For a Few Dollars More (1965)

a.k.a. - Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (ITA)

The Film

With the success across Europe of Fistful of Dollars (1964) the Italian Western was beginning to take-off, so when the time came to shoot a sequel, producers were able to drum up three times the budget of the original film allowing a bigger storyline and more actors.

Two Bounty Hunters roam the Old West - Monco (Clint Eastwood) and Colonel Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) living off the rewards they collect. When El Indio (Gian Maria Volontè), a ruthless, scheming bandit, is sprung from prision by his gang, a US$10,000 reward is placed on his head and both Bounty Hunters set off to track him down, first in opposition, then working together. Monco manages to infiltrate the gang and is accepted among them, but Indio is intelligent and scheming and after robbing the high security bank of El Paso starts to become highly suspicious...

Although generally billed as a sequel, For a Few Dollars More actually contains no storyline links with the earlier film except for the casting of Clint Eastwood as a mysterious gunman. While Fistful of Dollars (1964) had concentrated the storyline in a single, almost deserted town, the increased budget of this sequel allowed a much broader story. The storyline is quite simple, a bounty-hunter tracking down a criminal with an underlying theme of personal revenge, but the script contains a number of interesting elements, most notably the fact that the Monco and Mortimer characters get almost identical screentime and are essentially equally rated characters, frequently outsmarting the other. El Indio also gets quite a bit of screentime and a much more rounded character than the usual Spaghetti Western villain - his gang too are not the imbeciles most commonly hired by genre villains and are built up to be at least recognisable faces.

Leone was a fan of the epic films, his later work Once Upon a Time in America (1984) reportedly running up to 8 hours in its original cuts. Although the film only runs to two hours, it is paced like an epic, with some very long (although never dragging) sequences of character development with only a few action scenes. The story contains a number of twists and turns and is rarely predictable, building to an incredibly effective climax that ranks among the genre's best although this is let down slightly by an unnecessary extra sequence at the end. Fistful of Dollars had boasted a grim atmosphere, emphasising its leading character as a real anti-hero, prepared to let people die for his own profit - the script here takes a similarly downbeat path, with the hints of El Indio's brutal activites in the past, it does however include a couple of eccentric and comic characters which lighten the mood somewhat compared to the previous film.

In the director's chair, Leone continues his amazing work, proving himself to be the master of the scope widescreen frame. The sets look varied and are well populated with extras and the beautiful Spanish locations that would become the genre mainstays are used well. Ennio Morricone returns with a very distinctive soundtrack including character themes and ranging from crashing organ chords to light whistling as well as careful combination of the watch chimes - it builds the tension enourmously during the duel scenes.

Clint Eastwood and Gian Maria Volontè return to play similar characters to their roles in Fistful of Dollars (1964), they both get more to do this time and perform very effectively. Looking for another American actor to fill the co-lead role, Leone tried to secure Lee Marvin, however since the first film had not yet played in America he was rejected and instead cast Lee Van Cleef, a little known actor who had previously had minor roles in a number of Classic Westerns and Western TV shows. With his distinctive smile and knowing look he perfectly suits the role as the very smart Mortimer and the part would spawn a dozen leading roles for the actor in the burgeoning genre. Klaus Kinski, at the request of the German producers, was cast as a member of El Indio's gang, playing a typically eccentric part as a hunchback in his first international appearance. In the other parts two Euro-cult regulars make their film debuts, Luigi Pistilli (Milano calibro 9 (1972)) as a member of the gang and Peter Lee Lawrence (Dove si spara di più (1967)) in a very brief part as Mortimer's doomed brother-in-law in the flashback.

Just as Fistful of Dollars (1964) was an influencial film, so was For a Few Dollars More. Further establishing Morricone, Eastwood and Leone as stars, it took Van Cleef from being a retired actor to the star of dozens of European Westerns and action films and brought international fame to Klaus Kinski who had previously been known only within Germany. For a Few Dollars More is a very good film, combining a well written storyline with more strong direction, a great soundtrack and some superb acting. With the comic characters and slightly over-long ending, it does lack the 'neat' feeling of the original, but is still an incredible film and comes highly recommended.

In Brief

The DVD

Summary

• A very impressively written and directed film with a good cast - but slightly over ambitious in places. Still highly recommended to all.
  

• A fantastic looking uncut print, with original mono soundtrack. A good mix of extras, although sadly no new special features (eg. German trailers or title sequences) are included, or Italian soundtrack. Viewers can choose between this and the MGM R1 discs.

Links

• IMDB entry

• DVD Rewind - DVD version comparisons.

• Find reviews of our other films starring Klaus Kinski or scored by Ennio Morricone.

• See our reviews of more Spaghetti Western DVDs.

• For explanations of technical terms, see the DVD Dictionary.

All text in this review written by Timothy Young - 28th July 2006 & 29th August 2009.
Text from this review not to be used without authorization.

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