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 the film "must be the most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that the "temptation is hereby proved irresistible to call "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly", now playing citywide, "The Bad, The Dull, and the Interminable", only because it is." Roger Ebert, who later included the film in his list of Great Movies, retrospectively noted that in his original review he had "described a four-star movie, but only gave it three stars, perhaps because it was a 'Spaghetti Western' and so could not be