The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo.) (1966)
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97% of critics liked it
(67 reviews) -
93% of users liked it
(203,222 ratings)
In the last and the best installment of his so-called "Dollars" trilogy of Sergio Leone-directed "spaghetti westerns," Clint Eastwood reprised the role of a taciturn, enigmatic loner. Here he searches for a cache of stolen gold against rivals the Bad (Lee Van Cleef), a ruthless… More In the last and the best installment of his so-called "Dollars" trilogy of Sergio Leone-directed "spaghetti westerns," Clint Eastwood reprised the role of a taciturn, enigmatic loner. Here he searches for a cache of stolen gold against rivals the Bad (Lee Van Cleef), a ruthless bounty hunter, and the Ugly (Eli Wallach), a Mexican bandit. Though dubbed "the Good," Eastwood's character is not much better than his opponents -- he is just smarter and shoots faster. The film's title reveals its ironic attitude toward the canonized heroes of the classical western. "The real West was the world of violence, fear, and brutal instincts," claimed Leone. "In pursuit of profit there is no such thing as good and evil, generosity or deviousness; everything depends on chance, and not the best wins but the luckiest." Immensely entertaining and beautifully shot in Techniscope by Tonino Delli Colli, the movie is a virtually definitive "spaghetti western," rivaled only by Leone's own Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The main musical theme by Ennio Morricone hit #1 on the British pop charts. Originally released in Italy at 177 minutes, the movie was later cut for its international release. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Directed By
- Sergio Leone
- Genres
- Western, Action & Adventure, Art House & International, Classics
- In Theaters
- Dec 23, 1966 Wide
- Studio
- United Artists
Critic Reviews
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, TIME Magazine
All three arrive at the cache at the same time. Who gets it? Director Leone doesn't seem to care very much, and after 161 minutes of mayhem, audiences aren't likely to either.
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Variety Staff, Variety
The third in the Clint Eastwood series of Italo westerns, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is exactly that -- a curious amalgam of the visually striking, the dramatically feeble and the offensively sadistic.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Though ordained from the beginning, the three-way showdown that climaxes the film is tense and thoroughly astonishing.
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Tom Huddlestone, Time Out
Sergio Leone's grandiose 1966 western epic is nothing less than a masterclass in movie storytelling, a dynamic testament to the sheer, invigorating uniqueness of cinema.
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Glenn Abel, Hollywood Reporter
Sergio Leone's epic looks good, almost great, restored to its original running time.
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Cast
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Clint Eastwood
as The Good
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Eli Wallach
as Tuco the Ugly
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Lee Van Cleef
as The Bad
- Aldo Giuffre
- Rada Rassimov
- Mario Brega
- Luigi Pistilli
- Chelo Alonso
- Silvana Bacci
- Antonio Casas
- Livio Lorenzon
- Sergio Mendizabal
- Enzo Petito
- Aldo Sambrell
- Claudio Scarchelli
- Sandro Scarchelli
- Benito Stefanelli
- Angelo Novi
- Antonio Casale
- John Bartha



