However, United Artists had other plans. As co-star Eli Wallach remembers, "The film was three hours long and they said it had to be cut down because they wanted more screening sessions."

Sergio was absolutely furious and fought tooth and nail to stop them cutting it. But they went ahead and cut it anyway.

"Sergio was very bitter but the distributor had a contract which gave them the right to cut it any way they felt in the United States. But they did not have that right to cut it in Italy and it was only there where his full version was ever seen. Because the butchered version was the only version to be released in America there was no need for us to dub the Italian sequences."

The US version ran 161 minutes in length and here in Australia it was cut even further &mdash to just over two hours. It was not until 1973 that Australian audiences would see the 161 minute version which was released with an R classification.

MGM/UA Film Preservationist, John Kirk, recalls that his ambition to restore Sergio Leone's epic masterpiece started nearly a decade ago when the project was simply suggested to him by a Sergio Leone fan.

It took Kirk seven years to source the missing footage from different parts of the world - the last of it arrived in January of this year. As he reflects, "We used materials from MGM's original English version and elements from a 1999 restored Italian version.

"I approached the Leone estate as a courtesy, but it was ultimately only approval from producer Alberto Grimaldi that was necessary to do the project. He was the most valuable person to the project. Without his generous help we would have never gotten the elements we needed from Italy. Without his permission we would not have been allowed to do the new version."

Another factor in the success of the reconstruction of the new version was getting Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach back into the recording studio after 35 years to voice the long-lost Italian sequences. And that turned out to be easier than John Kirk had thought!

"I called them on the phone and asked them and they were glad to do it. They were wonderful and both made themselves available for free."

So how does John Kirk feel about Sergio Leone and the reconstructed version?

"Those who have seen the new version have commented that the restored scenes help to accentuate the truly-epic quality of the film. Sergio Leone came in to the movie scene during the popular peplum cycle and then managed to make his mark in world cinema with the best films in the western genre on an epic scale."

And how does Eli Wallach feel about it all 35 years later?

"I think it is just wonderful. It's better than most of the other films that are being released today. Going back into the studio to voice my sequences after so long brought back some great memories. Sergio was unique, a great film-maker and a real pioneer. I know he would be very proud of this. I miss him a lot. I wish he was still making movies today. And he wouldn't be using a computer."

"You know, I'm getting on in age now and my hair is white. But every now and again I'll be walking down the street and someone will pass me, young and old, and whistle the theme of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to me as they walk by. Out of all the films I've done in the past 50 years, it's the only film they seem to remember. Now, isn't that something."

As screen legend Charlton Heston once said, "Film preservation is the single most important thing in Hollywood today."