The legendary three-way standoff between Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes in Sergio Leone’s 1968 Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been hailed for decades as a masterpiece of tension, editing, and music. But Western historian Michael Grauer—an expert in cowboy culture and curator at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum—called it “nonsense” from a historical standpoint.
Gunfight light years away from reality
In his video analysis for Insider, Grauer breaks down several myths of the cinematic Western. Regarding this iconic scene, he argues that three-way shootouts like the one depicted never actually happened in the real Old West.
He adds that the scene, while dramatically flawless, overplays the tension and ritualistic buildup, which was rare in real-life gunfights that were often chaotic and unceremonious. Grauer also questions the characters’ weapon handling, noting that in reality, shootouts relied more on luck than style.
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Expert picks apart the most famous western scene
“The whole idea of the quick draw is nonsense,” says Grauer. He explains that revolvers, although introduced in the 1830s, were still relatively new and notoriously inaccurate. In his critique of Western film tropes, the historian points out that gunfighters in real life were often so far apart that they likely would have emptied their entire cylinders just to land a single hit.
As for the famed quick draw, Grauer references documented cases involving Doc Holliday, who was known to draw his weapon swiftly—but rarely hit his target. “So the lack of accuracy in the quick draw is one of the things that never comes through in the movies and television,” he adds.
Another key point raised is the widespread misconception about firearm use in the American frontier. While guns were indeed carried by soldiers, lawmen, and criminals, it was actually illegal to carry firearms in most towns across New Mexico during the 19th century. This contradicts the image popularized by Western films, where nearly every character seems armed and ready for a shootout.
Because of these historical inaccuracies, Grauer gave the climactic shootout in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly—the final scene of the “Dollars Trilogy”—a score of just 4 out of 10 for realism.
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