The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Arrow have released Sergio Leone's epic, intense conclusion to his 'Dollars' trilogy in a four disc set in both UHD and Blu-ray editions with the versions of the film included being new 4K restorations from the original 2-perf Techniscope negative.

Running close to three hours whichever version you watch (more about that in a minute), THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY essentially has a very simple plot: a cache of stolen gold coins worth $200 000 is buried in a cemetery and three men played by Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach are all after it while doing their best to deter and double cross each other along the way. 

But (and it's a big one), this story is played out against the backdrop of the American Civil War, depicted with the kind of  operatic grandeur and sweeping excess the likes of which we will likely never see filmed in quite this way ever again. Add in a memorable music score by Ennio Morricone (conducted by Bruno Nicolai) and arresting widescreen location photography and it's not surprising this one is so widely regarded as a classic. 

How about horror connections? Well in the cast we have Luigi Pistilli from YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY, TRAGIC CEREMONY and others, Frank Braña from RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD, PIECES and SLUGS, Antonio Casale from AUTOPSY and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE, and Victor Israel from every Spanish horror film ever (pretty much), while Sergio Salvati (Fulci's DP on THE BEYOND and others) was the assistant cameraman and Mickey Knox (STAGEFRIGHT AQUARIUS) worked on the English translation of the screenplay.

Arrow's set consists of four discs. Disc one has the 'International Cut' of the film which runs 162 minutes and has an invaluable commentary from Tim Lucas. Disc two has the 'Extended Cut' (179 minutes) which you can make run even longer if you opt for the 'extended torture' sequence of Eli Wallach or shorter if you prefer to leave out his scene in the grotto that was cut by Leone himself shortly after release. Commentary duties on this version are by Leone biographer Sir Christopher Frayling on one track and Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel on the other.

Disc three has enough extras to keep you busy for a weekend, with a vast amount of newly recorded material that includes film critic Fabio Melelli talking about the circular nature of the trilogy (19 minutes), Lee Van Cleef biographer Mike Malloy discussing the actor's contribution to the film (12 minutes), and interviews with co-writer Furio Scarpelli's son Giacomo (29 minutes), DP Tonino Delli Colli's son Stefano (22 minutes), production and costume designer Carlo Simi's daughter Giuditta (6 minutes), assistant cameraman Sergio Salvati (27 minutes), stuntman Fabio Testi (14 minutes), editor Eugenio Alabiso (28 minutes), post production supervisor Enzo Ocone (28 minutes), guitarist Bruno Battisti D'Amario (8 minutes), legendary vocalist Edda Dell'Orso (14 minutes) and Ennio Morricone biographer Alessandro de Rosa (28 minutes).

Lovely Jon contributes a fascinating 29 minute visual essay about the recording of the score, carefully and clearly relating the conflicting accounts of various personnel interviewed. As well as that all the extras from the previous 2003 MGM release have been ported over and there are the usual trailers and still galleries, Disc four is exclusive to Arrow's limited edition  and contains Sad Hill Unearthed, a 2017 documentary about efforts to restore the graveyard set along with a making of and other extras (not provided for review). Finally the set comes with a book with new writing on the film, a double sided poster and reversible sleeve.

Sergio Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY is out in a four disc limited edition set from Arrow in both UHD and Blu-ray editions now.