FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE Review
Slightly bigger and slightly badder than its predecessor, Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood up the ante ever so slightly in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. With a new batch of “bad” good guys and bad bad guys surrounding the famed “Man With No Name” (Clint Eastwood), Leone and co. deliver another stylish as hell Western that slowly but surely fills out the legend of Eastwood’s panchoed anti-hero.
In this installment, our returning hero, in this film referred to as “Monco” meets his match in the form of the stern and cavalier (but still badass) Colonel Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), a bounty hunter that matches our famed protagonist in skill and persistence alike. As it turns out, both hunters are on the search for the ruthless outlaw known as El Indio (Gian Maria Volonte) and his jolly band of equally ruthless companions forcing both men to put aside their differences in order to collect and split the bountiful reward on El Indio’s head. As the two hunters stalk El Indio throughout the border towns of the Mexico and America, Leone’s does his due diligence by offering gruff dialogue, steely looks, and rousing action.
A sequel that simplifies things into a true bout of good and evil, Leone and his writers (including Fulvio Morsella and Luciano Vincenzoni) improve on the previous film by adding a touch of humanity to their tale of bounty hunters and outlaws. While Monco still retains his usual anti-hero lone wolf status, the writers set their sights on elevating the characters around the trilogy’s central star as this film’s villain and secondary hero get some complicated and interesting character reveals throughout. While Van Cleef’s Col. Mortimer gets a last act reveal that is rather obvious, the film’s somewhat problematic characterization of its villain remains equally intriguing and elusive. Indeed, in actually having a villain come to terms with their horribly cruel past misdeeds in their own weird way, Leone and the writers craft a villain that rises just a tad bit above the moniker of a “bad outlaw”. To their credit, both Van Cleef and Maria Volonte bring a breath of fresh energy to the film as Van Cleef easily steals the show from Eastwood as the more interesting and vibrant “good guy” while Maria Volonte has no trouble laughing maniacally as he and his roving rogues kill and blow up anything in their path. As two characters who are more closely connected than one would think, Van Cleef and Maria Volonte provide an excellent dynamic to one another as Eastwood’s character takes more of backseat role despite Monco feeling like a more lively version of his character found in A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.
As with the past film, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE doesn’t necessarily need a fully complex story of begotten characters coming to terms with their violent actions to be a good film. In fact, the best part of the previous film was found in its imagery and action sequences and this sequel makes some noticeable improvements on both of those points as Leone delves further into his patented bag of visual tricks while heightening and extending his action sequences. Returning cinematographer Massimo Dallamano once again strikingly captures the harsh, sweaty, and paranoid world of Leone’s Western playground by placing even more emphasis on his actors’ highly emotive faces while Ennio Morricone once again delivers a stimulating and eclectic score to further paint the slightly surreal world of vicious killers. As always, while the dubbing and audio mixing is a little rough for wear, Leone’s sequel overcomes this haggle by visually perfecting the look of its characters as each performer (dialogue performance aside) ably portrays the gamut of stern bounty hunters, horny hotel clerks, and skittish outlaws. When the action does arrive, Leone and his crew deliver the goods as each shootout and daring heist gracefully blends luscious close-ups and delirious editing and camera movements to capture eclectic Western battles, not to mention the film’s standout final Mexican standoff that hints at a greater handling of tension and payoff on Leone’s part.
Even with the help of a simplified story that flirts with occasional attempts at emotional appeal, the film sometimes delves a little too much into its improved style as pacing becomes a bit of a slog at point throughout the film’s two hour runtime. While scenes of sweaty, gruff men staring each other down has its charms, there are some scenes where, wouldn’t you know, the staring can get a little too caught up in its own badassery by making the film drag at parts. Despite all that, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE is a worthy sequel that further finds its footing in both style and storytelling. While it’s far from perfect in certain areas, seeing Leone and co. further cement their impeccable sense of style on the Western mythos remains an always entertaining sight to see.
3.5/5
