Review of For a Few Dollars More (1965) by David L — 21 May 2011

When discussing the amazing films of Sergio Leone, the one movie that usually gets lost in the shuffle is `For a Few Dollars More'. This is slightly understandable, since it's just a hair below the impossibly good standards of `The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' and `Once Upon a Time in the West' (among others), but there's no denying that `For a Few Dollars More' is still a terrific movie in its own right. In fact, if judged on its own merits instead of in comparison to Leone's other works, it's nearly a classic.

In this film, the Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood), who's now been dubbed `Manco' by a couple of his fellow bounty hunters, is working his way through the Old West, systematically picking off and collecting the reward for despicable criminals and other lowlifes. He's worked his way up to hunting down the most ruthless bandit of them all, Indio (the incredibly underrated Gian Maria Volonté), a depraved killer who's recently escaped from prison. Also on the hunt for Indio, however, is the bounty hunter Colonel Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), who has a personal score to settle with the killer. The film becomes an interesting three-way game of cat and mouse, as Colonel Mortimer and the Man With No Name struggle to work around (and with) each other, as well as to hunt down Indio, who's decided he's not going to be taken down without a fight.

Eastwood's portrayal of The Man With No Name really getting to flourish for the first time in this film - there's glimpses of it in `A Fistful of Dollars', but this is the first time it becomes apparent how weirdly moral the Man With No Name is. He can be a bloodthirsty, brutal bully at times, but he only acts that way around people he thinks deserve to knocked down a peg or two. To women, children (at least the ones that try to steal from him), and others he considers to be `innocent', the Man With No Name is surprisingly deferential, even kind. There's a lot of complexity to the character, and Eastwood pulls it off with some serious style.

Van Cleef is also great as Colonel Mortimer, although it's weird to see him in this film as Mortimer and then in `The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' as the dastardly Angel Eyes - the two characters are such complete opposites. Mortimer is a lot like the Man With No Name - adhering to a strange code of honor, doing heroic things by often unheroic methods. Because of their similarities, the relationship between the two characters is terrific, veering between complete distrust and grudging respect. In a way, `For a Few Dollars' more is one of the first modern `buddy' action movies - the way Eastwood and Van Cleef interact with each other seems eerily like the predecessor to movies like `Lethal Weapon' and `48 Hours'.

Director Sergio Leone does a great job with this film as well - the initial meeting between The Man With No Name and Colonel Mortimer is appropriately tense, bordering on near film perfection. So are the scenes with Indio and his gang (watch Indio's storytelling explanation about how he plans to rob a bank), as well as the final confrontation between all the characters -- awesome. Leone also uses the score of Ennio Morricone to great effect, using a haunting little tune from Indio's pocket watch to great effect throughout the film. The pacing, the backgrounds, the shot set-ups - all awesome. Leone's one of the unappreciated film greats of all time.

`For a Few Dollars More' is simply a fantastic film; if you haven't already seen this one, rent it immediately.