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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Customer Reviews (10 - 12 of 91 Reviews)

Guns and sun masterpiece.
Sometimes there's nothing better than a solid classic western on a warm Saturday afternoon. I have heard all the praises of this movie but after watching it I think my opinion of this paramount achievement rose way above my expectations.

Great reason for watching this movie other than the simple fact how fabulous it is the quite modern story with twists and turns as things happed in the Wild Wild West . I was entertained for the whole time with no slow moments and the never ending looming spiraling staircase of misfortune and quirky scenarios that kept happening to Blondie, as they called Eastwood and Tuco, his partner in crime. Without spoiling too much all I can say is that they both know a part of a secret, of a buried treasure; two hundred thousand dollars and each one of them knows on part of the location as they realize they need to join forces and overcome their differences in order to find it. Hot on their tail is the bad guy, known as Angel Eyes who has no soul and will kill anyone who gets in his way and who is also after the treasure.

Eastwood is a great bad ass tough character, with that cold intelligent stare and his favorite cigar hanging in the corner of his mouth, and when he is squaring off with an opponent you just know who is quicker and who will win.

Sergio Leone proves as a superb director with flawless movie technique with short funny smart moments, fancy tricks, quick escapes and our main characters stepping on each others toes, turning against one another, trying to kill each other off until they reach their goal; the buried treasure. This movie might be almost 40 years old but its still 100% pure and solid entertainment, whether you like westerns or not, this is simply good fun. This saga of sun and gun stories involving clever characters are bound to be around for as long as movies are watched, and I promise that after watching this movie no one can feel anything other then a sense of great self worth and time well spent.

Legendary film gets the hack treatment
This is without question the most appalling example of film restoration that I've ever encountered. It is a textbook example of how work of this kind should NOT be approached.

Firstly, there is the look of the film itself. It is radically different from the original prints that used to circulate prior to 2003, a semblance of which can be found in earlier DVD releases. Although the colors here do possess a degree of vibrancy, the overall look is washed-out and is not true to the original picture. But even more distressing is the misuse of audio. I do not understand why film studios feel the need to convert an original mono soundtrack into surround sound. If it is an attempt to attract a younger audience, it is bound to fail since it's unlikely that such a demographic would be interested in a film from 1966. And if it's aimed at an older and supposedly more discerning audience, surely they'd value the integrity of the original soundtrack over an artificallly created one.

Even more than the picture, the sound mix violates the spirit of the original. Furthermore, some of the technical people involved in the restoration decided to "play god" and RE-RECORD PARTS OF THE SOUNDTRACK! Now, regardless of whether you feel that it now sounds "better", the point is that the director's vision should always be preserved. To completely trash the original soundtrack is cultural vandalism of the highest order and this is particularly noticeable in the sound of the gunshots which Leone spent many hours perfecting. These are now completely gone, replaced with more modern sounding effects which further negates the charm of the original.

There is also a noticable difference in how the music appears in the overall mix. Possibly more than any other selection of films, the music in Leone's play a central if not the central role. It's integral to the entire film and yet on this DVD, it sits way back in the mix, reduced to the incidental.

Film restoration is a tricky thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a disaster. The important thing, though, is that the director's vision should be preserved as closely as possible which is clearly not the case here. I'd recommend everyone reading this to try and see an earlier print of the film and judge the differences for themselves. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is one of my five favorite films and it's hugely disappointing to see it mauled in such a way. I'd hope that in any future restoration attempts, more cultured individuals who genuinely care about the film are involved rather than crass technical people who would like to think they have Leone's talent but really are little more than clueless hacks with little imagination or even interest in the art of cinema.

"ugly"it's not,it looks better than ever
the story of 3 violent men chaseing after gold hidden during the civil war is still the best of the three spaghetti westerns clint made. with this two disc set and footage restored this looks so great that i keep both my old and new copy of this movie,i like it that much. a must

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