REVIEW:
For a Few Dollars More is the second movie in the Clint Eastwood – Sergio Leone directed Spaghetti Western Trilogy. The movies don’t really have any connection, other than both being about the same character. In that first movie, he was an aimless drifter who wandered into town to play two different gangs against each other. Here, in the follow up film, he’s in a new town, and this time he’s a bounty hunter.
The story is about this character, (who is given a name here, Monco,) and a competing bounty hunter, Mortimer, (played by Lee Van Cleef.) Both of them are after the same targets. In fact, it starts with each of them doing a job, separate from each other, and then pretty soon has them cross paths and meet each other. That takes place when they both show up in the same town at the same time, at hotels that are directly across the street from each other. And these two men watch each other from the windows of their hotel rooms, while paying people in the town for information about the other.
This is the first act of the movie, and it ends when the two of these bounty hunters come face to face in the street one night. They have an interesting “competition,” of sorts involving shooting and hats. First, Monco shoots the hat of Mortimer. Then every time Mortimer tries to pick it up, off the ground, Monco shoots the hat again. Next, it’s Mortimer’s turn. He shoots the hat of Eastwood. The hat goes soaring up in the air. And every time it comes down, and is right above their heads, still in the air, Mortimer shoots it again, sending it soaring right back up into the sky. It’s a great scene. In fact, it’s probably the best scene in the entire movie because it is both clever and fun. And the sound of each gun shot rings out so loud and so forceful. It really works.
After that, these two character join forces to take on a single target. This target is El Indio, a serious criminal and leader of a gang. Monco and Mortimer decide that Monco will infiltrate the gang and take them on from the inside, while Mortimer takes them on from the outside. So Monco helps one of El Indio’s friends escape prison by busting him out. This is so that the friend will vouch for Monco, to El Indio. It’s to help get Monco some street cred. Only when you think about it, Monco busting this guy out of prison doesn’t explain to the gang why he busted him out, or even who he is. The movie is smart to have the gang call these things into question, although they really don’t get any rationale answers. Monco “jokingly,” tells them the truth, that he is there as a bounty hunter to take them all in, and they all just laugh at him and don’t believe it. And that’s the end of that.
If the first half of the movie is about establishing these two bounty hunters and their mission, and having them meet each other and join forces, than the second half is about them taking on their target. El Indio and his gang plan to rob the biggest, most highly secured bank in town, with a giant vault inside filled with cash. The problem is, while the bank boasts about how great its security is, there really isn’t a whole lot. There’s one guard on the inside with a gun, and then a bunch of metal cages inside the building, so that you need a key to basically get from one room to the next. None of this stops El Indio and his gang who use dynamite to blow a hole in the wall and then take the vault right out of the bank.
The second half isn’t nearly as good as the first. This is where the movie really drags. Especially as it goes on towards an ending. One thing really appealing about the first movie, A Fistful of Dollars, was how quick the running time was (under two hours,) and how tight and concise the movie felt as a result. There was no waisting any time, and every moment counted. Not so much here, as this movie is over two hours long, and definitely drags. Aside from that, the storyline is not as smart or interesting as that of the first movie, either. Now, to be fair, that first movie was based off a story from Akira Kurosawa, who had used it for his movie, Yojimbo. In other words, they had taken someone else’s story from another movie and just adapted it for this western. But it worked. It was pretty great. And it was a lot more exciting than this movie.
The best thing about For A Few Dollars More is that it introduces us to Lee Van Cleef’s bounty hunter, who of course plays a big part in the third movie, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That helps connect this movie to that one, which means the two films do feel like they are part of the same trilogy, unlike the way this movie feels with the first film. In putting things into perspective, each movie brings in a new character who is part of the ongoing trilogy. The first movie featured just one character, the second two, and the third features all three. Either way, none of this changes the fact that For A Few Dollars More is not a very good movie. It’s okay, but definitely a little too slow and too simple.