Editor Reviews:

Description:
By far the most ambitious, unflinchingly graphic and stylistically influential western ever mounted, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an engrossing actioner shot through with a volatile mix of myth and realism. Clint Eastwood returns as the "Man With No Name," this time teaming with two gunslingers (Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef) to pursue a cache of $200,000and letting no one, not even warring factions in a civil war, stand in their way. From sun-drenched panoramas to bold,hard close-ups, exceptional camera work captures the beauty and cruelty of the barren landscape andthe hardened characters who stride unwaveringly through it. Forging a vibrant and yet detached style of action that had not been seen before, and has never been matched since, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly shatters the western mold in true Clint Eastwood style.

Amazon.com essential video:
Clint Eastwood (the Man with No Name) is good, Lee Van Cleef (Angel Eyes Sentenza) is bad, and Eli Wallach (Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez) is ugly in the final chapter of Sergio Leone's trilogy of spaghetti westerns (the first two were A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More). In this sweeping film, the characters form treacherous alliances in a ruthless quest for Confederate gold. Leone is sometimes underrated as a director, but the excellent resolution on this digital video disc should enhance appreciation of his considerable photographic talent and gorgeous widescreen compositions. Ennio Morricone's jokey score is justifiably famous.

Rating : - Confederacy Loses Payroll or How Eli Wallach Stole a Classic
This review is for the 18 May 2004 bulky box version of The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.

The movie is the runner up of the 3 Dollars films but is still great. The best being For A Few Dollars More. I have watched it more times than the others and it might be my favorite of the three. I love the actors: Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach, the general store owner, the Union captain, and Mario Brega. Some of my favorite parts include Tuco's tirade outside the sheriff's office, "And Shorty?", the innkeeper's mocking the retreating Confederates, and Tuco's ignorance of the blue and the gray. I also love the climax. The Morricone score is great. I love the campfire chase music, the theme for the Confederate stagecoach out in the desert. The extras are pretty good and offer more than the other Dollars films.

I have one big problem and don't know if it was fixed in the 2007 re-release. The music does not start when Eastwood puts down the rock during the climax but before it hits the ground. It did not do this in the first MGM DVD. It seems to me that the music is not synced right in this release.

The picture is great on my 24" flat screen tube TV fed through component inputs and shown 4:9 letterbox. It is much better than the first MGM single disc releases which I would assume were ported over from laser disc. The Lowry process has made them as new or maybe even better than when originally released (not alive when in initial release.) I hope a 16:9 progressive scan capable TV will make the image that much better. The sound is good. I do not have a 5.1 capable receiver, just as well with the new Blu-Ray audio options making older units closer to obsolescence. (I can't wait to listen to Leon: The Professional and Patriot Games among others in DTS someday and hope that Ronin and Braveheart will come out in DTS at some point.)

I hate the bulky box in that it does not hold and protect the discs well or blend in with other cases.

If you have not seen Once Upon A Time In The West, get the 2 disc SE now, it is cheap to buy. The musical theme for Jill with Edda Dell'Orso's voice is angelic. The movie is Leone's best along with Once Upon A Time In America (which has some disturbing scenes of violence and vulgarity. It is not for children or gentle adults.)