20 Things You Didn't Know About The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

11. Clint Eastwood Was Almost Killed By A Chunk Of Rock Shrapnel

The Good The Bad And The Ugly Bridge Explosion
United Artists

During the filming of the aforementioned scene, Clint Eastwood's career (and life) was nearly cut short. As this was 1966, there was no option for the actors to be composited against a CGI explosion, so Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach hunkered down behind sandbags in the vicinity of the real thing. Upon the explosion of the bridge, a piece of rock shrapnel the size of a fist flew towards them and slammed into the sandbag right next to Eastwood's head.

Watching the scene in slow motion, the chunk can clearly be seen and is mere inches from Eastwood. However, this is far from the only story of carelessness, irresponsibility and cheating death that occurred on set.

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A self-taught video editor with nearly 25 years of experience, Joe worked in freelance videography for many years before joining WhatCulture in 2018. During that time, he has expanded his work to include both writing and presenting, and has been at the forefront of several new channel launches including WhatCulture Horror and WhatCulture Star Wars, largely defining their visual identity through the design and curation of their bespoke assets. As a dedicated WhatCulture Gaming staff member, he has spearheaded numerous new content strategies and formats, and has taken the lead on various charitable projects that have raised large sums of money for charities close to his heart. Bluesky and Instagram: @jjpinwheel