Why Clint Eastwood Didn’t Want to Do the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is considered by many as the greatest western movie of all time, even though Once Upon a Time in the West also has a claim to that title, particularly amongst critics. Both movies were directed by legendary filmmaker Sergio Leone who no doubt must have enjoyed seeing critics argue over which of his two films are the best western of all time.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly starred Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Elli Wallach as three men in the American Civil War era who compete to locate Confederate gold that has been buried at a secret grave in a cemetery. But what many people may not be aware of, is how close the film came to not even starring Clint Eastwood.

By the mid-1960s, Clint Eastwood’s career was already packed with westerns. Understandably, the Hollywood star was looking to do something new and refreshing. This is likely one of the reasons that when asked to appear in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, he originally declined. But his issues with the project didn’t stop there.

When Eastwood initially agreed to star in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the third film in what is now known as The Dollars Trilogy, he was disappointed after reading the script and discovering that he’d be sharing the screen with two other major players.

The issue was a big deal for Eastwood, big enough in fact, that negotiations for the third film fell apart, and Eastwood’s agents and publicists had to work incredibly hard to bring him back to the production.

Join us as we take a deeper look at why Clint Eastwood didn’t want to be a part of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and other interesting behind-the-scenes facts about the classic western.