Italian/European market
Blondie: Gianni Garko
Angel Eyes: Richard Widmark
Tuco: Fernando Sancho
American Market
Blondie: Steve McQueen
Angel Eyes: Klaus Kinski
Tuco: Rod Steiger
Low budget
Blondie: Richard Harrison
Angel Eyes: Gordon Mitchell
Tuco: Ricardo Palacios
Blondie - John Cassavetes
Angel Eyes - Charles Bronson
Tuco - Dean Martin
I fixed it! Thanks! My bad.
For a modern version I’d go with:
Blondie = Hugh Jackman (as said before)
Tuco = John Leguizamo
Angel Eyes = Ed Harris
I wouldn’t cast them, but if you couldn’t have the originals…
Blondie: Robert Mitchum
Angel Eyes: Lee Marvin
Tuco: Edward G Robinson
Blondie: Humphrey Bogart
Tuco: Telly Savalas
Angel Eyes: Gary Oldman
Here are my two cnts in this amtter
Blondie
Angel eyes
Tuco
For those who may think that the Yorkshire accent from Bean not acceptable for a SW, I would then change it for Kris Kristofferson.
Can’t think of anyone replacing Wallach in role of Tuco, that would be blasphemy.
I don’t think you should call them “cnts” ET - besides there are 3 of them.
As I can’t take this thread too seriously, how about these guys?
That tache, that dress sense - has to be Sentenza; then there’s the silent Blondie; and finally the swarthy Chico as Tuco.
[quote=“Reverend Danite, post:29, topic:2479”]I don’t think you should call them “cnts” ET - besides there are 3 of them.
As I can’t take this thread too seriously, how about these guys?
That tache, that dress sense - has to be Sentenza; then there’s the silent Blondie; and finally the swarthy Chico as Tuco.
[/quote]
;D ;D ;D
Genius
[quote=“El Topo, post:27, topic:2479”]Angel eyes
[/quote]
Real nice choice he would make a great Van Cleef type in a modern day film 
Blondie : Gianni Garko
Angel Eyes: Warren Oates
Tuco: Joe Pesci
The best two ideas put forward here, are Charles Bronson as the Bad and Gian-Maria Volonté as the Ugly
Leone considered both. Bronson was his first choice as the Bad, but when he wasn’t available, he turned to Lee van Cleef. He changed his mind about Gian-Maria Volonté because he thought Volonte would turn the character into a maniac, and he preferred a more rascal-like type, someone who looked and acted a little like Wallace beery in Viva Villa (Tuco was most probably modelled after him).
I can imagine Bronson would have been a great ‘Bad’ (Alain Delon would’ve been a good choice too); Volonté would have been a great ‘Ugly’, but of course a completely different one. Can’t think of any actor who could play the Good instead of Clint. Not even Paul Newman; he would have been excellent in the first two Dollar movies, but as the Good … no. Maybe, maybe Robert Redford would’ve been a good ‘Good’.
I like Len’s idea of picking 3 alternates from the time who Leone might have wanted and who might conceivably have said yes. This would rule out someone like Paul Newman for sure as, despite the European success of the first two dollars films, in 1966 Leone’s name in the U.S and the Italian industry in general did not cut much ice with Hollywood A listers. But Leone certainly wanted American actors where possible. Apart from Volonte all his major roles went to U.S actors. So names such as Nero, Garko and the like would be equally unlikely.
In these terms Bronson might well have been a contender as he was still predominantly a TV actor at this stage in his career. Steve McQueen and James Coburn are possibles but both were just breaking through into regular lead roles in Hollywood movies so, again would have been unlikely to take what would, in essence, have been a step down in terms of prestige for them. Burt Reynolds, despite being far from blonde would certainly have been a possibility. As would Jeff Hunter. Although I concede that neither would have been ideal. But my pick for the Blondie role would be, and bare with me here, Jack Nicholson. Granted Jack lacks the physical stature of Eastwood but, thinking in terms of the role not just an Eastwood lookalike, Nicholson fits perfectly into a character that is at once ruthless and likeable; vulnerable and mean. In those terms I think Jack would have been great in the part and when you consider that in 1966 he was splitting his time between B movies, TV and writing he would have been well known enough to sell in America but cheap enough to fit the budget. Having said that, he could probably have made a good Tuco as well.
I’ll settle for Jack Nicholson or Robert Redford as Blondie (Redford once thought of playing the Ed Kookie Byrnes part in Any Gun can play); Bronson is totally acceptable for me as Sentenza. So all I have to do is find me a good contemporary Tuco. Like Sergio I think Volonté isn’t the right man (too maniacal). Dean Martin maybe, as somebody suggested here? I don’t dislike the idea. Not entirely.
GBU is largely Wallach’s film in my opinion. So it is actually harder to imagine anyone else playing Tuco than any of the other characters. But I do think Nicholson might have been able to carry it off. So maybe Redford as Blondie, Bronson as Angel Eyes and Jack as Tuco will be my pick.
I think Tuco is the main character in GBU.
And if I had to pick only Italians:
Blondie - Garko
Sentenza - Volonte
Tuco - Salerno
I agree that Volonte would be too over the top as Tuco but the role of Sentenza would force him to rein in his tendency to be over exuberant and he could be much more effective as a colder, more calculating villain. Enrico Maria Salerno I think could carry off the rustic craftiness of Tuco without going overboard.
Salerno in the Tuco role would bother me. He already played that type of character in Train for Durango and although his performance was adequate for the character, I didn’t feel the connection as I did with Wallach.
But the early Nero (the short haired one) could have played Blondie very well, now that I think about it a little bit more.