For a Few Dollars More

drystyx

Apr 18, 2023

2/10

This is a waste of some wit. Of the dollar trilogy, this one had some wit to it, but it's wasted. There's an ongoing weird counting that the bounty hunters perform, which finally makes sense in the end. There's an interesting bit about the chimes, and drawing when the chime ends. And we get a name for No Name. But it's wasted on a movie that Leone made during what must have been the days when he really hated some brunette who scorned him. He spends most of the movie contriving so many ways to kill brunettes that he obviously is seeking a Nazi merit badge. He stopped worshiping Adolf and Eva soon after the dollar trilogy, though. There's no way to get past his Nazi ideology in this movie, and it ruins the movie. Not to mention the lack of credible characters and lack of credible motivation. Again, it's a case of everyone in the West is either a homicidal maniac or the first victims of homicidal maniacs, no exceptions. The weakest part, and part that makes anyone with an IQ over 15 groan, is that Leone is not subtle about his message that the more of a homicidal maniac a man is, the more of a demigod he is, and more immortal he is. Only another demigod can kill a demigod, and only a homicidal maniac can be a demigod. It appears the only way to be a god is to be the biggest homicidal maniac. If everyone was like this, there would be no one left to be like this. A waste of wit, which is bad, because this is the only one of the Leone Westerns which made any attempt at wit.

Geronimo1967

Sep 5, 2024

7/10

"El Indio" (Gian Maria Volontè) is a bank robber being hunted by poncho-clad bounty hunter “Mandi” (Clint Eastwood]. Meantime, Lee van Cleef’s debonair “Col. Mortimer" is also on the trail of our bandito and his gang, so the unlikely pair form an uneasy partnership in order to track him down and share the bounty. This most certainly ain't a film about trust - it's about greed, pure and simple and is great! It’s a bit of a slow burn - nothing happens very quickly, but that all adds bundles to the atmosphere and tension of the story. That said, it sure isn't dull: there is still plenty of gun fighting, fisticuffs and general nastiness as well as some clever, black, humour and a wonderfully evocative score from Ennio Morricone that gets us to the inevitable series of single, double and even triple crosses. I don't think it has quite the menace or grittiness of "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) but it's is still a tautly directed, character-driven western with a plot riddled with twists.