Rating: Summary: The Good, the Bad, and the EPIC... Review: There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who have seen this movie this movie and those who haven't. I have and I love it. This is unquestionably the greatest western ever made. The performances of all the leads are top notch. The direction by Leone is superb. The editing is seamless. The cinematography is gorgeous and the music by Morricone is haunting and triumphant. Everything about this movie is perfect. It is a film that is truly deserving of the first-class treatment that has finally recieved. This is a cinematic experience that should not be missed by anybody who enjoys GOOD movies. The extras are worth the price alone. Wonderful interviews and recollections by Clint, Eli and various crew members give the viewers a first time look into the making of this classic motion picture. All documenteries are very well done and informative. The deleted scenes and the ultra-rare French trailer are fun to see for the first time. The film itself is as beautiful as it's ever going to be and that's good enough for me. The newly integrated scenes don't necessarily add to the story but they don't take anything away from it either. Leone put them in the film for a reason and I for one am glad to have them added in. The sound has been remastered in a welcomed 5.1 mix that further immerses you into the surreal frontiers of Sergio's old west. The audio commentary has a few interesting facts and insights but is nothing groundbreaking. I pesonally would rather have had a group commentary including Clint, Eli and others who were available but I understand how difficult that can be to do. The bottom line is that this is the best treatment and presentation of this film that is going to be released for a very long time and possibly ever. I highly recommend this film to anybody who has any shred of taste in films.
Rating: Summary: bad sync Review: In the final shootout the score starts too early when Blondie drops the stone.So all the power in that shot is gone.In the short version(2h40min)the score starts half second or so later. Also the new dubbing sounds quite bad.Good movie but not so good release.
Rating: Summary: ..& The Little Bit extra. Review: I remember moving my work schedule around just so I could satch the first screening of this extended version when it was broadcast on TV/cable last year. The extra scenes are nothing earth shattering. They weren't essential to the story line which was what allowed them to be cut in the first place, but they do add a few nuances and some background to the movie. I'd put the impact of the added footage about on a par with the "extra" stuff that was aded to the LOTR special edition DVD's. If you can sit still for 2 hours and 40 minutes of the original, you can probably handle the almost 3 hours in this newer version. There are no major disruptions in continuity or in pacing. Eastwood's voice still meshes pretty well. Nothing against Eli Wallach, but his voice is just not up to the explosively emotive bursts the way it was back when the film was made. However, it would have been even more wrong to go with an imitator when you've got the real deal available. I can't tell for sure, but I think they tweaked the remaining audio so that it meshed a little better with the visuals. For some maybe it's part of the charm, but it has always annoyed me the way that the gunshots never seemed to line up in the whole spaghetti western subgenre. If you're in any way a fan, then it is definitely worth picking up this title to see what the full vision for the movie really was. There are some "director's cut" or "extended verions" out there that end up making the movie worse, this is one of the times where it definitely makes it better. If nothing else, I'd like to see the people who put the effort into restoring the footage rewarded. I think this is a great and noble niche for the cable/broadcast networks to get into; restoring movies, recovering missing footage, etc., instead of lamely remaking every title they can option.
Rating: Summary: Perfect Mix: Leone, Eastwood & Morricone Review: Sergio Leone was a director who made a difference in the cinema. We can be grateful to him for giving us two special talents besides providing enjoyable entertainment. He brought Clint Eastwood to the attention of the world after Hollywood dumped him from television. And then he introduced us to Ennio Morricone and his splendid musical genius. Take away either of these two from "A Fistful of Dollars", "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good The Bad and The Ugly" and I doubt that anyone outside of Italy would have heard of Leone. Almost forty years later, I still hum "The Ecstacy of Gold" from the climactic cemetary scene in "G, B & U." In a conversation with Eli Wallach, I once asked him how he liked the music in those films. He replied, "If I had heard that music while we were filming, I would have sat up straighter in the saddle." Aside from those contributions, Leone also changed the way we look at the old west. His weather worn sets, grubby villians (and hero for that matter) and the barren landscapes (even tho they were located in Spain) altered our image of the John Wayne myth forever.
