The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (Sergio Leone, 1966)

Will not have Italian audio

No sale for me then Arrow

That somewhat prevents it from being something of a definitive release.
Let’s hope the rest compensate for that, differents cuts, picture quality, extras…

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I must say that I normally enable the Italian or Spanish dub when watching spaghettis but I have never watched any of Leone’s with anything but the English one and I guess that will be the case for the most of the customers for these. Tough of course but if this is the only thing ‘wrong’ with them I will be happy :slight_smile:

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Full specs added

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Buono,_il_brutto,_il_cattivo,_Il/BluRay#UK

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Seamless branching options to watch the Extended Cut with the uncut torture scene (mono only) and/or without the ‘grotto’ scene originally removed after the premiere

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Apart from the grotto scene and the torture scene there are other smaller differences on the 1966 Italian cut.

Here is a comparison scan of the unique footage found on the 1966 print of the early scene where Angel eyes visits the farmer.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/169015668?h=d38a03b646

Here is a comparison of the lack of music when Blondie leaves Tuco in the desert found on the complete 1966 release print.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/213955938?h=cbf09d163c

The desert. Skeleton scene and music difference.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/169704930?h=e0507f1415

Here is a comparison of the longer character titles on the 1966 print to the Mondo Blu release
https://player.vimeo.com/video/214113261?h=c5b97b81a7

Source and more information
http://theeditroomfloor.blogspot.com/2017/04/current-issues-with-good-bad-and-ugly_15.html

The mondo disc/Italian cut differs from the 1966 Italian release print in 8 ways (5 confirmed). The bolded items are ones we can confirm based on our evidence and their presence on at LEAST two 1966 release prints, or based on official documentation. We have one (mostly) complete 1966 Italian release print, and one partial 1966 Italian release print for evidence.

1. it is missing a small section of closeups from the beginning of the soup scene with the farmer and Angel Eyes (0:11 seconds)

2. the audio when Blondie leaves Tuco in the desert MAY have been different. On the complete 1966 print, no music is present during the end of the scene, Tuco’s angry shouts simply echo in the distance.

3. it may have included a scene in the desert where Blondie slides down into a heap of skeletons (:54 seconds) On our print the scene is damaged and is only :12 seconds, but it has an optical cross dissolve from the previous scene and has the original music and sound. The Kino version has no sound (and uses different music), but we know the scene was scored and mixed with sound effects. The Kino version is also missing the dissolve (likely it is sourced from negative/pre-optical). The music in the next scene is also different on the 1966 Italian release print (the score from the preceding scene is repeated).

4. It included an intermission (“intervallo” in Italian). A title card would come up that read “end of first half” (Fine della prima metà), and the film would be paused. This would have occurred right after Blondie splashes Tuco in the face with coffee in the mission recovery scene. After the break, a second card which read “second half” (seconda metà) would appear before the film resumed. The scene after the intermission would be Blondie nearly recuperated as Tuco brings him water. (The intermission in this case almost acts like a time dissolve.) Thanks to feedback from someone who worked at MGM and inquired about the intermission cards (see comments section on part 3), we know that this intermission was silent. Based on the Italian documentation and knowing the negative is 2 perf 35mm, 6 meters = :26 seconds of intermission title cards.

5. the beating scene is incomplete. (2:00 minutes have been cut)

6. it is missing :16 seconds around the line “sorry tuco” (Italian line is “scusa”). Blondie apologizes as he rides away from Tuco standing on the cross.

7. it may have included slightly longer Italian character titles on the last scene (the extended character titles on our complete 1966 Italian print add up to being :03 seconds longer, each title holds for an additional second.)

8. The mondo Blu cuts off the exit music. Approx :30 seconds of music over black picture is missing.

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At least this small part was and is in the international version, the 161 min cut.

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The omission of Blondie’s horse rearing and the line ‘scusa’ from the current Italian blu-ray is perplexing (and irritating for that matter), as it’s present on both a VHS and a RAI TV screening from 1989.

I think it’s missing on all Italian DVDs and Blus so far.

I really wish that someone somewhere sometime would go to the Leone archive, re-restore all and everything rotting away somewhere and then furnish a most ultimate composite cut, with seamless branching options for all preferences. The challenge is always to match the audio but as a popular spaghetti western title goes’ it can be done amigo

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But the new Blus seem to do the job well enough.
If I can watch the original version without the grotto scene the biggest flaw is solved. I personally would also like to get rid of the scene with Clint and LvC camping at night (superfluous and weak).
Not sure about the longer Tuco beating scene, it seems already long enough in the shorter version. I probably prefer the shortened one.
All other differences are minor and unimportant stuff.

In my opinion, the extended Italian cut is a nice novelty, but I almost always watch the international cut on rewatches - it’s the definitive version of the film.

It would be interesting to know how the Italians view the shorter version, which one they prefer, as they watched for decades mostly the uncut version (means without the grotto scene).
The international version works perfectly, but it is still a cut version, and some of the other scenes I like too much to pass on them.
My perfect version lies actually somewhere in the middle of both.