(1965. Dir. Sergio Leone. Clint Eastwood. Lee Van Cleef. 131 min.) The redheaded stepchild of the three westerns Sergio Leone made with Clint Eastwood. A Fistful of Dollars, the film that created the Italian western sub-genre, had built-in suspense being a re-do of Arkia Kkurosawa’s Yojimbo; while this was topped by The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly which spreads a three hour plus Civil War epic across the screen in a way that bested anything Hollywood ever attempted on the subject. So unfortunately because of these book-ends For A Few Dollars gets over looked or even dismissed and that’s a shame. A Fistful of Dollars got the ball rolling, but For A Few Dollars More introduces themes that went on to set wise the non Leone Italian westerns like Django and Blindman. Starting from scratch this time it’s a great character study between The Man With No Name and Colonel Mortimer. Second it presents groundbreaking contributions to the Western in general, with the sadism of the villains having us believe that these are truly lawless territories, or a Poe-like sense of the macabre that makes the death in the air amazingly tangible. Bad guy Indio’s secret and relived memory is the rape of a woman who reaches under a pillow and shoots herself during the act, a necrophilia that deepens his corruption. So this degenerate leads a gang of bank robbers with varying prices on their heads, making them all a bounty hunter’s dream with both TMWNN and Mortimer after any cash to be had, causing a rivalry. Later an almost mentor / student relationship forms as they become partners. Finally then, when all the secrets are revealed, dare I say a sense of sympathy when we find out why Mortimer was after Indio in the first place, letting TMWNN collect the lion’s share of the bounty. A unique film? Show me another movie where a wagon load of dead bodies makes for a happy ending and buy you a train ticket to El Paso.
