'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly': When a Bridge Went Up in Flames by Mistake
How a crew member’s early shout blew up a bridge too soon on set.
Sergio Leone’s legendary Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, is surrounded by many famous stories, but one of the most memorable is the tale of an accidental bridge explosion.
During filming of the scene where Tuco (Eli Wallach) and Blondie (Clint Eastwood) destroy a wooden bridge, the crew had carefully set explosives on the structure and waited for the perfect lighting to shoot the scene.
Leone intended to give a signal by shouting the word “vaya” (a Spanish expression meaning “damn” or “oh dear”) to trigger the explosion at exactly the right moment. Unfortunately, a crew member called out the word early while organising the actors. This caused the bridge to explode prematurely — before the cameras were rolling.
This mishap meant the team had to rebuild the entire bridge from scratch to film the scene properly. The costly mistake became one of the many behind-the-scenes anecdotes that add to the mythic status of this iconic film.
