10 Greatest Prequel Movies Of All-Time

It isn't widely known that The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, the third and final chapter in Sergio Leone's "Man With No Name" trilogy, is a prequel. Heck, even Leone himself wasn't convinced that any of his Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns were related - it was a connection made and enforced by the studio in order to bring more punters into the theatres (a ploy which worked).

Still, all these years later, these films are widely considered to be a trilogy about the same gunslinger, which means that The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - set during the Civil War - is rendered as the prequel to A Fistful Of Dollars and For A Few Dollars For. Which, in turn, pretty much ensures it as the greatest prequel ever made, because The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a certified masterpiece.

Beautifully shot, written, edited, paced and scored, Leone's masterpiece centres on the three characters of the title - played by Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach - as they hunt for treasure during the American Civil War. It's also the film where Eastwood's protagonist, here called "Blondie," acquires his famous poncho.

This being a prequel, one could even read it as the start of a long character arc for the The Man With No Name, if you consider the films to run in reverse order; in this film, he's a bounty hunter out for himself, but is changed by the end after seeing the Civil War close up; For A Few Dollars comes next, and he's still a bounty hunter, but is notably softer and opts to help out a betrayed Colonel; finally, there's A Fistful of Dollars, where he acts as a truly hero, selflessly helping out a family.

It's somewhat ironic that the prequel which cares the least about being a prequel is also the best. Take note, Hollywood.

What's your favourite prequel? Share you pick down in the comments.