5 Star

Another Town, Another Rope.

Iconic does not get any more iconic than The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, but this release will have you on the edge of your seat again, as IMDb says the film is 148 minutes, but this 4K UHD release gives you the International cut at 162b minutes, and the Extended cut at 179 minutes, so this release from Arrow Video is a cut above the rest. This release comes with a whole host of Special Features (See Below). For the uninitiated The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is a 1966 Spaghetti Western, written and directed by Sergio Leone (A Fistful Of Dynamite (AKA Duck, You Sucker!), For A Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West) the man that brought the Spaghetti Western to the masses, also creating the legend of the lone gun.

Hey! Blondie.

Each of our players are introduced in their own snippets, first it is Tuco “The Ugly” (Eli Wallach, The Magnificent Seven, Baby Doll). Next is  Sentenza “The Bad” (Lee Van Cleef, THE SABATA TRILOGY, For A Few Dollars More), and finally ‘Blondie’ (Clint Eastwood, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Gran Torino) “The Good”.

It’s the SW America during the Civil War, Tuco is an infamous bandit with a decent bounty on his head and Blondie makes good use of that fact when he captures Tuco and hands him in for the bounty. With his bounty increasing, Blondie sees a money making opportunity until Tuco’s whining gets too much for him and he abandons him in a desert. Tuco swears vengeance.

There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: Those with a rope around the neck, and the people who have the job of doing the cutting.

You never had a rope around your neck. Well, I’m going to tell you something. When that rope starts to pull tight, you can feel the Devil bite your ass.

Meanwhile, the Bad is in search of Jackson, who has now fled and changed his name, but an ex-soldier knows the information he needs. Double-crossing people is a good way to make lots of money.

If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?

What it comes down to is that Sentenza is after the gold that Jackson, now Bill Carson (Antonio Casale, A Fistful of Dynamite, A Fistful Of Dynamite (AKA Duck, You Sucker!), Loveplay) acquired from the cavalry, and it is a tidy sum.

Double-crosses, uneasy alliances, and shoot-outs are the order of the day, as they each try to outsmart each other to get the fortune.

With new visuals and that famous crispy music by Ennio Morricone (The Untouchables, The Legend of 1900) this is a special treat for any Spaghetti Western fan.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Limited Edition is available on 4K UHD

 

4K ULTRA-HD SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

DISC 1 – INTERNATIONAL CUT (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

• New 4K restoration of the 162-minute International Cut using the original 2-perf Techniscope negative
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Newly restored original lossless English mono audio
• Optional newly remixed lossless English DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by film critic and historian Tim Lucas
• Theatrical trailers, TV spots and radio spots

DISC 2 – EXTENDED CUT (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

• New 4K restoration of the 179-minute Extended Cut, using the original 2-perf Techniscope negative
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Newly restored original lossless English mono audio
• Optional newly remixed English DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by film historian and Leone biographer Sir Christopher Frayling
• Audio commentary by film historian and Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel
• Seamless branching options to watch the Extended Cut with the uncut torture scene (mono only) and/or without the ‘grotto’ scene originally removed after the premiere
• Deleted and alternate scenes

DISC 3 – EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)

• A Circular Trilogy, a newly filmed interview with film historian and critic Fabio Melelli
• The Laughter Behind the Epic, a newly filmed interview with Giacomo Scarpelli, son of co-writer Furio Scarpelli
• Three Colors, a newly filmed interview with Stefano Delli Colli, son of cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli
• Sergio and Sergio, a newly filmed interview with camera assistant Sergio Salvati
• The Hand That Drew The West, a newly filmed interview with Giuditta Simi, daughter of set/costume designer Carlo Simi
• They Call Him Angel Eyes, a newly filmed interview with filmmaker and Lee Van Cleef biographer Mike Malloy
• From Falls to Fame, a newly filmed interview with stuntman Fabio Testi
• The Man, The Cut, The Masterpiece, a newly filmed interview with editor Eugenio Alabiso
• Frames of Glory, a newly filmed interview with post-production supervisor Enzo Ocone
• That Magic Sound, a newly filmed interview with guitarist Bruno Battisti D’Amario
• The Voice Behind the Gold, a newly filmed interview with singer Edda Dell’Orso
• Call of the Coyote, a newly filmed interview with Morricone biographer Alessandro de Rosa
• The Good, The Great and the Moody, a new visual essay exploring the film’s iconic soundtrack by musician and disc collector Lovely Jon
• Leone’s West and The Leone Style, two archive featurettes with Eastwood, Wallach, Schickel, Alberto Grimaldi and Mickey Knox
• Reconstructing the Film, an archive featurette on the assembly of the Extended Cut
• Il Maestro Parts One and Two, two archive featurettes with film music historian Jon Burlingame
• The Socorro Sequence: A Reconstruction, a featurette on a deleted scene
• The Man Who Lost the Civil War, an archive featurette on the film’s depiction of the Civil War
• Vignettes (Easter Eggs), four short interviews with Eastwood and Wallach
• Alternate credits sequences
• Four comprehensive image galleries
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella