The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:
American Movie Classics Restored Edition
(aka: Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo)
(1966/2002)
review by Big McLargehuge

Ugh... First, of all it’s really hard to release a director’s cut of a film if the director is dead. But, this didn’t stop the folks at the American Movie Classics cable channel and their partners in The Film Foundation to rescue classic film from an unnecessary and usually preventable death.

Such is the restored edition of Sergio Leoni’s epic western The Good the Bad and the Ugly. To accomplish this restoration the technicians at AMC located the three Italian release only scenes (featured as extras on the VHS special edition and laserdisc) plus a few additional scenes cut from the original release and until now unseen. They hired Eli Wallach to dub “Tuco” and two voice actors to dub Lee Van Cleef’s “Angel Eyes” and Clint Eastwood’s “Blondie”. The only real problem with this restoration is that Eli Wallach doesn’t sound much like Tuco anymore, he’s 89 years old so it’s not surprising, but the two guys the cast for Clint and Lee sound so little like these two very distinct actors that the added scenes felt... well... added.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly is certainly one of the best revisionist westerns ever shot, and stands proudly beside Once Upon a Time in the West as the best horse-shit-and-gunpowder movies ever to come out of the Italian market.

This film is the third in The Man with No Name trilogy featuring Clint Eastwood that begins with Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. This time, rather than focusing on warring gangsters in a small town or tracking the most wanted man in the west, The Good the Bad and the Ugly is all about money. 200 grand in Confederate gold to be exact, stolen by a man traveling under the name Bill Carson.

To explain the plot further is to numb ones fingers, but suffice to say, Tuco Angel Eyes, and Blondie twist and turn around one another until the inevitable showdown at Sand Hill Cemetery.

Leoni gives us some of the greatest western film visuals ever too. Wide deserts, claustrophobic hotel rooms, a civil war battle that has to be seen to be appreciated, dirt, blood, and scum.

Leoni gives us an apocalyptic vision of the Civil War that, while probably not related to any actual events of that war, provides a compelling viewing experience on par with such straight war films as All Quiet on the Western Front and Platoon.

The acting is universally excellent with special mention going to the scenery chewing Eli Wallach taking his role as Calvera from The Magnificent Seven and ramping it up to unbelievable levels as the Tuco. His best scene is when he meets his older brother Pablo, now a monk, in a monastery doubling as Confederate hospital, and challenges Pablo’s assertions as to Tuco’s lifestyle.

The film deserves to be seen again and again and again.

So, for those of you unfortunate enough to not have seen the advertisement-free, uninterrupted, and 170 some-odd minute presentation here are the added sequences:

1. Tuco lamenting that he didn’t stay in contact with some friends who could help him kill Blondie following a double cross.

2. Angel Eyes finding a group of Confederate soldiers in a burned out field hospital and learning about the Union Prison.

3. Tuco tormenting Blondie in the desert.

4. Tuco asking a group of Confederate soldiers where he can get help for the severely dehydrated Blondie after stealing Bill Carson’s carriage and identity.

5. Blondie shooting one of Angel Eye’s henchmen on the banks of a river en route to Sand Hill Cemetery.

Overall the footage adds up to about 15 minutes or so, but all things being equal, they don’t add anything to the story, and in some cases like number 2, detract from the weirdly hypnotic narrative by introducing lots and lots and lots of expository dialogue.

Will AMC air it again? I heard that it was to be aired only once without commercial breaks, and if so then it’s past, but they will certainly air it again. I am unsure as to rumors concerning a DVD release, to me it seems unnecessary and would attract only the completist.

Am I glad I watched it? Certainly. Would I watch it again? Probably not. I already have the American edit DVD (minus the added scenes mentioned here) in widesceen and although the restored footage was an interesting oddity, it is not a compelling enough reason to pencil broadcast dates into my day planner or save pennies for another DVD release.