The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Theatrical Cut – Kino Lorber (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1966
Director: Sergio Leone
Writers: Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone, Agenore Incrocc, Furio Scarpelli
Cast: Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Aldo Sambrell, Mario Brega

Release Date: April 27th, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 162 Minutes 20 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC SDR (4K UHD), 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Blu-ray)
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free (UHD)/Region A (Blu-Ray)
Retail Price: $39.95

"For three men the Civil War wasn't hell it was practice! By far the most ambitious, unflinchingly graphic and stylistically influential western ever made, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a classic actioner shot through with a volatile mix of myth and realism. Screen legend Clint Eastwood (A Fistful of Dollars) returns as The Man with No Name, this time teaming with two gunslingers to pursue a cache of $200,000 and letting no one, not even warring factions in a civil war, stand in their way." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (4K UHD), 4.25/5 (Blu-ray)

Over the years, Sergio Leone's films have been treated poorly on home video. Nowhere is this clearer then how inconsistent the audio and video has been since the first time his films got released on home video. Another shortcoming of Sergio Leone’s films on home video is that most of these releases represent versions that alter his original vision. Fortunately in recent years there has been a raised awareness to finally restore his films the way they he intended them to be seen.

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, “Over 30 hours of extensive shot-by-shot color grading and a 4K scan of a 1967 IB tech print as the secondary source to restore the theatrical cut to its original glory.”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 89.1 GB

Feature: 77.2 GB

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.3 GB

Feature: 36.5 GB

Four years after their first release, Kino Lorber revisit’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with a brand new transfer that addresses the shortcomings of their earlier transfer. That said, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a film that I have become very familiar with over the years. And though each new release showed signs of improvement over the earlier release. This new transfer is easily the most substantial upgrade The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has had to date.

Though the lack of HDR will put some off, the result is a beautiful transfer that most fans of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly are sure to be thrilled by. Also, considering the source materials available for this transfer is the reason I give this transfer a 4.5/5 instead of 4/5.

Audio: 4.5/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. It should-be noted that for this release that mono mix is newly restored, after years of being absent from home video releases. The source for the mono track is a laserdisc release by MGM in 1993. Hearing the mono mix for the first ever was a revelation and it is now my preferred track by a mile. The 5.1 track is the same track that Kino Lorber used on their earlier Blu-ray release. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release are spread over two discs.

Extras on the 4k UHD disc include deleted scenes (17 minutes 58 seconds, 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive, DTS-HD Mono English, no subtitles), extended scenes (7 minutes 29 seconds, 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive, DTS-HD Mono English, no subtitles) and alternate transitions (58 seconds, 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive, DTS-HD Mono English, no subtitles).

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a stills gallery titled The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on the Set (8 minutes 13 seconds, with music from the film playing in the background), a poster & lobby card gallery titled Promoting The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (9 minutes 6 seconds, with music from the film playing in the background), four deleted scenes: Extended Tuco Torture Scene (7 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), The Socorro Sequence - A Reconstruction (3 minutes 2 seconds, scene is reconstructed by using stills and text information about scene), Skeletons in the Desert (1 minute 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and Extended Torture Scene (1 minute 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), alternate footage titled The Optical Flip (55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), four brief interview outtakes titled Vignettes: Uno, Due, Tre (41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Italian Lunch (44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), New York Accent (10 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and Gun in Holster (1 minute, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Trailers from Hell with Ernest Dickerson who discusses The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (3 minutes 25 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo, no subtitles), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly trailers: U.S. trailer (3 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), German trailer (3 minutes 28 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German, no subtitles) and French trailer (3 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French, no subtitles), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly radio spot (35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), A Fistful of Dollars trailer (2 minutes 26 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), For a Few Dollars More trailer #1 (2 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), For a Few Dollars More trailer #2 (3 minutes 50 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), A Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More – Burning at Both Ends trailer (2 minutes 4 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), A Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More – Burning at Both Ends radio spot (1 minute 2 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a featurette titled titled Reconstruction The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Extended Cut (11 minutes 10 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a documentary about The Civil War titled The Man Who Lost the Civil War (14 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled The Leone Style (23 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), two featurettes about composer Ennio Morricone’s score titled Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Part One (7 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Part Two (12 minutes 28 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a making of documentary titled Leone's West (19 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and an audio commentary with author/film historian Tim Lucas.

