For A Few Dollars More (1965) ****1/2
For A Few Dollars More (1965) is my favorite of the Dollars Trilogy. I have always loved this film and it just slightly edges out The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) (review) for me. Everything about FAFDM improved upon what was established in A Fistful Of Dollars (1964) (review)—the score, the shots, the characters, the plot. Fistful was almost completely devoid of the famed "Leone close-up," but that changed with this film—here they take center stage. FAFDM ratchets up the tension, the stakes, and even the humor.
Clint Eastwood and Gian Marie Volontè return from Fistful (along with a few other great character actors). Eastwood again flawlessly portrays the laconic Man With No Name (actually Manco or Monco in this second outing) and Volontè adds dimension to what could have been a stock villain—playing the brooding, scheming maniac El Indio to perfection. On top of this, FAFDM has the added benefit of Lee Van Cleef (as Mortimer, the baddest of badasses), Luigi Pistilli, and Klaus Kinski.
Pairing Eastwood with Van Cleef as rival bounty hunters who form an alliance was a brilliant move which offers up pure cinema gold. In FAFDM there’s more playfulness but also more pain—the stoic machismo is beautifully balanced with tragedy. The sense of stillness and movement are equally important and exciting. Ennio Morricone’s grand, haunting score is one of his absolute best (the use of the musical pocket watch in particular is sublime), perfectly complimenting the atmosphere of each scene.
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