10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

When it comes to 1966’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly there are few things that are common knowledge. It was the third and final collaboration between Clint Eastwood and director Sergio Leone. The film is considered one of the greatest Spaghetti Westerns of all-time and is an absolute masterpiece. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly also has one of the greatest scores in cinematic history composed by the master himself, Ennio Morricone.

Admittedly I am not the biggest Spaghetti Western aficionado out there, so I wanted to know more about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and I was hoping that the commentary tracks featured on the Blu-ray release with film historian Richard Schickel and cultural historian Christopher Frayling could enlighten and educate me.

I now know more about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly than ever before and I will share my new found knowledge with all of my fellow casual Spaghetti Western fans with these 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Good, the Bad and the Ugly…

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly had a significantly bigger budget than its Leone/Eastwood predecessors thanks to the involvement of United Artists. Several UA executives were invited to a screening of A Few Dollars More in Rome by Leone’s writing partner, Luciano Vincenzoni. The screening was packed with enthusiastic movie goers and when it was over the United Artists brass not only wanted to buy A Few Dollars More, but also A Fistful of Dollars. They also asked Vincenzoni if he and Leone were working on anything else and that’s when Vincenzoni mentioned a story about three men in pursuit of a chest full of gold.

2. Lee Van Cleef was not Sergio Leone’s first choice to play the role of Angel Eyes. But after enjoying his time working with Van Cleef on A Few Dollars More and on his series, Rawhide, Clint Eastwood pushed for Van Cleef to be cast as Angel Eyes.

3. When the movie was originally shot, Lee Van Cleef’s character was known as Sentenza. It wasn’t until the English dubbing that the character became known as Angel Eyes.

4. One thing that Clint Eastwood carried in all three of his Sergio Leone films were the noxious cigars his characters smoked. Eastwood deliberately chose the most offensive cigars he could find at a cigar chop in Los Angeles. Eastwood said smoking them and chomping on them put him in a really “scratchy” mood, which was perfect for his character.

5. At one point in the film, Tuco (Eli Wallach) takes an injured Blondie (Clint Eastwood) to a mission/war hospital. The young monk at the mission was played by Angelo Novi, who was also the movie’s still photographer.

6. The gun shop scene where Tuco manages to con the owner out of gun and ammo (and a hat) was inspired by a scene from the 1931 James Cagney film, Blonde Crazy.

7. Sergio Leone once told Christopher Frayling that the three main characters in the film represented parts of his own personality. Eastwood’s Blondie represented Leone’s professional and cautious side. Van Clief’s Angel Eyes represented Leone’s robotic side. While Eli Wallach’s Tuco represented the life loving anarchist in him. Leone also noted that the Tuco character was one of his favorite characters from any of his of films.

8. The scene where Tuco has to free himself from being handcuffed from Mario Brega’s Cpl.Wallace by using the railway line was inspired by the 1923 Buster Keaton film, Our Hospitality. Leone wanted to make sure that the audience knew that it was actually Eli Wallach laying next to the tracks as the train went by and kept telling him to turn his face towards the camera. To ensure his safety, they dug a hole in the ground next to the tracks for Wallach to lay in so his head was lower than the steps that were on the side of some of the train cars.

9. The role of the one-armed bounty hunter that was played by Al Mulock was originally intended for Jack Elam. The character was even referred to as Elam at one point. Leone would get to work with Jack Elam on his next film, Once Upon a Time in the West.

10. One of the big action set pieces of the film is the bridge blowing up… a bridge that they actually had to blow up twice. Apparently the Spanish Army officer who was in charge laying the dynamite on the 200 yard bridge was given the honor of pressing the detonator button for the big moment. However the officer misheard his cue and hit the button prematurely. The bridge originally took three weeks to construct and it was assumed it would take another three weeks to rebuild it, but the Spanish Army stepped up and rebuilt the bridge in just two and half days.