The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sergio Leone's 1966 spaghetti Western epic, is now available to watch for free on YouTube, giving new audiences easy access to a film widely regarded as one of the greatest ever made. Its availability matters because the film's reputation as the definitive entry in the genre has only grown over time, and free streaming removes any barrier to newcomers experiencing it.

The film holds a rare 97% score from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting broad consensus on its quality. It forms the final part of Leone's loosely connected "Dollars Trilogy" (also known as the "Man with No Name Trilogy"), alongside A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, all starring Clint Eastwood. In this instalment, Eastwood's bounty hunter "Blondie" teams up with the bandit Tuco (Eli Wallach) in a bounty-splitting scam, before both cross paths with the ruthless mercenary Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), who is hunting a stash of stolen Confederate gold.