Summary
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
‘s deleted scenes add depth and significance to the characters and their interactions. - The Extended Edition reveals important context and fixes plotholes, enhancing the viewer’s understanding of the film.
- Each deleted scene showcases the intelligence and dynamics of the main characters, adding layers to the Western masterpiece.
When it comes to Westerns, Sergio Leone’s 1966 masterpiece The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is often seen as one of the most influential movies of the genre. Quentin Tarantino has called it “the best-directed film of all time”, with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly also featuring in TIME Magazine’s list of their greatest 100 movies (via Entertainment Weekly and TIME). It stars Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name (“the Good”,) Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes (“the Bad”,) and Eli Wallach as Tuco Ramírez (“the Ugly”,) as the three hunt for a chest of gold.
Acting as the final installment in Leone’s iconic Dollars Trilogy, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is massive in scale. However, for decades, the only version available in the US was almost sixteen minutes shorter than the original Italian version – the US version was 155 minutes long compared to 170 minutes for the Italian version. Five scenes had been cut from the US version. In 2002, MGM restored the Italian cut into the Extended Edition, including a never-before-seen scene of Tuco in a cave, bringing the total number of deleted scenes to six.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly‘s six deleted scenes are extremely significant. Each one adds something important to the story, whether that’s learning more about the character’s personalities or the setting that they find themselves in. While they may bring the runtime of the Extended Edition to just under three hours, the scale of Leone’s vision for The Good, The Bad and the Ugly makes these deleted scenes not just a welcome, but a necessary addition to the Western.
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6 ‘Il Grotto’ – 36 Minutes In
Tuco’s Criminal Backstory Explored
Perhaps the most underwhelming of the deleted scenes is also the Extended Edition’s first. Colloquially referred to as ‘Il Grotto’, this scene was absent from both the original Italian and US cuts of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It depicts a very disgruntled Tuco entering the cave hideout of his former gang, melodramatically lamenting about his current situation. Tuco is apparently talking to himself, stating that “I’m rich, but I’m lonely“, and mentioning a blonde man (Blondie) with $4000 before his three former gang members reveal themselves to him.
As the next scene in the movie depicts Tuco’s gang ambushing Blondie, it can be assumed that Il Grotto’s sole purpose was to show how Tuco recruited the three men. While this (and the rather uninspiring cinematography on display in the cave) has raised questions about the necessity of the scene itself, Il Grotto reveals something very interesting about Tuco’s character. So far, Tuco has been portrayed as a bumbling, scruffy character. However, Il Grotto shifts the perception of Tuco into a very intelligent man who is easily able to manipulate his former friends into helping him take down Blondie.
“Potatoes. You’ve gotta be pretty poor to eat potatoes”.
Il Grotto works hand in hand with the ambush scene in establishing Tuco, not just as comic relief, but as a force to be reckoned with. His true intelligence is put on display, while also demonstrating his ability to plan in advance. Ultimately, this particular deleted scene adds a very interesting dynamic to the movie as it acts as clarification that all three of the main characters have their own unique strengths and are a fair match for one another, especially by the ending of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
5 The Fort – 47 Minutes In
Filling Plotholes And Providing Context
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This deleted scene works in a number of different ways. It depicts Angel Eyes following up on a tip to try and locate Bill Carson, the man who knows where the gold is located. The tip brings Angel Eyes to a destroyed fort acting as a makeshift hospital for Confederate soldiers, and he receives information in exchange for a drink that Carson is likely to be held prisoner at a Union POW Camp. The audience sees the result of this later in the movie, when Angel Eyes has scammed his way into becoming an officer at the POW camp.
Besides being expertly shot to convey the chaos of the hospital, the fort scene also helps to fix a plothole that was present in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’s US cut. In that version, Angel Eyes simply appears (seemingly out of nowhere) as an officer at the POW camp when Blondie and Tuco arrive. This deleted scene therefore provides an answer to the question as to how Angel Eyes knew where to go, strengthening his storyline and his depiction as a highly competent mercenary.
As well as this, the context of the deleted fort scene is also incredibly important. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is set during the Civil War, a conflict that becomes more significant for the movie’s storyline and Blondie’s own morality as the story progresses. The fort scene, with its depiction of the brutal injuries of the Civil War, does an excellent job at setting the foundation for the war’s presence in the storyline and conveying the harsh realities of war to the audience.
4 The Sun Bath – 60 Minutes In
The Breaking of Blondie
In the most harrowing deleted scene of the movie, Tuco has sat down to rest after forcing Blondie to walk through the desert with no water and no hat. Blondie, whose skin has cracked from heat exposure, collapses to the ground and attempts to grab Tuco by the boot, only to find the boot empty and Tuco washing his feet in a bucket of water. In a moment of pure sadism, Tuco lets Blondie crawl over to the bucket to drink, tells him to “enjoy a sun bath“, before kicking the bucket and letting the water soak into the sand.
