60 Fun Facts About The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Who directed The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

It was his third film with Eastwood and, as it turned out, his last.

Which of the three leads does Eli Wallach play?

He had played the bandit chief Calvera in The Magnificent Seven; Leone cast him for his 'natural comic talent'.

Which actor plays 'the Bad'?

He had been the sympathetic Colonel Mortimer in the previous film, and Leone liked the idea of flipping him.

What is the nickname of Van Cleef's ruthless mercenary?

In the Italian version he is called Sentenza; he always finishes a job he has been paid for.

What does Tuco call Eastwood's character?

Joe and Manco were the nicknames in the two earlier films; the Italian is 'il Biondo'.

The film is set against the backdrop of which war?

Leone wanted to show the war as useless and stupid, drawing on Mathew Brady's battlefield photographs.

How much gold is said to be buried in the grave?

That was worth about $6.45 million in 2025 money.

What is the name of the cemetery where the gold is hidden?

Spanish soldiers built it with thousands of crosses laid out like a Roman circus; fans rebuilt it in 2015.

What alias does the dying soldier use, the man who knows where the gold is?

Tuco later blurts out the same name to Union soldiers, tipping off Van Cleef's character.

What name does Eastwood's character falsely give Tuco as the name on the grave?

The gold is actually next door in the grave marked 'Unknown'.

The gold is finally found in which grave?

Eastwood's character wrote the real name on a stone in the middle of the cemetery, then admitted it was blank.

How does Eastwood's character escape Tuco's noose in the hotel room?

It's the war intruding on private business, a theme Leone kept returning to.

What is Tuco's brother's occupation?

Father Ramirez rejects him; Van Cleef noted Tuco is the only one of the trio we learn all about.

What is the Ugly's full name, as read out at his hangings?

Eastwood's character prefers 'The Rat'.

What do Tuco and Eastwood's character blow up to clear their way to the cemetery?

Leone said the sequence was partly inspired by Buster Keaton's The General.

Why did the big demolition explosion have to be filmed twice?

A Spanish army captain misheard an Italian cameraman's 'ready' as the Spanish word for 'go'; nobody was hurt.

Who built the doomed river crossing, twice, and rigged it to blow?

It was a real, sturdy structure, so powerful explosives were needed to bring it down.

In how many films did Eastwood and Leone work together?

Eastwood turned down the Harmonica role in Once Upon a Time in the West, which went to another actor.

How does Van Cleef's character disguise himself inside the prison camp?

He has Tuco tortured while a prisoners' band plays to cover the screams.

Although an Italian production, the film was shot mainly in which country?

The Tabernas Desert in Almería played the Southwest; the northern plateau near Burgos hosted the cemetery.

In which Roman studio did production begin in May 1966?

Filming wrapped in July after moving to Burgos and Almería.

Who composed the score?

For this film the main themes were written before shooting, so Leone could play them on set and cut to them.

The main theme's two-note motif was designed to evoke the howl of which animal?

Each of the three leads gets his own timbre when the motif recurs.

Which instrument carries the main motif for Van Cleef's character?

Eastwood's character gets the flute, and Tuco gets human voices.

Which piece plays as Tuco runs frantically through the cemetery looking for the grave?

Soprano Edda Dell'Orso's wordless vocal makes it one of the most reused pieces of film music ever written.

Which heavy metal band has used a piece from the score to open its concerts for decades?

They also recorded it for a 2007 Morricone tribute album and got a Grammy nomination for it.

Whose cover of the main theme reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100?

Muzzy Marcellino did the whistling on the hit single.

What is the only sung song in the film, performed by prisoners during Tuco's torture?

Tommie Connor wrote the lyrics; the guards make the band play to drown out the beating.

Who did the distinctive whistling on Morricone's score?

He also led the choir; Dell'Orso was the soprano and D'Amario the guitarist.

What was the film's working title?

Vincenzoni came up with the final Italian title just before shooting, and Leone loved it.

How does the original Italian title order the three adjectives?

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo puts Tuco second and Van Cleef last.

Which American studio financed and distributed the film after the success of For a Few Dollars More?

