The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Fan Preservation

I would like to thank my good friend Kevin Wilkinson for taking the time to write this incredibly interesting piece. It illustrates the amazing measures that fans of the Leone classic are prepared to endure in order to see this masterpiece presented at its very best.

It’s rather exciting to think that a group of fans are in the process of acquiring a 1971 IB Tech print of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Italy. The reason behind these extreme measures? It seems there are a number of fans still unhappy with the various MGM home video releases of Sergio Leone’s 1966 classic. Their particular concerns focus on the colour and audio issues, all of which have been well documented. The dedicated group of fans have announced their intention to restore the International 161 Min English language cut to its original status. After scanning the print at 4K, they plan to re-grade the colours and transfer the English mono track, probably from the previous MGM Laserdisc release.   

What has come to light is potentially very exciting. On frame samples sent by the print seller, there appears to be some incredible shots from the desert scene, shots which have never been seen in any home video version before. They show Blondie (Clint Eastwood) lying on the baking sand with some animal bones scattered nearby. A translated description of the scene (from the original script) was recently posted online by Peter Hanley, the man behind the eagerly anticipated book on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly -

Desert. The sun is glowing in the sky. Two forms unprotected from the sun are seen wandering in a scorching valley. Tuco is on horseback, and Blondie is walking ahead. [The musical cue for this scene, as described by Charles Leinberger41, “begins with a long and suspenseful introduction featuring a tonally ambiguous and disjunct piano melody accompanied by sustained string tremolos . . . [followed by] a beautiful English horn melody.”] The first part of the desert scene is similar to the film, except the script explicitly states that Tuco fires five shots in rapid succession into Blondie’s water canteen, and then he fires a sixth shot (characteristic 5:1 pattern) which sends Blondie’s hat flying. A little later the revengeful Tuco informs Blondie that the end of the desert is 140 miles away (in the film, Tuco says, “100 miles, that’s a nice walk . . .”). After his short speech, Tuco takes out a parasol from under the saddle, opens it and points it in the direction of the sun. A cut is described in the script: Tuco’s head is dangling and his eyes are heavy from tiredness. He rides past the camera . . . Blondie is now seen in the distance. His steps are heavy and sluggish. The heat has worn Blondie down. Nevertheless, he seems to have noticed that Tuco has fallen into a light sleep under his sunshade . . . Blondie looks around as if he is searching for something. About 10 meters in front of him is a white, gnawed animal skeleton. Blondie’s eyes appear to be hypnotized by this sight. He encroaches towards the skeleton. Close-up: Blondie’s hand appears in the frame and he grasps a club-like bone. The camera zooms on to Tuco, who suddenly turns, grabs his revolver and fires a shot. The bone flies out of Blondie’s hand and Tuco threatens him saying, “Don’t try that again. Now, get going!” Blondie sets off again. Tuco waits until he has gone past, and then he drinks out of his canteen. He also moistens his head and neck.

Blondie struggles as he walks on and on through the desert, and at some point he falls to his knees. Tuco rides around him as he tries to get back onto his feet. Blondie’s lips are one continuous wound, and his eyes are swollen and closed. Through the slits of his eyelids Blondie sees the slope of a dune which appears like an insurmountable wall. He struggles to his feet and tiresomely continues. Tuco rides past him and says tauntingly, “It’s just another 115 miles to the end of the desert, and eight hours until sundown. That’s nothing (he laughs).” Cut or cross dissolve (simultaneously fading out one image as another fades in): Tuco with his parasol opened is seen on horseback observing . . . From below, Blondie is seen approaching on all fours. As Blondie gets to within a few meters of Tuco, he is at the end of his strength and falls face down. Tuco gets down from his horse and cautiously approaches Blondie. Close-up: Blondie is motionless but the clanging of Tuco’s spurs indicates that he is coming closer. Blondie opens his eyes . . . Within a few centimeters of Blondie’s face, Tuco’s boot comes into the frame. In a state of desperation, Blondie plunges towards the boot and grabs it with both hands . . . but the boot is empty. Tuco, a little further away, laughs and slaps his hands on his belly . . . He lies on his back, shakes with laughter and kicks his feet in the air. Blondie is at his limit and lets his face fall again into the sand.

