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Trivia / The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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  • Actor-Inspired Element: Eli Wallach had as many ideas for Tuco that went into the film as Leone did. He decided that the character should have a silver tooth, and wear a belt and suspenders, inspired by Leone wearing the same thing. He also improvised most of the scene in the gun shop, and it was his idea for Tuco to growl at a little old lady as he was being hanged.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty!: The phrase "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" are often used for things increasingly worse. In actual film, Tuco (the Ugly) is an Anti-Villain in comparison to Angel Eyes (The Bad). Still, "The Good, the Ugly, and the Bad" doesn't flow nearly half as well. This problem doesn't exist in its original Italian title, which is 'Il Buono, Il Brutto E Il Cattivo' with Tuco (Il Brutto/The Ugly) before Sentenza (Il Cattivo/The Bad).
  • Billing Displacement: Although Clint Eastwood has top billing, Eli Wallach is the star of the film.
  • Completely Different Title: Known in French as Le Bon, la Brute et le Truand ("the good, the brute, and the thug").
    • Japan: Sunset Gunman: The Sequel
  • Creator Backlash: Clint Eastwood wasn't happy with the finished movie. He later said it was bloated rather than expansive, and the only fleshed-out character was Tuco.
  • Creator's Favorite: Tuco. Both Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef realized that the character of Tuco was close to Sergio Leone's heart, and the director and Wallach became good friends during the making of the film. Van Cleef observed:
    "Tuco is the only one of the trio the audience gets to know all about. We meet his brother and find out where he came from and why he became a bandit. But Clint's character and Angel's remain mysteries."
  • Deleted Scene: Missing Scene, rather. Some sequences were not restored for the 178-minute edition, namely:
    • Just before the Ecstacy of Gold sequence, Tuco would have been blown off his horse by cannon fire, he'd have tried to fire back at Blondie with a nearby cannon, but of course the clumsy bandit keeps misfiring and the cannon starts falling apart. A still of this scene can be viewed in the opening credits.
    • After Angel Eyes frees Blondie, they have a rest and the former gives some exposition on the gold. The story Angel Eyes recounts would actually make it to the novelization as the opening chapter; it's told from the POV of Stevens, Baker, and the ex-soldier Angel Eyes killed in the opening.
    • The most famous, however, is definitely the Soccoro sequence. Taking place during Tuco's hunt for Blondie, Tuco almost catches up to Blondie in the aforementioned town. After the local bartender lies to him regarding Blondie's whereabouts, Tuco goes off to shake down a Confederate recruiter and the entire town. However, while he's boasting, a prostitute Blondie hired steals the money and leaves a fresh cigar for Tuco to find. When he finds out, Tuco confronts the bartender again and is implied to burn him in the face with the cigar offscreen for having lied to him
  • Defictionalization: A treasure hunter in 2023 discovered a long-abandoned Union gold coin stash in Kentucky, dubbed the "Great Kentucky Hoard". According to the article, it's been estimated to be worth at least $2,000,000 in modern money.
  • Dueling Dubs: Germany had three dubs for the movie. The first was a cinematic version, the second a Pro 7 version with the new scenes, and the third was a DVD version with the new scenes.
  • Enforced Method Acting: Sergio Leone let a dog onto the set during one of the final scenes without telling anyone. Eli Wallach's reaction was kept.
  • Fake American: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach (the eponymous Good, Bad, and Ugly, respectively) are the only actual Americans in the entire cast.
  • Fake Nationality: Eli Wallach, a Polish-American Jew, plays the Mexican Tuco. Wallach also portrayed a Mexican in his second most memorable role, as the bandit Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960), and another Mexican, Tuco Expy Max Lozoya, in Don't Turn the Other Cheek!. Also Spanish Antonio Casas and Italians Livio Lorenzon and Antonio Casale as Americans Stevens, Baker and Jackson, and Italians Aldo Giuffre and Mario Brega as Americans Captain Clinton and Corporal Wallace.
  • Harpo Does Something Funny: More like Tuco Does Something Funny. See "Throw It In".
