How an acclaimed director’s versions of a famous film be unavailable for decades — when there’s nothing stopping their release? How can a small group of fans gather the evidence and means to reconstruct those versions? How can they finally have a hand in its official release? Endless passion — and a lot of luck. It’s a subject and film as near and dear to our hearts as any, and we’ve brought on superfans Benji Heran and Jordan Krug to talk about the film prints, continuity scripts, and years of tireless, unpaid passion that they’ve put into preserving Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
In this episode, we discuss:
Our personal discoveries and attachments to this film
The myriad of ways its home video representations have slowly changed over the years.
Why an iconic film with two definitive cuts by its revered director has gone for decades without of his approved cuts appearing on home video.
The means of gathering and interpreting evidence of the film’s original state as fans with no official affiliation or access to the film.
How a small online community became invaluable in the preservation of Sergio Leone’s vision, and eventually got themselves heard by the home video label releasing his film.
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Additional Resources:
Jordan’s blog is full of fascinating details, evidence, and curios surrounding Sergio Leone’s work. His three-part series of posts on The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, based largely on his and Benji’s research, is a pivotal piece of fan-driven preservation advocacy. PART 1 PART 2 PART 3
Why the International Theatrical Cut Is Better Than the Extended Cut - Will’s extensive personal breakdown of his cut preference. Part of a (slowly) ongoing series of blog posts.
The National Post article that brought us all together. Some details of what we believed have since been proven or disproven — the first sentence describes me fixing something that I later learned didn’t actually need fixing.
Glenn Erickson’s 2003 DVD Savant post detailing the Extended Cut restoration - From a time when the Extended Cut was an exciting new viewing option that could offer a new perspective on the film, and not the harbinger of the International Cut’s disappearance.
Works discussed during this episode:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
SAD HILL WITH SAD HILL, Daniel Jeffery’s short documentary about our trip to Sad Hill Cemetery