So, the obvious question remains - Does this print include any other treasures that were cut from the film? Could there be more unknown scenes such as this? What of the scenes we do know, such as the Socorro scene or perhaps Blondie and Angel Eyes sharing a meal after leaving the prison camp - a scene teasingly shown on a U.S. Lobby card. Maybe it has the scene at the cemetery where Tuco fires a cannon at Blondie? We await further news with great anticipation… 

Kevin Wilkinson

For further information on this story and to follow how it develops, click here and here

Actor Richard Kiel has died in California aged 74.

Actor Richard Kiel - who played steel-toothed villain Jaws in two James Bond films - has died in California aged 74.

For Eastwood fans, Richard is fondly remembered for his brief, but highly amusing cameo in Pale Rider (1985).

The towering American star, who appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977 and Moonraker in 1979, died in hospital in Fresno on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Saint Agnes Medical Centre confirmed Kiel's death, but did not reveal the cause. His first break came in 1959 when he played the alien Kanamit in Twilight Zone. He published an autobiography in 2002, called Making It Big in the Movies. His many other acting roles included deadly assistant Voltaire in the 1960s TV series The Wild, Wild West; playing opposite William Shatner in the 1970s TV sitcom Barbary Coast; taking on the lead character of Eli Weaver in the movie The Giant of Thunder Mountain; and spoofing his most famous role as "Famous big guy with silver teeth" in the movie version of Inspector Gadget.

In recent years, he also spent much of his time touring the world and appearing at conventions to meet Bond fans. RIP - Richard, you'll be sadly missed.

Clint Eastwood Festival Programs and Brochures

For many years, I've been meaning to start a section for holding programs and brochures for either Clint Eastwood Film Festivals or events which featured or honoured Eastwood, there will be a wide range of material here, including some Sports / Charitable events, and fold out poster magazines.

Below: The Thames Film Festival program, held in London, circa 1978, this is rare as it features unused artwork from The Gauntlet as its front cover

Below: The Film program for the British Film Institute Season of Clint Eastwood films, held at the National Film Theatre (NFT) during March 1979

Below: Eastwood Exposed, UK Fold out poster magazine from the 1970s

Below: Super Cops Breakthrough fold out poster magazine Clint is shared alongside Kojak TV series

Below: An autographed example of a 70's Clint Eastwood celebrity Tennis tournament program

Lots more to follow-

Jersey Boys Official Photos, BTS shots and Posters

Here are the official photos from the film Jersey Boys, which also include Behind the Scenes shots and Posters. A big thank you to my friend Kevin Wilkinson for sending me this great collection.

Jersey Boys Japanese Chirashi

A big thank you to my friend in Japan, Philip McLean, who kindly sent me these Hi Res shots of the Front and Back sides of the Japanese Chirashi for Jersey Boys, excellent thanks Phil. 

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot review – Michael Cimino's dark bromance

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot review – Michael Cimino's dark bromance
Philip French The Observer, Sunday 6 July 2014

An Ivy League graduate who became a successful director of commercials, Michael Cimino secured world fame for the expansive The Deer Hunter and enduring notoriety for the epic western Heaven's Gate. But his big break came in 1973 after co-writing two screenplays, the off-beat sci-fi Silent Running and Magnum Force, a sequel to Dirty Harry. His next script was not only acquired by Clint Eastwood as a vehicle for himself but also persuaded the star to let him direct it.

Inspired by Captain Lightfoot, a 1955 Douglas Sirk picture about 19th-century Irish highwaymen, it's a knowing, fast-moving combination of road movie and heist thriller, a bromance as we'd now call it, with homoerotic and homophobic undertones. It's set entirely in the beautiful, thinly populated "big sky country" of Idaho and Montana. On the soundtrack there's twanging country music by Dee Barton, who wrote the score for Eastwood's Play Misty for Me and High Plains Drifter.

