The Good, the Bad and the Ugly film's production, including acting as narrator. Joe Dante and Leone were also approached to direct and produce the film respectively. Eventually, however, the project was vetoed by Leone, as he did not want the original film's title or characters to be reused, nor did he want to be involved in another Western film. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (, ) is a 1966 Italian epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in their respective title roles. Its screenplay was written
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Ugly" received criticism for its depiction of violence. Leone explains that "the killings in my films are exaggerated because I wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek satire on run-of-the-mill westerns... The west was made by violent, uncomplicated men, and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures." To this day, Leone's effort to reinvigorate the timeworn Western is widely acknowledged. Critical opinion of the film on initial release was mixed, as many reviewers at that time looked down on "spaghetti westerns". In a negative review in "The New York Times", critic Renata Adler said that