One of the most anticipated Blu-ray releases of the year is out today with Kino Lorber’s 50th anniversary release of The Good, the Bad and The Ugly from legendary director Sergio Leone. This certainly isn’t the first Blu-ray release for this classic western that made Clint Eastwood a star — Blu-ray.com actually shows 12 different versions released in the US alone — but it does bring some new elements to the table that are sure to please fans.
The new release from Kino Lorber is a 2-disc set that features the original 161-minute theatrical cut plus the extended 179-minute cut. Both of these cuts come with 4k restorations. In past releases some folks have had issues with some of the colors so it’ll be interesting to see how the Kino version turned out. Not wanting to settle on just having two cuts, Kino Lorber has loaded both versions of the film with tons of special features:
Disc 1:
– 4K transfer of the Original U.S. Theatrical Cut Available for the first time in HD
– New Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas
– Trailers From Hell with Ernest Dickerson
– Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio
– Restored 1967 UA Logo
– Alternate Scene: The Optical Flip
– Deleted Scene 1: Skeletons in the Desert
– Deleted Scene 2: Extended Torture Scene
– GBU on the: animated behind-the-scenes image gallery
– Promoting GBU: Posters & Lobby Cards animated image gallery
– Sergio Leone Westerns: Original Theatrical Trailers
– Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
– English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio
– Reversible Art
Disc 2:
– 4K transfer of the Extended Cut
– Newly Restored 2.0 Mono Audio
– Audio Commentary by Film Historian Richard Schickel
– Audio Commentary By Noted Cultural Historian Sir Christopher Frayling
– Leone’s West: Making Of Documentary (19:55)
– Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and GBU Featurette Part 1 (7:48)
– Il Maestro: Ennio Morricone and GBU Featurette Part 2 (12:26)
– The Leone Style: On Sergio Leone Featurette (23:48)
– The Man Who Lost The Civil War: Civil War Documentary (14:24)
– Reconstruction GBU (11:09)
– Deleted Scene 1: Extended Tuco Torture scene (7:15)
– Deleted Scene 2: The Socorro Sequence – A Reconstruction (3:02)
– Vignette 1: Uno, Due, Tre (0:40)
– Vignette 2: Italian Lunch (0:43)
– Vignette 3: New York Accent (0:09)
– Vignette 4: Gun in Holster (0:58)
– Original U.S. Theatrical Trailer
– Original French Theatrical Trailer
– English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio
– Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
To celebrate this new release let’s take a look at the film’s opening title sequence from Iginio Lardani. As soon as the first note of music hits and the bright red flashes on the screen you know you’re in for an absolute treat. Enjoy!
