FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE
(Italian title: Per qualche dollaro in più)(1965 - Italy, Spain, West Germany)
With Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volanté
Directed by Sergio Leone
Reviewed by JB
A fine sequel to FOR A FISTFUL
OF DOLLARS,
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE features a more sure-handed director in Sergio
Leone and a more confident star in Clint Eastwood. Leone's
editing, including sound editing, is especially impressive, as is his
use of
extreme closeups, which capture every drop of sweat on the actors'
faces.
Meanwhile, Eastwood's laconic Man with
No Name grows from the intriguing character of the previous film into a
classic screen icon.
Like Leone, Eastwood
seems more at ease with this original story (as opposed to the borrowed
one for the previous film), a tale of two bounty hunters (Eastwood and
Lee Van Cleef) teaming up to
bring in El Indio (Gian Maria Volanté), the baddest bad-ass west
of Venice... er... the
Rockies.
Although the film is
an improvement
over FOR A
FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, it has some pacing problems. Leone's
story
sets up what
feels like it is going to be the film's climax - a bank robbery in El
Paso -
and then pulls the rug out from under us with a surprise that sends the
story onward in other directions. As such, the second half
tends
to meander, although it leads to an excellent shootout featuring all
three leads.
Leone, Eastwood and
Lee Van Cleef
would return in the third film of
this loose "Man With
No Name" trilogy, THE
GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. 
½ -
JB
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Copyright © 2008 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee