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"There are many bounties on you gentlemen: and bounties mean money. And I, when it comes to money, never spit on it" - Joe "Il Monco" (Clint Eastwood)
After "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), Sergio Leone returned in 1965 with "For a Few Dollars More", which stands as the second chapter of what would go down in history as The Dollars Trilogy, also including the subsequent "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" (1966).
In this film too, Leone entrusts the lead role to Clint Eastwood, who plays the part of Joe, known as "Il Monco", a bounty hunter in search of criminals that could earn him a handsome reward, this time partnered by Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Douglas Mortimer, also on the hunt for villains.
The two join forces to hunt down El Indio, a sadistic, violent, and dangerous criminal played by Gian Maria Volontè; all this not without a certain antagonism primarily caused by their age difference, setting the stage for a generational clash.
In this film, Leone continues the work he began with the previous one and would carry on with the next: on the unforgettable notes of Ennio Morricone's music, and in scenes filled with often ironic dialogues, the myth of the frontier vanishes, along with the Indians and the positive heroes that characterized previous westerns, typical of American cinema tradition. The Roman director replaces all this with a series of violent, cold, cynical, and calculating characters (though immensely well-developed), ready to hunt down a fierce criminal like El Indio not to restore social peace or for a high and abstract value of justice, but for their own personal gain; whether it be revenge or bags full of money to tie to the horse to ride across other zones of this old, wilder than ever, but extremely realistic, West.
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Other reviews
By rupertsciamenna
No one better than the Roman director has managed to give in the western genre such an intense characterization of his films’ characters.
The whistling tune of the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone accompanies us throughout the film, accentuating the rhythm of the shootouts and the uneven duels.
By Mayham
It’s about summing up something that has been fundamental in my existence, something that is difficult to describe, an emotion too large and too intense.
If For a Few Dollars More is the film I would have wanted to make, it’s because this is a perfect film.