  • On-Set Injury: Eli Wallach was almost poisoned during filming when he accidentally drank from a bottle of acid that a film technician had set next to his soda bottle. He drank milk afterwards and filmed a scene with a mouthful of sores.
  • One-Take Wonder: Eli Wallach refused to do another take of the train scene after almost getting decapitated. Thankfully, it only required one.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Some scenes from the Italian original were cut from the first English-language version and didn't get put back in until 2003. Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach were still available for the English dub of these scenes, but since Lee Van Cleef was dead (he died in 1989), Simon Prescott did his voice.
    • In the Japanese dub, Blondie was voiced by Yasuo Yamada. After his death, Yohei Tadano redubbed his voice.
  • Recycled Set: The mud-strewn town where Blondie brings Tuco for his first hanging is the same town from Django, filming for which had taken place earlier that year. The set, built at the Elios Film Studios in Rome, had not been cleaned between its use in the two films.
  • Stillborn Franchise: Although Sergio Leone never made an official sequel to this film, screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni wrote a treatment for a sequel, tentatively titled Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo n. 2. According to Eli Wallach, the film would have followed Tuco pursuing Blondie's grandson for the gold 25 years after the events of the film. Clint Eastwood expressed an interest in acting as a narrator for the film, since Blondie would have been unceremoniously killed off after becoming mayor of a town; Joe Dante and Leone were approached to direct and produce the film, respectively. The project was eventually vetoed by Leone, as he did not want the film's title, nor its characters, to be reused. In an interview, Luciano Vincenzoni claimed that it was vetoed because Leone was angry at him; the producer had offered him one million dollars to put his name as "Sergio Leone Presents", and didn't want Vincenzoni to make money.
  • Throw It In!:
    • When Tuco is being hanged as a scam, he growls at a little old lady. This was Eli's idea. Leone liked it and told him to do it again so he could be filmed properly.
    • Tuco's line "When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk!" was actually improvised by Wallach, which apparently caused the whole crew to burst out laughing. Eli was a little perplexed because he thought that what he said was actually pretty sensible; that is, he didn't mean it as a joke, but his delivery and the look on his face made it side-splittingly hilarious.
    • Tuco playing with the guns in the gun shop was improvised with permission from Sergio Leone, as Eli Wallach had no idea how guns really worked. The exasperated look on the seemingly feeble shop owner's face is real. Couples with Harpo Does Something Funny
    • Also, Tuco shoving the "Open/Closed" sign in the gun shop owner's mouth was also Eli's idea.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Charles Bronson was supposed to play Angel Eyes, but he was in England filming The Dirty Dozen. The reason was that while he knew he would be good for the role, Leone was extremely hesitant to cast Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes, because he felt the audience wouldn't take kindly to Van Cleef going from the fatherly, likable Col. Douglas Mortimer to sneering villain Angel Eyes, hence why he pushed for Bronson to take on the role and pursued other actors. (Henry Fonda and Lee Marvin were also considered.) In the end, Bronson and the other candidates declined, and Leone got over his reservation of having Van Cleef go from playing a hero to villain in this film. Van Cleef was eventually cast, and the rest is history. .
    • Sergio Leone originally considered Gian Maria Volonté, villain of the first two Dollars movies, for Tuco, but felt that the role required someone with "natural comic talent". Ironically, Volontè's English dub voice actor in both films, Bernie Grant, did have a role in this one, as the Union Army captain during the bridge scene (portrayed by Aldo Giuffre) who is also more sympathetic than his previous Dollars characters.
  • Working Title: The Magnificent Rogues and The Two Magnificent Tramps.
  • You Look Familiar: Many of Leone's Production Posse make appearances:
    • Most notably, Lee Van Cleef returns after appearing in For a Few Dollars More as Colonel Mortimer, who's a saint compared to this guy.
    • One of Angel Eyes' henchmen Blondie kills is played by Lorenzo Robeldo, who played El Indio's "traitor" in For A Few Dollars More and one of the Baxter Trio attacking Joe at the start of A Fistful of Dollars.

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