The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo)

Sergio Leone directed The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo), an epic Italian spaghetti Western from 1966. It closes the Dollars Trilogy begun with A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965); the films are linked by theme and style, not plot. A co-production of Italy, Spain and Germany, it opened in Italy on December 23, 1966, and in Turkey on January 13, 1969. It is now ranked among the most influential Westerns ever made.

Set amid the chaos of the American Civil War, the story follows three gunslingers hunting a buried cache of Confederate gold. Clint Eastwood plays "the Good", Lee Van Cleef "the Bad" and Eli Wallach "the Ugly". Shifting alliances and betrayals drive the plot. Critics singled out Wallach's bandit Tuco for the warmest praise.

Luciano Vincenzoni, Leone, Age and Scarpelli wrote the screenplay. Its look rests on wide shots paired with extreme close-ups and Tonino Delli Colli's Techniscope photography. Ennio Morricone composed the score, whose coyote-howl main theme is among cinema's most recognisable. Shooting took place mostly in Spain, in the Tabernas Desert of Almería and at the purpose-built Sad Hill Cemetery. Reviews were mixed on release, but later re-evaluation brought a cult following.