Clint Eastwood plays Thunderbolt, a criminal hiding out as a country parson who meets Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges), a cheerful drifter half his age, while escaping from two old associates (a brutal George Kennedy and a dim Geoffrey Lewis) pursuing him to recover stolen loot. After chases and threats, male bonding and acrimony, the two pairs join forces for a carefully planned bank robbery in which Lightfoot dresses in drag to fool a guard. Gradually an initially light-hearted movie becomes dark, seriously violent, heavily ironic and finally tragic. Familiar character actors from the early 70s appear briefly along the road (Dub Taylor, the revivalist preacher in The Wild Bunch; Bill McKinney, the redneck rapist in Deliverance; Burton Gilliam, the racist, farting foreman in Blazing Saddles). 

But, above all, the film turns on the Eastwood-Bridges relationship. Eastwood confidently draws on his tender, vulnerable side. After his adult debut in The Last Picture Show (1971), Bridges continues to refine and define his role as the optimistic small-town all-American boy, retaining a cheerful, bewildered innocence even as he grows older. In Thunderbolt and Lightfoot he won his second Oscar nomination and was still working out painful variations on this similar character when he won an Oscar as the grizzled country singer in Crazy Heart in 2010.

Clint Eastwood's son Scott reveals star's humbling career advice

Clint Eastwood's son Scott reveals star's humbling career advice
By ELEANOR GOWER FOR MAILONLINE, 2nd September 2014

As the son of Oscar winning actor and director Clint, Scott Eastwood could have grown up with a lot of pressure to follow in his famous father's footsteps. However, the 28-year-old heart-throb says the Unforgiven star wasn't too fussed about him going into show business.

'(Dad) didn't care what I did,' Scott told Jenna Bush Hager during an interview with The Today Show on Tuesday.  'He didn't care if I was a plumber or if I was an actor. He said, "Whatever you do just do it well. Just be humble about (what you do), and be a good guy and tell the truth." 

'We grew up in an area where men were sort of men and I can't thank him enough for teaching me just to go out there,' he added. 'He didn't care what I did.'

However, growing up around his father's movie sets helped Scott realise he wanted to act as a career. 

'It was great to see the master at work and be a part of it,' he told Hager. 'I think when I was in high school, maybe I was a little too cool for it or maybe girls were more important, I don't know. But then I realised "This is a great life - I want to do this. So I better figure it out."'

Famous for being an actor of few words, Clint, 84, advised his son in his chosen career to 'Be humble and work hard and be a man,' as well as 'Show up and do the job.'

Taking the advice on board, Scott resides away from the movie scene in San Diego.

'I live a very simple life,' he revealed. 'I live away from all the Hollywood hype and I try to keep it that way.'

However, the up and coming star received his fair share of female attention after topping the list of top 50 bachelors in Town & Country magazine earlier this year. 'It's all in good fun. You can't take yourself too seriously,' he said about appearing in the magazine, with many of the accompanying photographs featuring him showing off his toned torso.

'I'll be honest - my buddies are always going round saying "Put a shirt on jeez", but I grew up on the beach,' he laughed. 'I grew up surfing. I grew up outdoors. I've sort of always liked being shirtless.'

His next part - in Nicholas Sparks movie The Longest Ride, will no doubt attract female movie goers, although, having appeared in close to 20 films, Scott is reluctant to describe it as his film breakthrough.

'Breakout role is a kind of loose term,' he mused. 'I don't know what that means anymore. I'm lucky to be working. I'm happy to be working.'

Sparks, of course is famous for penning a series of weepy movies, including Ryan Gosling vehicle The Notebook, The Last Song and The Lucky One.

'I cried when I watched The Notebook for the first time,' Scott admitted. 'Any guy who tells you they didn't cry when they watched The Notebook's just lying.'

Scott will also appear in World War II movie Fury, alongside Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf, to be released in October. One of two children from the actor's relationship with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves, Scott also has five other half siblings.