After United Artists bought For a Few Dollars More, executives asked what was next. Vincenzoni invented a film about three rogues seeking treasure during the Civil War, and UA agreed to a million dollars. The team got a $500,000 advance and 50% of box office receipts outside Italy.

Eastwood got $250,000, 10% of the back end from Western Hemisphere distribution, and a Ferrari. According to Donati and Vincenzoni, Leone was unhappy because Eastwood cost 25% of the budget, and he initially resisted sharing the screen, fearing Tuco would upstage him.

Bronson was first on the list and wanted in, having earlier turned down A Fistful of Dollars over its script. But he had just signed to make The Dirty Dozen and the dates conflicted, so Leone went with Lee Van Cleef, Eastwood's For a Few Dollars More co-star.

Five days before shooting For a Few Dollars More, Leone ran into a drunk Van Cleef at a Los Angeles bar. After a scuffle, the bartender vouched for Leone, Van Cleef's agent came over, and they signed nine weeks of work at a thousand dollars per week. He flew to Rome the next day.

Leone wanted someone who could really do comedy. Wallach, a stage and screen veteran in his early 50s, sealed it with a small scene in How the West Was Won where his outlaw makes finger guns at George Peppard's sons, a moment both funny and menacing.

The effects technician let a Spanish army captain press the detonator on his cue. Mishearing a radio exchange, the captain pushed the button and the bridge exploded without cameras rolling. The captain's soldiers rebuilt it in three days on condition the technician got his job back, and the reshoot worked.

No. Leone claimed a Library of Congress librarian confirmed a battle over gold mines in Texas, but there were no such battles. The film loosely draws on the Battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico and the Confederate campaign led by Henry Hopkins Sibley, whose brigade included Texas regiments.

United Artists wanted nothing over two hours, and Vincenzoni pushed for deep cuts, clashing with Leone. The Italian release ran about 177 minutes, while the US version was 161. Leone said they took away 20 minutes so people could buy popcorn; the extended cut restores scenes.

In fall 1967 in New York, American actor Mickey Knox wrote a lip-sync script over six weeks, matching new dialogue to actors' lips because no sync sound was recorded. Eastwood wanted his original lines, and a United Artists executive had to threaten him into reading the new version.

In the US it made roughly $6 million on its million-dollar budget, near Hombre's $6.5 million. Reviews were mixed: The New York Times called it repellent and critics called it sadistic, though Wallach was praised and Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars.