The MGM/UA theatrical trailer on my DVD announces Clint Eastwood as “The Good,” of course, which corresponds to his little blurb in the movie (“such ingratitude for all the times I saved your life,” howlywhistleything, The Good in cursive).
In the movie, Lee Van Cleef is “The Bad.” (You remember: “But the trouble is, you know when I’m paid, I always see the job through”) However, in the trailer, he’s The Ugly.
And Eli Wallach is The Ugly in the movie, but The Bad in the trailer. I assume that someone just messed up the trailer.
Oh, and is there some deeper meaning to the trifecta, or is it just a way of archetyping characters handily for a film?
I just assumed the trailer was wrong too because it seems pretty clean, at least to me, that the “bad” one is Lee Van Cleef.
I guess it’s just a cool sounding motif that really doesn’t mean that much. Blondie isn’t all that “good” when it comes right down too it, especially considering what he does to Tuco in the beginning of the film.
I agree. The only explanation I’ve ever heard is that maybe it meant that blondie was “good looking”. Half-assed I know, but fuck if I know what the real story is.
Boy, ya talk about yer formative moments. My 7th grade English teacher turned me on to this movie, and moviemaking in general. This is all his fault so Mr. A, if you’re reading, god love ya !!
In terms of the plot, Blondie’s no angel but up against Van Cleef or Wallach he comes off looking fairly good. He has a slightly more humane take in some scenes.
C’mon, it’s OPERA for cripe’s sake !!! Everybody dies. Everybody is evil. Everybody wants to be beautiful but is hideous until touched by good.
I noticed that on the trailer too, that they called Eli Wallach “The Bad” though the english titles (the cursive ropes) during the movie identify him as “The Ugly”.
Now, the Italian title is “Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo” which is “The Good, the Ugly, the Bad.”
I ALSO remember seeing a version of the movie where the cursive titles are written in Italian but otherwise the movie was the same.
If one could track that down, you could probably find Leone’s intent.
(now, I haven’t seen it in a while, but don’t they redo the labels at the end? I’m vaguely recalling that the version I saw with the italian at the beginning had english at the end. )
I saw that version. (In fact, I didn’t know there was another version, I just assumed that the opening bit was in Italian). I don’t remember the order of the names, but i do remember that Eastwood was il Buono (the good), Van Cleef was il Cattivo (the bad) and Wallach was il Brutto (the ugly). I think the order of the titles was as Trunk has it, i.e. The Good, the Ugly, and the Bad. It really sounds better that way in Italian (to my non-native ear).
Definitely, Wallach is the ugly. I’ve seen the trailer you are referring too, and this point was discussed every once in a while on Leone websites, and the conclusion was always that Wallach was the ugly. As the previous posters said, it must have been through confusion with the change of the word ordering in the title from Italian to English.
Interesting. The American title has them as “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” … and introduces them in reverse order.
From the scenes in the movie, it would seem impossible to re-cut a version where Blondie is introduced before Tuco. But it’s certainly possible to make a cut where Angel Eyes comes in first. I’m not suggesting anything here, just blue-skying.
oh, and Il Buono (Clint) is the last to be introduced, after he shoots Eli off the hangman’s noose. The order of intorduction is: The Ugly, the Bad, and the Good.
