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For A Few Dollars More Customer Reviews (4 - 6 of 31 Reviews)

Yeah, it's good
Reading up on this movie, it seems that For a Few Dollars More has been somewhat neglected by critics and fans, occupying the position it does as the middle child of the unofficial Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood epic Spaghetti Western trilogy. That's a crying shame, as For a Few Dollars More may not be the best of those three movies, but it does strike a near-perfect balance between the attributes of its series mates. It's certainly more complex and ambitious than its predecessor A Fistful of Dollars, but at the same time faster-paced and more focused than the following The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That said, these three movies are still more alike than different, as all are linked by more than just the imposing presence of Clint Eastwood: their blunt depictions of violence, compromised protagonists, and general lack of redeeming social value all stand out as common themes. All three entries in the Leone/Eastwood trilogy were characterized by a cynical mood laden with gallows-humor dialogue, and this one is no exception, as the good guys aren't too good and the bad guys are really, really, really bad. Sure, a movie as stark and amoral as this one will probably be offputting to many, but for those seeking a testosterone-laden, violent ride it should fit the bill quite nicely. That's not to say For a Few Dollars More is some mindless action flick like the kind Hollywood so often turns out, though, as the movie's ambiguous characterizations, perpetually twisting plot, and grandiose direction and cinematography all work against such a label. Expansive scenes of a mountainous, desolate American West (yes, I know this movie wasn't *really* filmed in the U.S, but whatever) coexist with tense, harrowing standoffs and the kind of explosive, tightly filmed gun battles that are the staple of pretty much any western. And of course, there's Ennio Morricone's dramatic score to accentuate every important scene.

None of this would matter much, however, if the movie weren't populated with interesting characters, but fortunately For a Few Dollars More presented us with the kind of roles that helped create archetypes that persist even today (without actually giving in to archetypes themselves). I've watched tons of action movies, westerns, and crime dramas in my day, and seen dozens of characters in them who showed traces of this movie's two protagonists. Most of the movie's action centers around its two sharply contrasting bounty killers: a fearless, self-seeking loner (Eastwood as the Man With No Name) who seems to leave people either dead or running away wherever he goes; and a grizzled elder statesman (Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Douglas Mortimer) whose steely glare and deadly accurate shot are matched by his prudence and experience to create what may be the ultimate killing machine (okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but not by much).

After separately arriving in an out-of-the-way Texas town Eastwood and Van Cleef sort of orbit around each other for a while, but when they do run into each other their initial confrontation easily makes for one of the most memorable scenes in the movie, a sizing up that ends with a brilliantly filmed game of pistol-shooting oneupsmanship in a moonlit town square. However, that initial unpleasantness aside, the two soon realize their interests may converge as they both pursue the rewards for a band of murderous thieves led by the certifiable El Indio. For his part, Gian Maria Volante nearly steals the show as El Indio, as his character's almost cartoonishly greedy and vicious, but simultaneously intelligent, calculating, and even somewhat comtemplative at times. El Indio isn't the only obstacle the two main characters have to deal with, either: the working relationship between Eastwood's character and Colonel Mortimer is filled with mutual distrust, and they'll have to overcome each other's double-dealings and manipulations as well as El Indio's crazed gang in order to get what they want. In spite of their suspicions, though, Eastwood and Van Cleef's characters aren't entirely different: both make their livings killing people, and so clearly aren't paragons of virtue, but at the same time they both have a certain sense of honor that clearly separates them from the likes of those they hunt.

So, to sum up: For a Few Dollars More is a great movie, and it deserves more attention than it's gotten. I can't imagine anyone who enjoyed A Fistful of Dollars and/or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly not liking this one.


2nd best Leone Western
Awesome mvie not of the scale of the good the bad and the ugly, but excellent in its own right!

The Best of the Spaghetti Western / Man With No Name Trilogy!
Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. What a
solid combination! Better than
Fist full of dollars and I liked
it better than the too long Good,
Bad and Ugly. Van Cleef as bad guy?
Sorry, I can't go for that!

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