The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (4KUHD)

The media could not be loaded. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (50th Anniversary Special Edition)I'm a long-time fan of movies and have seen many westerns over my lifetime but Sergio Leone's epic film "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” is probably the best western I have ever seen. No, I'll take that back. It IS the best western I have ever seen. It currently has a 97% “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes and deserves it. It has a score of 8.9 at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) making it the 9th best film on IMDb among ALL genres. The musical score by Ennio Morricone is stunning and unforgettable. It is unlike any music score ever heard in a western. It becomes a integral part of this film. And what can I say about Leone’s use of tight close-ups and long, wide shots? They add so much to the character of the movie. Leone was truly an artist.GBU stars Clint Eastwood as “Blondie” (the Good), Lee Van Cleef as “Angel Eyes” (the Bad), and Eli Wallach as “Tuco” (the Ugly). This 1966 film is the last, and best, film of Clint Eastwood’s “Spaghetti” western trilogy, sometimes referred to as the "Dollars Trilogy." But the real star of GBU in my opinion is most assuredly Eli Wallach. He almost steals the show with his very entertaining “antics.” It is without a doubt his best performance in a film, worthy of an Oscar.This 3-disc 50th anniversary edition of GBU has two versions of this great film. On the first disc is the 161-minute version released in the United States in 1968. It also has a full commentary track. On the second disc is the 179-minute 2003 extended English version. It is this version that is closest to what Sergio Leone intended when he made this film in 1966. This disc has two full commentaries on it. The commentaries are done by film historians and/or biographers of Sergio Leone. They are very insightful and entertaining. Both versions have been fully restored. The third disc is filled with miscellaneous tidbits (see below). Talk about extras…Here’s the full rundown on all three discs…Disc 1:- 4K transfer of the Original U.S. Theatrical Cut Available for the first time in HD- New Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas- Trailers From Hell with Ernest Dickerson- Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio- Restored 1967 UA Logo- Alternate Scene: The Optical Flip- Deleted Scene 1: Skeletons in the Desert- Deleted Scene 2: Extended Torture Scene- GBU on the: animated behind-the-scenes image gallery- Promoting GBU: Posters & Lobby Cards animated image gallery- Sergio Leone Westerns: Original Theatrical Trailers- Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono- English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio- Optional English subtitles- Reversible ArtDisc 2:- 4K transfer of the Extended Cut- Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio- Audio Commentary by Film Historian Richard Schickel- Audio Commentary By Noted Cultural Historian Sir Christopher Frayling- English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio- Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono- Optional English subtitlesDisc 3:- Leone's West: Making Of Documentary (19:55)- Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and GBU Featurette Part 1 (7:48)- Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and GBU Featurette Part 2 (12:26)- The Leone Style: On Sergio Leone Featurette (23:48)- The Man Who Lost The Civil War: Civil War Documentary (14:24)- Reconstruction GBU (11:09)- Deleted Scene 1: Extended Tuco Torture scene (7:15)- Deleted Scene 2: The Socorro Sequence - A Reconstruction (3:02)- Vignette 1: Uno, Due, Tre (0:40)- Vignette 2: Italian Lunch (0:43)- Vignette 3: New York Accent (0:09)- Vignette 4: Gun in Holster (0:58)- Original French Theatrical Trailer

THE FILM:The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is a legendary film that is considered by many to be the greatest Western ever made. It spawned entire new genera of Western films called the "Spaghetti Western" and in many ways re-invented (or at least reinvigorated) Western films at the time of its release. The film, which is now over 40 years old, was considered to be horribly violent upon its release (pretty ironic considering the content in films now-a-days). There can be no doubt that all these years later director Sergio Leone was a master craftsman who has gone on to inspire countless film-makers such as Quinton Tarantino.THE STORY:The Good (Clint Eastwood), The Bad (Lee Van Cleef) and The Ugly (Eli Wallach) is the story of three men with the same goal: to capture a hidden treasure. But in order to do so, they'll have to make their way through the battered, Civil War-torn United States. Each character has varying personality traits that make their titles seem a bit off-beat, particularly Tuco. It's a story where good and bad aren't so cut and dry and the grey in the middle is the soup of the day. Now back when this film was made, most cowboys were baby-faced good-men so this shade of gray was indeed a rarity. The original American release was cut due to time constraints. Thankfully, those cuts have now been added back into the film so that we may enjoy this classic as it was meant to be seen. It's a three-hour epic takes us through a Wild Western world that is ravaged by the Civil War: North vs. South; brother vs. brother. Though the war rages on throughout the film, the characters themselves, while affected, are never truly involved in it. Instead, all three are after gold and out for themselves.THE BLU-RAY:I'm new to the Blu-Ray market but I can tell you that this is by far the best disc I have purchased so far. The video looks amazing, multiple audio tracks abound and there are tons of extras including a terrific commentary from Christopher Frayling.Video is bright and clear. You really wouldn't know this movie is 40 years old. The remastering process is simply incredible and it's something that I hope is given to all older films of this caliber in the future. The audio is crisp and clean with multiple language tracks to choose (English: Mono, 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish & French: 5.1 Dolby Digital, Italian mono) and two commentary tracks, one which is very good and one that is rather dull.CONCLUSION:This is how Blu-ray discs should be presented. The film is terrific and the amount of bonus content is staggering. No doubt, you'll be coming back to this disc several times before it's all said and done. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly still remains THE Wild Western film. It's a standard that few titles old or new can match.

Review of the 2023 Kino Lorber Blu-ray edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. A true classic! This is the 162 minute (2 hours 42 minute) US theatrical cut. The disc DOES NOT include the longer 2 hour 59 minute European premiere version or the scenes trimmed from that version.First of all, this movie has never looked as good as it does on this disc. The colors are great and natural looking, while the picture looks amazingly sharp for a film first released in 1966. Grain is still present, but it looks natural and not overwhelming.Audio includes English 5.1 and English mono. Subtitles are in English only. The previous 2003 MGM DVD version had an Italian mono track and various additional subtitles, but they’re not on this disc.Extras - Contains all the extras that were on the 2003 MGM DVD, plus a lot more. More trailers, radio spots, a gallery of on-set images, and many more posters & lobby cards in the promotion gallery.There are a couple extra deleted scenes here, but it would’ve been great if they included all the scenes that were trimmed from the longer version of the film. It’s a shame they’re missing as some can still be glimpsed in the “Reconstructing The GBU” featurette.Overall, this seems to be the definitive edition of this movie on the Blu-ray format. Very happy with my purchase.