Kino Lorber on June 6 will release on Blu-ray Disc three classic 1960s “spaghetti Westerns,” starring Clint Eastwood, from Italian director Sergio Leone.
The three films — A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly — are collectively known as the “Man with No Name” trilogy.
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) finds Eastwood portraying a lean, cold-eyed, cobra-quick gunfighter who arrives in a grim and dusty border town where two rival bands of smugglers terrorize the impoverished citizens. Though he receives lucrative offers of employment from each gang, his loyalty cannot be bought. He accepts both jobs — and sets in motion a deadly plan to destroy the criminals, pitting one against the other in a series of brilliantly orchestrated setups, showdowns and deadly confrontations. A Fistful of Dollars costars Marianne Koch and Gian Maria Volontè.
The film’s restoration included over 24 hours of extensive shot-by-shot color grading of the logarithmic restored 4K files provided by L’Immagine Ritrovata. Bonus features include audio commentary by novelist and critic Tim Lucas and film historian Sir Christopher Frayling, an interview with actress Koch, then-and-now location comparisons, and a featurette with Eastwood on the experience of making the film, among others.
The sequel For a Few Dollars More (1965) stars Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as two rival bounty hunters who join forces to bring murderous bandit El Indio (Gian Maria Volontè) and his vicious gang of criminals to justice. But all is not as it seems as their quest erupts in blistering gun battles, jailbreaks and bank holdups. The film also features a score by Ennio Morricone and co-stars Mario Brega, Luigi Pistilli, Aldo Sambrell and Klaus Kinski.
This film also was color edited, with the Blu-ray Disc including such bonus features as audio commentaries by Lucas and Frayling, a visit with filmmaker Alex Cox to location settings in Almería and Granada; Eastwood’s remembrances; and the original Amerian release version of the film.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) concludes the “Man With No Name” trilogy. Eastwood returns as the anonymous lead character, this time teaming with two gunslingers to pursue a cache of $200,000 and letting no one, not even warring factions in a civil war, stand in their way. Hailed as “the best directed movie of all time” by Quentin Tarantino, the film co-stars Van Cleef as Angel Eyes and Eli Wallach as Tuco.
The 162-minute theatrical cut was restored through 30 hours of extensive shot-by-shot color grading from a 4K scan of a 1967 IB tech print. Bonus content on the disc includes audio commentary by Lucas; a making-of documentary; deleted and alternate scenes; a Civil War documentary; and various other featurettes.