The Movies
Like all of the "great" outlaws of the American West, filmmaker Sergio Leone found his niche by breaking the rules. As the popularity of the Western genre was winding down, he reinvigorated it with bold camera angles, jarring violence, moral ambiguity and a hot young star named Clint Eastwood. The three films they made together--A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari), For a Few Dollars More (Per qualche dollaro in più) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.)--have been boxed together in The Man with No Name Trilogy.
In all three, Clint plays a mysterious master gunhand, shady yet strangely charismatic. Fistful was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's samurai film Yojimbo, with Clint putting himself in the middle of a turf war in a small town overrun with criminals. More casts him as a bounty hunter teamed with a rival (Lee Van Cleef) to take down a particular nasty hombre. And considered by many to be the greatest Western ever made, GBU is the darkest of this wild bunch but also a sprawling epic set against the backdrop of The Civil War. It's the summit of Leone's storytelling, full of delicious characters, memorable dialogue and even a bit of humor along the twisty route to a fortune in missing Confederate gold.
It's difficult to say for sure whether Clint's gunslinger is the same character across the trilogy, as he does in fact have at least a nickname ("Joe" "Manco" "Blondie") in each, and the timeline from movie to movie gets a little hinky. But this collection's grouping surely acknowledges how the tone and style of this ultra-cool badass forever changed the face of cinema.
While you're here, don't miss Brandon A. DuHamel's in-depth review of the previously released The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Blu-ray single.
The Picture
All three films are preserved in their original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, although I am fairly certain that the studio has used the same masters that were created for DVD a few years ago, now re-authored for Blu-ray. Fistful benefits from an extremely high bitrate, although I do wish that there was more detail in the image, which is too soft, but dirt and scratches have at least been reduced. More seems eve noisier and grainier, and less meticulously restored, with more obvious flaws on the screen. GBU is the best-looking of the three, owing to all of the attention that the restoration was given in 2002. It has been reconstructed to approximate the longest-ever theatrical presentation, with remarkable consistency. All discs are roomy BD-50s, but the running time and more generous extras yield the lowest bitrate on GBU. I had been hoping for full remasters of this landmark trilogy on Blu-ray, but the results here aren't awful.
Although born (in 1964, 1965 and 1966, respectively) in mono, all of these movies have been remixed and remastered for DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on Blu-ray. Fistful now displays a modest directionality, while the sonic rechanneling is extremely limited, and there's no LFE activity to speak of, not even in the action sequences. But what is here, even the blatantly dubbed dialogue, is extremely clear and enjoyable. More offers a greater presence, a slightly more aggressive spread, even a touch of bass, and some pleasingly resonant gunshots plus discrete surround thunder. GBU offers the most extensive remix, adding updated new effects and with modern-day dialogue re-recording by surviving stars Eastwood and Eli Wallach, plus other actors. As we would expect, the big battle scene packs the most bass, and some excellent surround usage, although none of these tracks are intended to go toe-to-toe with current 5.1-channel blockbusters.
The Extras
Almost all of the bonus material here is in standard definition and has appeared previously on DVD, but it's so outstanding that I'm still thrilled to have it. Film historian Sir Christopher Frayling has personally recorded an audio commentary for each film, with a second on GBU from historian/film critic Richard Schickel as well. "A New Kind of Hero" (23 minutes) explores the reinvention of the Western "good guy," while "Not Ready for Primetime" (six minutes) reveals an incredibly obscure bit of film trivia: Monte Hellman's lost "Network Prologue" (eight minutes), filmed to give The Man with No Name more honorable motivation in Fistful, because he was just too much of a badass for 1977 TV audiences!
Both Fistful and More include featurettes with the cast and crew. Clint gives a two-part "career" interview specific to the first two movies (we learn the origin of the term "Spaghetti Western") and "Tre Voci" culls reminiscences of Sergio Leone from producer Alberto Grimaldi, screenwriter Sergio Donati and actor Mickey Knox. "Location Comparisons: Then to Now" shows us Almeria, Spain some 40 years after shooting. Frayling also digs deep into his own menagerie for two celebrations of memorabilia, the only two supplemental segments in HD, likely new to home video. More also includes "A New Standard" (20 minutes) about the increased artistic freedom afforded by the bigger budget on the follow-up film, and a look at three trims made for the original American release.
On the GBU disc, "Leone's West" (20 minutes) explains Sergio's unique perspective on the heretofore American artform, while "The Leone Style" (24 minutes) is a thoughtful dissection of the director's signature techniques. "The Man Who Lost the Civil War" offers historical background that justifies some of Leone's more controversial story choices for GBU (14 minutes). "Reconstructing The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" (eleven minutes) details the different levels of restoration undertaken.
"Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - Part One" brings together informed voices on the subject of Leone's amazing go-to composer (eight minutes), while Part Two is more of an audio essay by film music scholar John Burlingame (12 minutes). Two deleted/extended scenes (ten minutes total) are here too, along with a fistful of fun Easter eggs.
Final Thoughts
We can take comfort in knowing that this set represents the highest-quality and most comprehensive editions of A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly currently available, although a modern, state-of-the-art high-definition remaster would have surely moved the needle from Good to Great.
Product Details
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