Screen Rant
By Charles Nicholas Raymond
April 23, 2022
Clint Eastwood came close to deciding against starring in
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The 1966 movie was the final installment in
Sergio Leone’s critically acclaimed trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns. It’s also
considered to be a staple of the Western genre as a whole and one of his most
iconic films.
After struggling to find parts in Hollywood movies, the Rawhide star accepted an offer to star in A Fistful of Dollars. Heading to Italy to make a Western with Leone turned out to be a huge career move for the actor and exactly what he needed to become an international star. Following its success at the box office, Leone, Eastwood, and most of the crew from the first film reteamed to make For a Few Dollars More, with Eastwood playing Manco, who was essentially the same as his Man With No Name character from the previous film. When it too proved to be a hit, Leone developed plans for a third movie with Eastwood.
Despite having played The Man With No Name in two highly
successful Westerns with the Italian director, the actor wasn’t immediately
sold on Leone’s plan for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Eastwood reportedly
took issue with how Leone wanted to split up the story between the three
titular characters, with the other two being Eli Wallach’s Tuco and Lee Van
Cleef’s Angel Eyes. Though Eastwood’s Man With No Name was billed as the star,
Wallach was set to receive more screen-time and better lines. Apparently, his
reservations with the role caused him to strongly consider parting ways with
Leone. It even reached a point where Leone had to find a potential replacement
for the actor.
Charles Bronson, who was originally on the shortlist to play the Man With No Name in Fistful of Dollars, was Leone’s choice to take over the character if Eastwood chose not to return. However, this scenario ultimately didn’t come to pass. Salary negotiations with Eastwood ensured that the actor reprised his role as The Man With No Name one last time. According to Clint Eastwood: A Biography by Richard Schickel, Eastwood received a $250,000 paycheck for the movie, in addition to a portion of the box office profits in the West.
As a result, The Dollars Trilogy was completed with both
Eastwood and Leone, but The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly served as the final
chapter of their working relationship. Leone intended for them to work together
once more in Once Upon a Time in the West, but Clint Eastwood, due to
frustrations he had making Leone's movies, was ready to move on to the next
phase of his career. What all three Spaghetti Westerns did for his image made
it possible for the actor to become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after stars.
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