Good, the Bad and the Ugly Blu-ray
'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' Director: Sergio Leone (1966) Arrow 3-Disc Blu-ray | 4K restorations of 162-minute International Cut & 179-minute Extended Cut
With the two preceding films in his "Dollars" trilogy having unleashed a boom in Euro Western productions, Sergio Leone knew that his concluding chapter would have to top them all. Armed with his largest budget yet, Leone created what is, for many, the final word on the subject - a violent, picaresque epic presented with operatic scope and intensity, with Clint Eastwood donning the iconic hat and poncho one last time.
A partnership between two scoundrels goes awry, only for fate to intervene in the form of information about a cache of stolen Confederate gold buried in a graveyard. Each possessing a different clue to its location, the pair are forced into a distrustful partnership. However, the gold is also sought by a ruthless mercenary with his own twisted code of honour. Thus begins a desperate pursuit amidst the mass destruction and absurdity of the American Civil War, culminating in an iconic three-way standoff inside the graveyard.
Mythic, cynical and endlessly entertaining, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly brings Leone's grand sense of dramatic scale to its apotheosis. Co-starring Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef.
Special features include:
- Audio commentary by film critic and historian Tim Lucas (International Cut)
- Audio commentary by film historian and Leone biographer Christopher Frayling (Extended Cut)
- Audio commentary by film historian and Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel (Extended Cut)
- Newly filmed nterviews with film historian and critic Fabio Melelli, Giacomo Scarpelli - son of co-writer Furio Scarpelli, Stefano Delli Colli - son of cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli, camera assistant Sergio Salvati, Giuditta Simi - daughter of set/costume designer Carlo Simi, filmmaker and Lee Van Cleef biographer Mike Malloy, stuntman Fabio Testi, editor Eugenio Alabiso, post-production supervisor Enzo Ocone, guitarist Bruno Battisti D'Amario, singer Edda Dell'Orso, and Morricone biographer Alessandro de Rosa
- Visual essay exploring the film's iconic soundtrack by musician and disc collector Lovely Jon
- Two archive featurettes with Eastwood, Wallach, Schickel, Alberto Grimaldi and Mickey Knox
- Archive featurette on the assembly of the Extended Cut
- Two archive featurettes with film music historian Jon Burlingame
- The Socorro Sequence: A Reconstruction, a featurette on a deleted scene
- Archive featurette on the film's depiction of the Civil War
- Four short interviews with Eastwood and Wallach
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
