A scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly inspired one of AC/DC's best-known songs

Hobby Cine

By David Hernandez

July 3, 2025

A scene from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly directly inspired AC/DC to compose one of their best-known songs, and I'm sure you've heard it more than once.

Clint Eastwood's impact on popular culture is enormous, not only because of his memorable performances in a multitude of western films and also as a tough guy in the big city, but also because of the impact he is currently having as a director.

But perhaps one of Clint Eastwood's most remembered roles is in the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and especially the final scene of the three-way duel, a sequence that even inspired the rock group AC/DC to compose one of their most iconic songs: Shoot to Thrill.

"Shoot to Thrill" was included on AC/DC's 1980 album Back in Black, a song that was inspired by the final duel in the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

During a VH1 special, Angus Young, the band's guitarist, explained that the tension and rhythm of the final shootout, accompanied by the music of Ennio Morricone, directly influenced the structure of the song.

So the band was directly inspired by scenes from the entire film's ending sequence to compose the song, at least its breakdown.

"We wanted to capture that same kind of energy and rising rhythm in the song," Angus Young said in the interview.

In this way, the breakdown of Shoot to Thrill was designed to reflect the crescendo of Morricone's music, especially in the way the composer builds tension with long notes, pauses and repetitions before the final outburst.

The Australian band sought to emulate the emotional atmosphere of that sequence in the film.

"If you pay attention, you can notice that both pieces have that same feeling of a heartbeat that accelerates, as if something imminent is about to happen. It's a tribute disguised as rock," Young added.

In fact, today the song Shoot to Thrill exceeds 460 million plays on digital platforms and remains one of the most powerful anthems in rock.

The final duel scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is still studied in film schools. It is considered a masterful example of how to capture tension, direction, editing and, above all, the use of music in cinema.

You Tube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v64aqSHxr38&list=RDv64aqSHxr38&start_radio=1