Review of For a Few Dollars More (1965) by Nick Y — 17 Nov 2009

Nick Yepez.

Mr. Murphy.

Adv Comp.

20 October 2009.

Second Time?s the Charm.

They say the third time is the charm, but for Clint Eastwood the spaghetti western For a Few Dollars More, the sequel to A Fist Full of Dollars, turned out to be the best movie I have ever seen. The spaghetti western is a term used to refer to movies about the American West that were shot in Italy or Spain so as to reduce costs. Other films of the western genre can hardly compare to For a Few Dollars More. Even highly acclaimed titles such as The Magnificent Seven don?t draw the viewer in as well, or weave such a suspenseful story as For a Few Dollars More. The actors? talented performances, the director, Sergio Leone?s, aptitude at telling a story well, and the cinematographer?s capacity for producing beautiful and powerful shots, lets this sequel take a quantum leap in quality past Leone?s first in the trilogy, A Fist Full of Dollars. The elements Leone used effectively in For a Few Dollars More were overdone in A Fist Full of Dollars. The pacing was too slow, the cuts were too dry and uneventful, and the music was not as well composed as in its sequel.

From the beginning sequence of For a Few Dollars More the viewer gets the sense of the film. The viewer immediately perceives that in the Wild West the characters talk with their guns and reputation; they keep quiet unless there?s something of utmost importance to say. Simplicity is the key ingredient that Sergio Leone makes use of, which makes it stand apart from other westerns of its day. In other Westerns there are many characters and lots of dialogue, but in For a Few Dollars More there are few characters and little dialogue.

Clint Eastwood plays one of two main characters, both of whom are bounty hunters out to collect reward money on a group of cut-throat bank robbers. Eastwood?s acting style of the cold blank stare and the slow methodical movement gives the impression of stoicism and determination, which fits well with the image of the west portrayed in For a Few Dollars More. Once the opening title is done, the movie begins immediately with Lee Van Cleef?s character, Col. Douglas Mortimer, hunting down an outlaw and collecting the reward. For a Few Dollars More gets to the point quickly and leaves out superfluous dialogue. Mortimer does what he has to in order to find outlaws and collect the rewards offered for them. Clint Eastwood?s character is the same and the multifaceted storyline of For a Few Dollars More builds from their rivalry. In a famous scene the two go toe to toe and present their skills by shooting each other?s hats away every time the other would try and pick his hat back up. Throughout the movie Eastwood?s and Van Cleef?s characters try to trick each other so that the reward money doesn?t have to be split up between them. The twist at the end makes it even better, when through an act of generosity one of the main characters gets all the money, because he has earned it.

To accent the stoic quality of the Wild West and the men who rule it with reputation and violence, the director masterfully uses low angle shots to give greater emphasis to the prestige of the two main characters. Long shots are used mainly in showing the landscape and how small and insignificant life can be in the desert?s great expanse. In the beginning scene someone shoots a man off his horse. We see him fall and the horse gallop away. We never find how who he was, and why should we? His life was of no consequence in such a land. Also to be noted is the director?s use of cuts. The camera cuts from one shot to the other but it almost never pans or tilts. The simplicity of the cuts and the simple steady pacing keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

The movie begins with a long shot of a desert landscape during which the title of the movie is first seen, the credits are rolled, and the theme song is played. The music alone would put this movie at the top of the charts; not only does it fit perfectly with the nature of the film, but by itself has an eerie and powerful sound to it. The whistle and the guitar meld seamlessly to send chills down the viewer?s spine. The score used in For a Few Dollars More Eastwood composed himself, and marked an early example of Eastwood?s later reputation of being the Charlie Chaplin of the modern day by acting in, directing and many times scoring films he starred in.

While Sergio Leone?s A Fist Full of Dollars was a great movie his sequel For a Few Dollars More showed how quickly he learned from his mistakes. He took the elements from his first movie of the trilogy and crafted them to perfection so that in fact the second time was the charm. The combination of music, great acting and masterful directing created the 1965 Western that is the masterpiece of the 20th century.