They advanced $500,000 up front and took half the box office outside Italy.

Roughly what was the film's production budget?

It went on to gross more than $38 million worldwide.

Whom did Leone first consider for Tuco before choosing Wallach?

He had played the villain in both earlier films, but Leone wanted a natural comedian.

Which of Wallach's earlier films convinced Leone to cast him?

Specifically the 'Railroads' scene; Wallach agreed after Leone screened the credits of For a Few Dollars More.

Which star was Leone's early choice for 'the Bad' but was busy making The Dirty Dozen?

Bronson later did play Harmonica for Leone in Once Upon a Time in the West.

In which language did Leone and Wallach communicate on set?

Wallach spoke it badly and Leone well; the two became close friends.

What nickname did Eastwood give the hot-tempered Leone during filming?

By the end he'd had enough of Leone's endless angles and never worked with him again.

What did Wallach accidentally drink on set, nearly poisoning himself?

He wrote that Leone was brilliant but lax about safety; a bolting horse and a train step also nearly killed him.

Why is none of the film's dialogue perfectly in sync with the actors' lips?

Leone shot silent, played music on set and shouted at actors; the international cast each spoke their own language.

How long was the Italian premiere version of the film?

Leone then cut the 'grotto' scene to 174; US prints ran 161 and some British prints only 148.

For the 2002 restoration, who dubbed the lines of the late Van Cleef?

Eastwood and Wallach came back to re-record their own lines more than 35 years on.

Which director calls it 'the best-directed film of all time' and votes for it in Sight & Sound polls?

He paid homage to the three-way standoff in Reservoir Dogs.

Which novelist said Eastwood's character inspired Roland Deschain of The Dark Tower?

He said so in the introduction to the 2003 revised edition of The Gunslinger.

Which 2008 South Korean film borrows much of its plot and characters from Leone's movie?

Kim Jee-woon set his version in 1930s Manchuria.

Which NYT critic called the film 'the most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre'?

Roger Ebert gave it three stars, later admitting he'd described a four-star film but docked it for being a spaghetti Western.

What did Leone ask Morricone to make the final standoff music sound like?

The result was 'The Trio', which quotes material from For a Few Dollars More.

Which cinematographer shot the film in Techniscope?

Leone told him to pay far more attention to lighting than on the two earlier films.

Which director suggested the cemetery gold was inspired by rumours of Gladio weapons caches?

The anti-Communist network reportedly hid many of its 138 caches in cemeteries.

Where did Eastwood's poncho from the trilogy end up on display?

He gave it to a friend; Leone later sniped that Eastwood was 'a block of marble' next to De Niro.

Which Leone Western is an unofficial remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo?

Toho sued and won; Morricone was credited on it as 'Dan Savio' or 'Leo Nichols'.

What was Eastwood's character called in the first Dollars film?

The undertaker Piripero uses it, and the credits do too; Manco came second.

Which Star Wars bounty hunter was based on the Man with No Name, down to the poncho colours?

Jeremy Bulloch, who wore the armour, said the mannerisms and green-on-white scheme were borrowed.

Van Cleef made his film debut as a non-speaking outlaw in which 1952 Western?

Producer Stanley Kramer spotted him on stage in Mister Roberts.

What happened to the top of Van Cleef's right middle finger?

He kept working despite heart disease and a pacemaker until his death in 1989.

Which honour did Wallach receive in 2010, late in his life?

He already had a Tony (The Rose Tattoo), a BAFTA (Baby Doll) and an Emmy.

Leone's father was a pioneer of which trade?

Vincenzo Leone worked as Roberto Roberti; Sergio's mother was silent-film actress Bice Waleran.

Where was the film's cemetery set rebuilt as a tourist site in 2015?

A 2017 documentary recorded the volunteers' work.

The film's title has entered English as an idiom meaning what?

Willie Colón even borrowed it for a 1975 salsa album with the trio dressed as cowboys.

In which arid Spanish region near Almería were many of the film's exteriors shot?

The Almería location was the go-to backdrop for spaghetti Westerns, while the Sad Hill cemetery was purpose-built far north near Santo Domingo de Silos.