In a similar vein to Il Grotto, the sun bath deleted scene builds upon the threatening dynamic between Tuco and Blondie. Following the torturous journey through the desert, this scene acts as a reminder to the audience about Tuco’s true nature. While Tuco does have his fair share of funny one-liners, he is still a murderous criminal and should be feared by all.
Once again, this scene re-emphasizes the power dynamics on display in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and proves that even The Man With No Name has his weaknesses.
On the other hand, the sun bath scene also shows Blondie at his lowest point, certainly in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but perhaps in the entire Dollars trilogy. It is a shock to the audience to see one of the coolest characters in cinema history reduced to a collapsed heap of sunburn and desperation. Once again, this scene re-emphasizes the power dynamics on display in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and proves that even The Man With No Name has his weaknesses.
3 Blondie’s Trick – 85 Minutes In
Cinematic Subtlety At Its Finest
While this deleted scene only lasts for 44 seconds, it nevertheless reveals more about Tuco, Blondie, and the moral dynamics of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. They are sharing a wagon on the way to the cemetery where the gold is buried, but only Tuco knows the true destination. After spotting dead soldiers, Blondie tells Tuco that, because their journey will take them across the frontlines of the Civil War, he should tell him where they are going. Tuco, realizing this is a trick, refuses.
It is a small but significant detail that easily vanishes in the vastness of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. However, it gives the audience a chance to realize that, despite them traveling to the gold together, Blondie and Tuco are both competing for it. It brings an end to their apparent moment of bonding that they were sharing in the wagon, giving the storyline a sense of authenticity about the true, morally ambiguous intentions of both Blondie and Tuco.
This short deleted scene also reiterates the intelligence of the two characters. In particular, it depicts the widespread underestimation of Tuco exceptionally well. Blondie believes that he can trick Tuco into revealing the location of the cemetery, but Tuco is ready for him.
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2 Six Bullets – 106 Minutes In
A Quick Glimpse Of The Man With No Name
This deleted scene sees the return of the ever-cool Man With No Name, who, up to this point in the movie, had been rather subdued in his moments of action. Blondie and Angel Eyes are asleep, seemingly alone, when the former hears a rustling in the bushes and shoots a man spying on them. Blondie then tells Angel Eyes to tell the rest of his henchmen to come out, counts them, and says “Six, the perfect number“. Angel Eyes then tells Blondie that three is the perfect number, to which Blondie simply says:
“Yeah, but I’ve got six more bullets in my gun”
First and foremost, the main value of this deleted scene is clearly Blondie’s quip about six bullets. It has written itself into the history books alongside many other effortlessly cool one-liners from The Man With No Name. Additionally, the quickness of the draw, and the pure swagger with which Blondie handles the situation acts as a foreshadowing of his actions during the iconic Mexican standoff at the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The deleted scene also reminds audiences, similarly to Blondie’s Trick scene, that all three of the movie’s protagonists share a mutual distrust of one another. Angel Eyes doesn’t trust Blondie, so he tells his henchmen to ambush him, and Blondie doesn’t trust Angel Eyes, so he is prepared to shoot one of the henchmen. By reminding the audience of this intriguing dynamic, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly sets further foundations for the interactions of the movie’s final showdown.
1 “Names Don’t Matter” – 129 Minutes In
The Culmination Of Blondie’s Moral Development
The final deleted scene of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly sees Tuco and Blondie interacting with a Union Army captain after being accidentally recruited. The captain, visibly drunk, tells them both that alcohol is the best weapon you can use to fight a war before asking for their names. After neither Tuco nor Blondie give a coherent answer, the captain rather aptly states that “names don’t matter“.
It’s a deleted scene that captures the pain and exhaustion of the Civil War all within the space of 55 seconds. The movie emphasizes the desperate need for alcohol in wartime to ward off any fears about going into battle while also rather bluntly stating that soldiers are so often seen as expendable. As a result, Blondie’s and Tuco’s names literally do not matter to their commanding officer. He is simply too drunk and too exhausted to care.
Once again, the Civil War gives The Good, the Bad and the Ugly a captivating message to tell about the horrors of war. Throughout the movie thus far, the Civil War has been popping up, mostly as mere exposition, yet in this deleted scene, Blondie and Tuco are right on the frontline, seeing for themselves the reality of war. This deleted scene ultimately acts as the culmination of Blondie’s moral development, giving the character a true reason to value life, and as such, spare Tuco’s following the Mexican standoff at the end of the movie.
Sources: Entertainment Weekly, TIME
The Good the Bad and the Ugly WesternAdventureDrama
Director Sergio Leone Release Date December 29, 1967 Studio(s) United Artists Writers Luciano Vincenzoni , Furio Scarpelli , Agenore Incrocci , Sergio Leone Cast Aldo Giuffrè , Eli Wallach , Clint Eastwood , Lee Van Cleef , Luigi Pistilli Runtime 178 minutes Expand