here as complemented beautifully by his reluctant traveling
companions, played by Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach. ***
The filming style and direction further enhance the
film. Sergio Leone was the king of Spaghetti Westerns, and
despite a nearly three-hour run time, he keeps things moving
along at a comfortable pace. Desolate deserts of Spain doubled
for the American West, and the scenery looks perfect. Well-filmed,
well-directed, and with a great cast leading the way, it
is no surprise that the film has attained legendary status.
This is the best film of Leone’s Trilogy – and easily one
of the be st Westerns ever made. Words don’t do it justice.
***
This version of the film is the restored version that
first showed up on DVD a few years back. Scenes that were
cut from the film’s American theatrical version were restored
into the film’s run time, bringing it back to its original
run time of three hours (the 161 minute length listed on
the packaging is INCORRECT, this is the full-length restored
version.) As audio tracks were missing, Clint Eastwood and
Eli Wallach rerecorded their voice tracks for these scenes
(another actor dubbed Lee Van Cleef as he died several years
back.) What you will see here is the best possible restoration
of the film that could possibly have been done. --
Image and Sound:
This is a good Blu-Ray transfer, but it has its bad
and ugly elements as well. As far as the good goes, the
picture quality is superior to all previous home video editions.
Object detail is strong throughout, be it the desert sands
or faces of characters. Even in darker scenes, detail is
competent. Unfortunately, the bad and ugly rear their heads
as well. Some print damage and dirt is visible in scenes,
as are some unfortunate traces of digital noise reduction
(when will companies learn!?) Short of a full-blown restoration,
though, this is the best the movie will ever look – and
it’s enough of an improvement over earlier transfers that
it’s worth the upgrade. ***
In the audio department, the film doesn’t hold up quite
as well. Sergio Leone was infamous for rerecording dialogue
in the studio, which made the audio for several of his movies
a mess. Because of that, the audio on this Blu-Ray, while
superior to earlie r versions, still tends to feel flat
and lifeless on numerous occasions. Again, this isn’t the
fault of the disc manufacturer – it was just the way Leone
did his movie sound. Like the picture quality, I can’t imagine
the disc sounding a whole lot better given the circumstances
under which it was created.
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| Special
Features: |
Fortunately, the disc doesn’t falter in this department.
In addition to some deleted scenes20(these don’t turn up
too often for movies this old!), as well as the English
and French theatrical trailers, there is a whopping FIVE
featurettes on the disc. Two featurettes focus on Leone
himself, his methods of filmmaking, and the way he was viewed
by the people who worked closest with him. One is a feature-length
Civil War documentary, setting the stage beautifully for
the backdrop of Leone’s film. Lastly is one chronicling
Ennio Morricone, who created the now-legendary score for
the film. It’s a great film, and these bonus features only
sweeten the deal.
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