Product Description

By far the most ambitious, unflinchingly graphic and stylistically influential western ever mounted, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an engrossing actioner shot through with a volatile mix of myth and realism. Clint Eastwood returns as the "Man With No Name," this time teaming with two gunslingers (Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef) to pursue a cache of $200,000and letting no one, not even warring factions in a civil war, stand in their way. From sun-drenched panoramas to bold,hard close-ups, exceptional camera work captures the beauty and cruelty of the barren landscape andthe hardened characters who stride unwaveringly through it. Forging a vibrant and yet detached style of action that had not been seen before, and has never been matched since, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly shatters the western mold in true Clint Eastwood style.

• Audio: English: Mono, 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio / Spanish & French: 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Language: Dubbed & Subtitled: English, French & Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen: 2.35:1

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1397 in DVD
• Brand: MGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX)
• Released on: 2009-05-12
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 161 minutes

Features

• By far the most ambitious, unflinchingly graphic and stylistically influential western ever mounted, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an engrossing actioner shot through with a volatile mix of myth and realism. Clint Eastwood returns as the "Man With No Name," this time teaming with two gunslingers (Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef) to pursue a cache of $200,000and letting no one, not even w

Customer Reviews

Il Cattivo, il Brutto, il Blu-Ray
I am a huge fan of Leone's work, especially his Westerns. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a fantastic entry in his oeuvre (though I rank Once Upon A Time in the West and For A Few Dollars More just above it). It is full of his great style, it's very entertaining, and it features one of the best adversarial trios ever put to film in Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes.

So it is with sadness that I have to rate this Blu-Ray 3 stars (and it's closer to 2.5). I've bought this movie three times now, not counting this Blu-Ray: on VHS, the first single disc DVD, and the SE that came out a few years ago. It should be obvious that I love this movie. When the Blu-Ray was announced, I was ecstatic. High definition Leone? Sign me up! I pre-ordered it along with the new T2 disc. Then I started reading early reviews that said the picture quality wasn't up to snuff. I was disheartened, and decided to cancel my order until I could check out the disc for myself.

I rented it from Netflix, and have unfortunately found my fears confirmed. While it certainly looks better than the SE DVD, it is not the best this movie can look. The over-zealous Digital Noise Reduction that has been applied completely robs many scenes of the fine detail we might otherwise have seen in 1080p. I put the old SE DVD in my Xbox and flipped back and forth between the Blu-Ray and DVD on a single scene (Blondie stands alone against some hills in the background in the final scene). While the Blu-Ray looked "cleaner" (that is, the digital artifacting visible on the DVD was gone), there was actually no further detail to be seen on the Blu-Ray! It was as if you took the DVD image and smeared it until the noise was gone, then bumped it up to 1080. I looked specifically at Blondie's eyes to see if any more detail was visible on the Blu-Ray, but there wasn't. The bushes on the hill in the background, too, looked like sharpened up-scaled blobs rather than bushes captured on film by a camera.

So, the picture quality isn't as good, but how about the rest? Well, it's mostly great! The extras, carried over from the SE, are all still interesting, and the new commentaries (which I haven't listened to yet) are very welcome and appreciated. The new menus are also nice. But I do have one more negative point: the sound.

If you watch the special feature on restoring the movie, the producer notes that in order to make a 5.1 audio track, he had to add sound effects. While I'm sure some appreciate having a 5.1 track, the sound effects (specifically the gun-shots) sound way off from the original unique and integral Leone effects. They use the exact same stock gun-shot that you've heard on TV cop shows and it really detracts from the movie if you've seen the original as many times as I have. The Blu-Ray includes many audio options, but unfortunately, an original mono track is not among them. It did have an English 2.0 mono, but it's still the remastered sound with the lame gun-shot effects, oddly. To hear the difference, pick a scene (like Tuco in the bath), and switch back and forth between the English 5.1 or 2.0 and the Italian 2.0. It's very obvious and really bugs me. So if I want to hear the original sound effects, I have to watch it in Italian? Come on, MGM/Fox, how hard would it have been to include the ORIGINAL 2.0 Mono track?

So, in conclusion, you have a great movie on Blu-Ray with lackluster picture and no original English soundtrack, but a plethora of great extras, all on a single disc. Worth it? Not for me, but it may be for you. I'm holding out hope that one day MGM/Fox will get a good transfer that isn't overly digitally tampered with (Leone should have some GRAIN, man! Check out the Italian BR releases!), and includes the original mono sound in English. Until then, I'm going to have to buy the old 1-disc DVD release used to enjoy this great movie.

Wonderful new Frayling commentary and impressive transfer
Don't miss Christopher Frayling's terrific commentary which is packed with production information and incisive observations. Particularly touching is the way Frayling takes up for Leone's decision to humanize Tuco, pointing out that this movie, far from a straight shoot-em-up, shows Leone coming of age. (This part of the commentary is during the great scene where Tuco meets his brother.) Frayling makes a few errors that are a bit surprising... Eastwood says "sure" rather than "pshaw" in a key exchange that Frayling gets wrong, and Frayling claims that Lee Van Cleef does not have part of his finger missing, a point definitively refuted by scenes in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE... but his love for this movie comes through resoundingly. This is one of the best commentaries I've heard. And the transfer, despite whatever DNR was applied, looks very detailed, film-like, and beautiful. Take it from somebody who has seen the movie over a hundred times... this Blu-ray is worth getting!

Extended Edition
I just bought the blu-ray today, and it is the "Fully Restored Extended Version". The box states that the play time is 161 minutes, when in reality it is 178 (PS3 has play time as 2 hours, 58 minutes, and 41 seconds).