The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

For other uses, see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (disambiguation).

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Three men in Western outfits, displayed in three individual frames, stand sternly with guns in their hands. In Italian, the words "The Good", "The Bad", and "The Ugly" are respectively placed underneath each of the three men.
Theatrical release poster by Renato Casaro[1]
Directed bySergio Leone
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Luciano Vincenzoni
  • Sergio Leone
Produced byAlberto Grimaldi
Starring
CinematographyTonino Delli Colli
Edited by
Music byEnnio Morricone
Production
companies
Distributed by
Produzioni Europee Associati
Release dates
  • 23 December 1966 (1966-12-23) (Italy)
  • 29 December 1967 (1967-12-29) (USA)
  • 11 January 1968 (1968-01-11) (Argentina)
  • 20 June 1968 (1968-06-20) (Peru)
  • 7 August 1968 (1968-08-07) (Spain)
Running time
177 minutes (Italian)[5]
161 minutes (American)
CountriesItaly[2][3][6][7]
United States
Argentina
Peru
Spain
Languages
Budget$1.2 million[5]
Box office$38.9 million

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Italian: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach as "the Ugly".[9] Its screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni, and Leone (with additional screenplay material and dialogue provided by an uncredited Sergio Donati),[10] based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone. Director of photography Tonino Delli Colli was responsible for the film's sweeping widescreen cinematography, and Ennio Morricone composed the film's score. It was an Italian-led production with co-producers in Spain, West Germany, and the United States. Most of the filming took place in Spain.

The film is known for Leone's use of long shots and close-up cinematography, as well as his distinctive use of violence, tension, and highly stylised gunfights. The plot revolves around three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in a buried cache of Confederate gold amid the violent chaos of the American Civil War (specifically the Battle of Glorieta Pass of the New Mexico Campaign in 1862) while participating in many battles, confrontations, and duels along the way.[11] The film was the third collaboration between Leone and Clint Eastwood, and the second with Lee Van Cleef.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was marketed as the third and final installment in the Dollars Trilogy, following A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). The film was a financial success, grossing over $38 million at the worldwide box office, and is credited with having catapulted Eastwood into stardom.[12] Due to general disapproval of the spaghetti Western genre at the time, critical reception of the film following its release was mixed, but it gained critical acclaim in later years, and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential westerns of all time.

  1. ^ Marchese Ragona, Fabio (2017). "Storie di locandine – Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo". Ciak (in Italian). Vol. 10. p. 44.
  2. ^ a b "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  3. ^ a b "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Film Releases...Print Results". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1967) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  6. ^ "Film: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo". Lumiere. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  7. ^ "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Variety. 31 December 1965. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  8. ^ a b c The film was shot in three languages simultaneously: English, Italian, and Spanish. Later two partially dubbed versions were released: an English version (where Italian and Spanish dialogue were dubbed into English), and an Italian version (where English and Spanish dialogue were dubbed into Italian). See Eliot (2009), p. 66
  9. ^ Beaupre, Lee (27 December 1967). "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly". Variety. Vol. 249, no. 6. p. 6.
  10. ^ Sir Christopher Frayling, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly audio commentary (Blu-ray version). Retrieved on 26 April 2014.
  11. ^ Yezbick, Daniel (2002). "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Gale Group. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2006.
  12. ^ McGilligan, Patrick (2015). Clint: The Life and Legend (updated and revised). New York: OR Books. ISBN 978-1-939293-96-1.