Rating: Summary: The coolest western!!!.............Great Music Score! Review: In my opinion as well, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is the all time, ultimate western you'll ever see. Clint Eastwood turns in a top notch performance as "the Man with No Name" in the third of Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" trilogy of spagetti westerns shot over in Spain with Eastwood as the main star of them all. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, starts when a mysterious stranger, played by Eastwood roams the western frontier. He has no family, no companions, and no home, until he meets two strangers, Tuco, played by Eli Wallach, and Angel Eyes played by Lee Van Cleef, who are just as ruthless, deadly, mean looking, and tough as he is. Yet beside all of this, the 3 men join forces to track down a fortune of $200,000.00 dollars, in gold coins. It won't be easy, they don't trust each, making it even tougher, and more deadlier for the most part. It even gets harder, tougher, and deadlier, when the three are thrown the mist of the bloodly American Civil War that's taking hundreds of lives and tearing up the land around them. When they finally get to the graveyard where the gold is buried, they must chose as to who will get the gold first and who is the fastest with a gun. This movie has the greatest musical score that should have got an Oscar for Best Musical Score. If you want a bigger than life western, give this one a try. I think it's one of the coolest westerns ever made. Haven't got the DVD yet.
Rating: Summary: The grandest of the spaghetti's, perhaps not the best Review: My criticism of this movie is trivial; this is a great movie, and in scope and story it is the greatest of the Western genre. It's more than a classic, it's an icon. Eli Wallach's character "Tuco" is probably the most interesting character in any western I can think of, and Lee van Cleef is a perfectly inscrutable villain. The filming is fantastic, and like the other Westerns of Sergio Leone, somehow these Italian-made films (also filmed in Spain) feel much more authentic than the Hollywood brand of western. The sweat, the dust, the cockroaches, the dialogue, etc. The Ennio Morricone soundtrack is phenomenal -- one of the most recognizeable soundtracks ever made. The only flaws I find in this film have to do with the production. Leone had a much larger budget to film this one than he did for the others in the "Clint Trilogy" and in some parts the money overtakes the film and gives it a slicker feel than, say, the grittiness of "A Fistful of Dollars." Clint trades in his run-down pancho for a pricy-looking duster, and the rebel choir (in the cavalry scenes) is overorchestrated (sounds recorded in an orchestra pit). Little details like that tend to intrude with a Hollywood feel now and then. Not to say that Leone wasted his big budget. The Civil War scenes are great, the ending is tremendous, and scant a wasted moment in this nearly 4-hour film. Among Spaghetti Westerns I rank this film second to "A Fistful of Dollars," but honestly the best Spaghetti Western is whichever one you happen to be watching. Trivia note: Leone plants a clue in this film to tell us it is a "prequel" to the other two "Dollar" movies, even though it was filmed after the other two. Look for the clue after the Civil War "bridge" scene...
Rating: Summary: Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo...the extended version Review: Who would have thought that almost 40 years after the release of arguably the greatest - yet definitely the most popular - western ever that there would be an extended English version which would bring Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach back into the studios? Before being released in theaters in 67/68 for the American audience, the film was cut down to approximately 162 minutes, and there was never a need to loop the dialogue for the deleted scenes...until now. It took the financing of AMC, the time and effort from the guys at MGM, along with the actors to pull this one through. This 2-disc collector's edition is really something that even director Sergio Leone would be content with. He left behind an influential and stylish masterpiece long to be remembered. As Eli Wallach once said, "You know, I'm getting on in age now and my hair is white. But every now and again I'll be walking down the street and someone will pass me, young and old, and whistle the theme of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to me as they walk by."
Rating: Summary: Justareader must be a masochist. Review: This is not only a great western but a great film. If justareader doesn't like it , fine that's his/her opinion but having gone through most of your reviews you seem to like to waste your time watching a lot of bad movies because you don't seem to like anything.
Rating: Summary: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Review: This movie is the best western movie ever made.
Rating: Summary: The best! Review: In my opinion this is the best western ever made!!!!!1
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