For a Few Dollars More (1965) United Artists/Western RT: 131 minutes Rated R (violence, implied rape, some sexual content, occasional mild language) Director: Sergio Leone Screenwriter: Sergio Leone and Luciano Vincenzoni Music: Ennio Morricone Cinematography: Massimo Dallamano Release date: December 30, 1965 (Italy)/May 10, 1967 (US) Cast: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonte, Mara Krupp, Luigi Pistilli, Klaus Kinski, Luis Rodriguez, Benito Stefanelli, Panos Papadopoulos, Aldo Sambrell, Roberto Camardiel, Joseph Egger, Tomas Blanco, Lorenzo Robledo, Dante Maggio. Box Office: $15 million (US)
Rating: ****
If A Fistful of Dollars established Clint Eastwood as a bona fide movie star, the sequel For a Few Dollars More cemented his status as an American icon. That it’s an Italian-made film is a mere technicality. Lots of American actors made names for themselves in Italian productions, especially spaghetti westerns. Actors like Lee Van Cleef (Escape from New York) who co-stars in For a Few Dollars More as a rival bounty hunter pursuing the same prey as our intrepid protagonist “The Man with No Name”. That’s actually a bit of a misnomer. He’s referred to as “Manco” a few times here, but I prefer to think of him as a nameless anti-hero, tall in stature and quick on the draw.
Director Sergio Leone wastes no time in showing Van Cleef is every bit as bad ass as Eastwood. When a ticket taker informs him the train he’s on doesn’t stop in the town of Tucumcari, his character Colonel Mortimer takes steps to make sure it does. He pulls the emergency brake and unloads his horse from the freight car. He’s in town to collect the bounty on a wanted man. It’s here we get out first look at his long-range shooting skills. His weapon of choice, a 10” Buntline Special fitted with a shoulder stock. He takes out his target and collects his reward, no problem. In another part of the West, The Man confronts his fugitive in a saloon and shoots him dead after effortlessly blowing away his gang. KA-CHING, that’s a $2000 payday! What have we learned here? Both men are equally good at their professions. It’s only a matter of time before their paths will cross.
The catalyst for their eventual meeting is Indio (Volonte, A Fistful of Dollars), a ruthless killer and bank robber just broken out of jail by his gang. He’s a mean, vicious SOB planning to rob the most secure bank in the US, located in El Paso and containing nearly $1M in a safe cleverly disguised as a liquor cabinet. Naturally, The Man and Mortimer figure out his intentions and go to El Paso to collect their reward. After sizing one another up, they form an uneasy alliance. They don’t trust each other, but it’s preferable to working against each other as it’s obvious neither one of them is going to back down. The plan is for The Man to infiltrate Indio’s gang in the guise of a fellow outlaw while Mortimer works from the outside.
Eastwood has his star-making scene in the previous film. Van Cleef has his in For a Few Dollars More. It’s when he walks into a saloon and strikes a match on the neck of a member of Indio’s gang, a hunchback named Wild (Kinski, Aguirre, the Wrath of God), without a single word. It’s a small but insulting gesture that instantly earns him a place among the greatest movie tough guys.
One of the most intriguing aspects of For a Few Dollars More is the partnership between the Man and Mortimer. Namely, Mortimer isn’t in it for the money. He has some sort of personal connection with Indio that has to do with the identical musical pocket watches both men carry. Indio uses his whenever he’s about to kill somebody or wallowing in misery over a painful memory. Of course, you know what all this means, right? The climactic showdown will be between Mortimer and Indio.
Once again, Leone has created a spaghetti western masterpiece as elegant as it is violent. He actually improves on the first film with the addition of Van Cleef. He and Eastwood just click. Ennio Morricone contributes another beautiful score that includes wonderful choral passages. I love how he incorporates the music from the pocket watches into the action. What you may not know is that Leone frequently shot scenes to Morricone’s previously composed music. It’s a real asset to For a Few Dollars More. It adds a palpable feeling of suspense to drawn-out scenes of the characters staring each other down before they start shooting. As usual, Leone gives us close-ups of the characters’ faces and eyes. His visual style is something I’ve always admired about his films.
Eastwood delivers another iconic performance. I just love The Man’s style. He’s so nonchalant about shooting down his enemies. The chemistry between Eastwood and Van Cleef is awesome. Volonte makes a great scuzzy bad guy. He’s a study in self-contradiction. He’s heartless enough to kill a man’s family within earshot, but gets teary-eyed when he thinks of an incident from the past. He’s one of the meanest, baddest villains I’ve ever seen.
Most importantly to fans of the western genre, For a Few Dollars More has plenty of action and violence. We get two jailbreaks, one bank robbery and a sweet climactic shoot-out. In my opinion, you can never go wrong with one of Leone’s spaghetti westerns, especially the ones starring Eastwood. They’re just great!
TRIVIA TIDBIT: “Manco” is a Spanish-Portuguese word meaning “one-armed”. The Man is called that because he uses his left hand to do almost everything, leaving his right hand to draw his pistol quickly should the need arise.