Summary:

Although set in the American Civil War, Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a film that defies time and space in the way in which it takes familiar elements and makes them its own. Some elements that are out of time and foreshadow the future are the prison camp, which resembles a concentration camp, and a graveyard that looks like something from World War I instead of the Civil War. Sergio Leone, a filmmaker renowned for his attention to detail, incorporates various elements from the Civil War into his work. He skillfully blends these components so that everything feels cohesive and well integrated.

The narrative revolves around three characters: a bounty hunter named Blondie, a bandit named Tuco, and a mercenary named Angel Eyes. After an initial setup that does a superb job fleshing out these three characters, things take a turn when they learn about $200,000 of gold that is buried in Sad Hill cemetery. From there it is a mad dash to the gold, where their paths cross and ultimately converge in a winner-takes-all finale.

Spaghetti westerns are known for giving their protagonists a grand entrance, and in the case of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it gives its three protagonists exemplary entrances that are all distinct and represent each of their personas. Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry) is the star of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but Eli Wallach’s (The Magnificent Seven) character, Tuco, steals every scene he’s in. However, it is Lee Van Cleef’s (Death Rides a Horse) character, Angel Eyes, who has the most memorable entrance.

When discussing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a lot of its accolades go to Ennio Morricone's phenomenal score, and rightfully so. Ennio Morricone’s body of work puts him among the greatest film composers of all time; he has written countless scores that are exemplary. With The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, he delivers a timeless score that is his crowning achievement and one of cinema’s greatest. That said, its enduring legacy transcends the film for which it was written, as it has been referenced numerous times in films and other forms of entertainment.

A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly form a loose trilogy that is more connected by mood and style than by a continuation of the narrative. From the first to the last of these three films, they were completed in about 2 ½ years, which is an astonishing achievement, considering Sergio Leone only directed 7 films over a 23-year span. With each new film Sergio Leone was given more resources to expand his creative canvas, and his growth from A Fistful of Dollars to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is arguably the largest leap forward in cinema’s history.

When it comes to the performances, from the three leads to the secondary characters, they are all outstanding. Clint Eastwood’s Blondie is a man of few words who lets his actions speak for him. Eli Wallach’s Tuco is a double-talking opportunist who will stab you in the back if given the chance. Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes is a cold-blooded killer who is never irrational in his decision-making. The three leads are flawless in their roles; they fully immerse themselves.

Visually, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, like Sergio Leone’s other films, is filled with arresting moments and symbolism. Another strength of the visuals is how effectively the 2.35:1 frame fully exploits landscapes. That said, Sergio Leone’s camera’s eye does not merely capture the events unfolding; he creates vistas that look like paintings. Though the visuals and Ennio Morricone’s score get most of the accolades, Sergio Leone’s use of ambient sounds is remarkable.

For a film that clocks in at almost 3 hours, the narrative moves briskly. From its opening moments, that narrative quickly grabs you, and it does a superb job building momentum to an epic finale in a cemetery. The finale showdown between the three leads is a masterful piece of filmmaking in which visuals and music create what is the most iconic moment in cinema history. Another moment of note is Tuco's torture at the hands of Angel Eyes. Prisoner soldiers are forced to perform and sing a beautiful melody while brutality is happening nearby. This scene, like many moments in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, is a condemnation of the horror of war.

After The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sergio Leone would go on to direct two more westerns, Once Upon a Time in the West and A Fistful of Dynamite; the former is widely considered his masterpiece. When compared to Sergio Leone’s other Dollars films, there’s something about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that makes it stand out: its narrative has more depth than the two films that precede it. Ultimately, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an extraordinary cinema experience that is much more than a western; it is a film that transcends its genre.

No matter how many times I watch The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it is a film that remains as vibrant as the first time I saw it. That said, for anyone on the fence about buying The Good, the Bad and the Ugly yet again, I strongly recommend this new release from Kino Lorber.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer