I’d like to report that the new Kino restoration of Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ‘got it right’ finally, but the film still lacks a definitive version (in English) on disc. Despite good intentions and some excellent audio restoration work by MGM, the picture quality has taken one giant step backwards. I know a number of individuals in the underground fan network of Leone enthusiasts that know the pictures extremely well, probably better than most of the restoration experts. I wonder what they’ll have to say about the new disc.
My evaluation of the new Blu-ray begins below. I’m not really going to review the content of Leone’s movie as I’ve done that at least three times before — and readers are surely here to find out if the new disc is worth an investment. To explain how GBU got to where it is now, one must go back to
the 2003 MGM Extended Version restoration.
MGM’s 2003 film restoration, recreating the longer Italian preview cut in an English-language version, is still the best GBU has ever looked. With producer Alberto Grimaldi’s help, MGM accessed the film’s original half-frame Techniscope negative and rebuilt a new 35mm anamorphic master for the film, painstakingly matching each shot. Improved optics pulled a much sharper image from what are essentially two 16mm frames side by side. The theatrical prints were a big improvement over even the Technicolor originals from the 1968 U.S. release.
As I later learned from that experts that helped me research the extras for MGM’s DVD special editions, MGM’s 2003 extended version radically revised the audio track, solving problems by ‘reinterpreting’ both music and sound effects. In addition to extending GBU to the longer Italian cut and re-voicing the lost English dialogue, the contract with sponsor AMC cable channel mandated that the ‘new’ film be mixed in stereo. That turned out to be a slippery slope when the sound house contracted to do the job discovered that the Music and Effects tracks on file did not always match what was on the movie’s composite track. Not only that, a comparison of English and Italian original mono tracks revealed multiple instances of different music choices.
When dropping in replacement stereo music for Ennio Morricone’s score proved difficult, cues were mixed and matched as the audio editors saw fit. As one might imagine, the more dynamic music then made the old iconic gunshot and cannon sound effects sound thin. The audio vendor beefed them up with additional new sound effects. When the show was done, conscientious fans sent me lists of places where the new music and sound effects bore no resemblance to any of the older mixes, American or European. The extended version is certainly attractive and entertaining, but in terms of film history it is a problematic revision.
Was extending the American cut a good idea?
Producer Alberto Grimaldi and MGM liked the idea of creating a new, marketable home video item. In addition to the new scenes from the Italian cut, Grimaldi also wanted to include a four-minute scene that had never been screened for the public, a ‘grotto’ scene in which Tuco recruits three bandits to help him ambush Blondie. Sergio Leone’s widow had already shown this scene on a talk show on Italian RAI TV; I saw the appearance on a VHS loaned me by Ernie Farino.
Far away from Italy, the MGM restoration people slowly became aware of a disagreement regarding the artistic control of Leone’s films. The Leone family would have preferred to exercise more control over Sergio’s movie legacy. They didn’t want the grotto scene reinstated, because it had not been in the film’s premiere version back in 1966. Producer Grimaldi explained that he had been the one to insist on its removal just before the premiere, over Leone’s objections. As the owner of the picture Grimaldi had the final say.
Are the added scenes of the extended edition really necessary? I think they provide some extra humor and variety. It’s not necessary to learn how Tuco obtained his henchmen, or how exactly Angel Eyes’ gang joined him on the trail. But I believe that Angel Eyes’ visit to the ruined fort to gain information is a major addition. Its visuals and music express the sadness of the war, adding depth to Lee Van Cleef’s character and enlarging the scope of Leone’s themes.
Although a case can be made for leaving out the grotto scene, I would argue that the long Italian cut best represents Leone’s intentions for GBU. He may have had a hand in the cut-down for the American release version but others had to supervise the dubbing because of the director’s poor grasp of English. United Artists supervised the revisions, and the quality of their final audio mix is nowhere near as good as the excellent, tasteful Italian track. If one wants to call Leone an artist instead of a maker of ‘spaghetti westerns,’ restoring his movies to their full original lengths is a good thing — both the Italian and American versions.
At its full length GBU plays like a grand epic. One detail that I think MGM missed was not emulating the 3-hour premiere version’s two-part structure. Right around Blondie’s recovery in the monastery is a hard fade-out and fade in; that’s where an intermission once belonged. It would have been enjoyable to see that re-created on video, giving viewers a natural snack, bathroom and discussion break. Sam Peckinpah’s personal road show print of his The Wild Bunch is an international version with a full intermission with music, and it was only 145 minutes long. But even the Italians working on the 2014 4K restoration were not interested in reinstating the Intermission card.
Sergio Leone’s most popular picture features Ennio Morricone’s most recognized score and perhaps Clint Eastwood’s most iconic screen character. The story of Blondie, Tuco and Angel Eyes was already part of our cultural mythology before pundits like Christopher Frayling declared it great art and college boys embraced the binary cult of Leone/Morricone. We fathers helped some too: I remember taking my rather young boys to a screening of Once Upon a Time in The West, where they sat in rapt attention for three hours flat. When I was at MGM The Good, The Bad and The Ugly had already been released innumerable times on VHS and laserdisc, and was about to explode into DVD. An executive let me see a ‘classified’ list of the company’s best home video sellers. GBU was near the top and was definitely the top-selling library title. TV couldn’t screen it often enough — in Los Angeles everybody knew KCOP’s innumerable airings, with voiceover announcer Ernie Anderson intoning the title, somehow making ‘Ugly’ into a four syllable word.
If Millennials can still find time in their busy lifestyles for movies, ever- younger audiences will continue to discover this show. Leone’s visuals are as stylized as those of any graphic novel or anime, and the characters played by Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef have taken on much more resonance. Leone and composer Ennio Morricone elevate many sequences to a kind of operatic grandeur, evoking emotions unexplored by American westerns of the time.
For that reason, detailing the film’s plot or explaining how the characters function seems totally unnecessary; I think I went fairly deep into that in older reviews of the ‘dollars’ films, fifteen years ago. Readers of this review will be more interested an honest evaluation of the new disc’s quality.
