Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (1966) [ML101739]

Wow, I feel this is one of the top 10 best films ever.

162 minute version of the film, I feel this is THE best version due to the pacing and
continuity of the overall film.

The extra 14 minutes that were added to the DVD release just makes the film feel too
Long and doesn’t really add that much extra to the story.
There was a goof with the added footage in the wagon scene, tuco and blondie would
Change seating positions that totally messed up the continuity of the scene.

Onto the review of the LD.
The film is in 2.35 and the print they used is absolutely amazing, it really has the look
and feel of a film image.

It has the cue dots / reel changes, the markers are oval shaped and from what I’ve read
that means the film is from an anamorphic print.

There is some print damage and speckles, a loose hair here and there on the image.
Colors are really nice, not too strong but not too weak either, just a nice feel to the film.

Some reverberation on the audio at scenes where the train is going through and when
tuco was digging close to the end.

I don’t know if this was an added effect to the LD or this was how they originally released it.

This is film is great, don't get me wrong, but when I saw A Fist Full of Dynamite I was blown away. Adding an actual story to the amazing Sergio Leone vibe? Why didn't he think of that earlier? His first three westerns are just...shells compared to Fistful of Dynamite, A (1971) (Uncut) [ML100872]. I had never seen this until I got it in a big lot of LDs and I have to say its now one of my favorite movies ever.

i like fistful of dynamite also, but feel that it's lacking due to the actors, and also he is really pushing the revolution story in that one.
in the good, the bad and the ugly they are just out for themselves, no sides to the war, no revolution.
that's why i feel it's a great one.

and that final scene in this one is just amazing

I've been wanting all the Leone titles on LD for some time. Huge Leone fan for many years. Seeing this film late night on TV uncut was one of those changed-my-life moments. GBU was the film that convinced me that not all Westerns were cliched.
Agree that the US 161 minute release is the final edit and best version. Pacing is perfection and the 180 minute current "restoration" is NOT what Leone intended for general release. The MGM SE DVD/BD are horrendously produced and look nothing like any print of the film. The Italian BD looks far better but lacks English mono and has a few slight editing differences form the US edit.

This LD seems to be form the same clean print source as my cherished original issue US DVD which remains the last release of the 161 minute cut. The 1998 LD added the cut scenes with Italian audio and English subtitles. Great to hear the the PCM track is clean, I'd want to preserve that for an eventual hybrid project. Or even just to listen to it on headphones! All three initial MGM DVDs seem to use the LD masters, but the US LD of For a Few was supposed to be missing the scene naming the Eastwood character. I guess this was added back to the DVD which caused a sync error.

Does your note on the listing mean that the on-screen "The Good".. etc captions are actually in Italian?? If so perhaps this was an Italian/Euro print source?

I think all six Leone films are masterpieces (Not really counting Colossus of Rhodes), two trilogies of sorts with different goals. Dynamite/Duck You Sucker is a powerhouse of a movie, though admittedly the Once Upon a Time trilogy films lack the sheer insane amount of laser sharp focus found in the Dollars films.

Duck You Sucker is an essential LD despite the print source looking a bit murky. It is the official release of the original mono audio and the film uncut. All save for the ending shot which is truncated, but in the DVD/35mm restoration the music cue is wrong. (though I'm not sure exactly what cue should be there.)

GBU's problem in its first letterbox disc release was it was overmatted, much like Fox did to Alien's box set version, screwing up some of the compositions. I recall fans being appalled at GBU's over matting and the letters section of Widescreen Review had lots of talk about it and other over cropped widescreen transfers, like Ben Hur, which was NEVER meant to be seen at 2.66:1 - and not only was it in the wrong ratio on disc, it was way over cropped. The correct ratio for Camera 65/Ultra Panavision should be 2.55:1 MAXIMUM. Three strip Cinerama didn't even have a 2.66:1 aspect ratio; it varied between 2.57 and 2.54:1 depending on the film and Cinerama camera used.

yes, the on screen titles for each character in the begining and end are in italian script and in red.
really cool to see it that way, it gives a really different feel for the film when watching it.
i saw once on TV the english titles and thought they were really strange and not right looking.
the font was really block lettering and just took your eye away from the image on the screen.

i think this was one of the first LDs that we bought from columbia house after getting the star wars
trilogy, so would have been around 1991?

i never really got into the other dollar films too much, i can't really remember why now but they
didn't grab me like GBU.

i do feel that once upon a time in the west is a great film, and dynamite is also a great film, but again
these have characters that have motives for land and revolution that GBU just dosen't have.

as for the widescreen i totally belive you BUT i didn't even notice it at all.
so i must not be as tuned into the image as i should be