Ok, so I finally got to sit down and watch my DVD of The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. The Man With No Name. Squint in his early days. One of my favorite all time movies. But now I have been unexpectedly left with a couple of questions I’m hoping someone here can answer for me.
First, I have seen this movie many times before. I have always thought that Eastwood was “The Good,” that Lee Van Cleef (Setenza) was “The Bad,” and that Eli Wallach (Tuco) was “The Ugly.” In the movie when we are first introduced them they come in reverse order; when Tuco first jumps out of the saloon window, the words “The Ugly” are drawn onto the screen; shortly after we are first introduced to Setenza, the words “The Bad” are drawn onto the screen; shortly after we are introduced to “Blondie”, the words “The Good” are drawn onto the screen. Always seemed pretty straightforward to me. Then I watched the movie trailers on the DVD. Consistently during the trailers they portray Tuco as “The Bad” and Setenza as “The Ugly.” WTF? Is this some change that was made at the last minute, after the trailers had run? Were the trailers just misleading? Or have I been mistaken all these years?
Second, I have always considered this movie, like A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, to be Eastwood as “The Man With No Name.” In this one he’s referred to as “Blondie” a lot, but no name or real background is ever given. But then I get out the DVD and I open the little insert inside the case. Right there in the insert there’s a little “Behind The Scenes” thing that talks about the director’s big risk in filming the bridge detonation scene. At the bottom of this little blurb there’s a listing of the “Cast”. It lists Tuco as being played by Eli Wallach, Setenza as being played by Lee Van Cleef, and it says
Joe? Again, WTF? Is this just using “Joe” as synonomous with meaning he had “no name” like a “John Doe” kind of thing? Or was he supposed to have a name originally and, again, they changed it to remove his name at the last minute, or is this just bull inside the case to my DVD?
It’s a great DVD, but these questions have me questioning everything I thought I knew about TMWNN and Eastwood’s glorious early westerns. I tried running a search, but this isn’t easy to find past threads about. I found a couple of Eastwood and TMWNN threads, but nothing addressing these questions. So… who can help me out? Please?
Oh, and thanks in advance for whatever help anyone can give me.