This movie is a good now as it was 40 years ago
I first saw this movie in 1968 when I returned from Vietnam,
It was one of the best cowboy shoot em ups I had seen then and yuppers now 40 years later it still is among the best of the best.
Eastwood is hard core at his best!!.
I have wanted to buy this entire series for all of this time,finally I bought this one and the 2 others exactly like it in it's series.
They are by the way the best ones of those I reviewed, they are as great now to watch as they were then...
I seldom watch movies twice, this is a exception it's very well done.
I love my copy and the others in the series

Over Rated
Well, I really had high hopes for this one. Being a lover of western films, I decided I needed to go back and watch all the ones I had never seen, especially the old staples, i.e. The Wild Bunch, Magnificent Seven, etc. Having never watched one from this series, and being a moderate Eastwood fan, I was excited to get it home and watch it. All I can say was I was not impressed. I thought the musical score was annoying, screechy, repetitive, and not very interesting. It seemed Sergio Leone's greatest camera technique was extreme close-ups, or panoramic shots. While you can never criticize a beautiful panoramic shot of the West, I tire of people going on and on about the cinematography of this film. So we got a close-up of these guys eyes, wow. It's all a bit over dramatic. Many of the scenes were long and drawn out. I was so annoyed with unnecessarily drawn out scenes, that I fast forwarded towards the end when they were searching the tombstones. It was like Leone was trying way too hard, and everyone is buying it. Hate to criticize something so well liked, but when compared to other movies of this genre, it really doesn't stack up.

Eastwood, Wallach and Van Cleef at their Best : One of the Great Action Westerns
On the heels of a "Fistful of Dollars" and "A Few Dollars More", this film is the greatest of the Italian trilogy as Wallach and Van Cleef add perfect balance to Eastwood in this western thriller set in the Civil War, in the midst of Confederate General Sibley's failed attempt to wrest New Mexico from the Union. What is superior in this film, compared to the two earlier films with Van Cleef and Eastwood, is the addition of the excellent actor Wallach who plays the unprincipled, unflinching, killer Tucco who adds a constant, light and subtle comical touch to the film that invokes timely humor, literally tongue in cheek, into the many tense action scenes. Eastwood, as Blondie, is still the man with no name, speaking only a few words but speaking poignantly, as the dominant, cool good guy with Van Cleef as the methodical, steely eyed nemesis, a perfect foil for Eastwood. Wallach (Tucco) serves as a bridge between the two characters, making allegiances with who ever serves him the best. In other words, none can completely trust the other. This full version has several previously uncut scenes that add several minutes to the movie, some of which are helpful and a few may seem a little long such as the dessert scene where Tucco seeks revenge over Blondie. However, the film never loses its original punch and the sound track is unforgettable and it is used delightfully to kick up an action scene. Long after the movie is over, the music will continuously echo into your brain as the music never seems dated and the mere sound of the music heard anywhere brings you back to the film. Sergio Leone, who directed and wrote the script, pulls together one of the largest casts and production sets as he utilizes sets featuring whole towns and large scale battlefields. Some of the scenes of the Civil War are confusing such as the mix of what appears to be butternut uniformed Confederates mixed with the Union army at a bridge head. They may be "galvanized Yankees", confederates that traded sides after capture or they could be western volunteers. Leone pulls out the stops to create realistic battlefields, uniforms and gear although the bridge scene looks like a western version of the battle of Fredericksburg. In this large scene, he displays virtually every kind of cannon fro rifled Napoleons, smooth bores, large mortars and siege guns. The latter two less likely then the two former for the west due to limited transportation in the west particularly the siege guns. The additional 20 minutes history lesson on the additional disc gives a good over view of what was happening in this western Civil War campaign that the three characters stumble into. The film, with wide screen, is exciting, frequently funny, never too serious and unforgettable. A tremendous side story is the tremendous loss of life experienced during the Civil War displayed by large casualties, overwhelmed hospitals, prison camps, disabled veterans and, in the pivotal scene, a cemetery so large it seems without end. Although the characters are all hardened and can readily shoot a man, Leone shows, through the back drop of America's most costly war in human loss, the sheer violence and loss of life that reminds us that war is far less romantic than what is perceived initially and should be avoided if at all possible.
And the writing is first rate, there are numerous memorable lines spoken by the main characters such as:

"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig."

I saw the film when it originally came out while a military dependent on a Marine base, and it was the greatest audience to see a Eastwood western with several 100 active duty Marines in attendance who were enthralled and enthusiastic for every scene

be wary of the single-disc edition
I own the "Sergio Leone Anthology" DVD box set, which features "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" with only the 5.1 English audio option (the same edition as the "collector's edition"). As I already was aware of this (I wanted the extras and the other films), I also purchased the single DVD version of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", which is also available in the "Man with No Name" trilogy DVD box set, in order to have a copy with the original Mono English language soundtrack.

While the artwork for the newer edition / pressing of this single-disc "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" still lists the audio as mono, the DVD menu only lists the 5.1 English soundtrack as an option. The original edition / pressing only offered the mono.

Either this option is an technical / editorial oversight that occurred during the re-packaging and re-pressing of the older DVD edition (and the artwork is still correct), or the DVD option is correct, and the artwork was mistakenly overlooked during repressing. Either way, this is an obvious oversight that should be amended.

The fact is that this is NOT the same printing or pressing as the original DVD of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" that was released in the late 1990's. The original pressing had a missing bit taken from the Italian release (not dubbed into English) -- the same bit that was re-dubbed by Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach for the re-release of the extended version, etc., etc., in the early 2000's (which led to the "collector's edition" DVD release).

This is a new pressing, with the audio "problem" noted above (which essentially means, and this is very significant for Leone fans, that there is currently NO in-print DVD pressing of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" available for purchase with the original mono soundtrack), and an accompanying commentary track that is the same as that offered on the "collector's edition"... and none of the original "special features" (such as the previously mentioned un-dubbed bit).

The publisher should have noted this difference by assigning it as a different release. I just got back from a local shop to purchase their last copy of the original release (because I do insist that the original Leone sound is something worth having). I just want customers to know what they're getting. I've tried emailing both MGM Home Video and amazon.com. We'll see if anything changes...

TRILOGY
The third in a trilogy. The Good Bad and Ugly is a sprawling western. Helped to make Clint Eastwood a household name. But, it wouldn't have worked without Eli Wallace.