Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Movie For A Few Dollars More Reviewed

By Lizzie Copeland

The Man With No Name Trilogy, or Dollars Trilogy as it is called when you're pressed for time, is really one of the greatest examples of fine action and western filmmaking around. At the time, people didn't really take Italo-Westerns seriously, and the term Spaghetti Western was meant to be derogatory. However, over time, people have come around to realize that these films are often as good as any American western ever filmed, and in fact, some of the very best, period. For a Few Dollars More is probably the least seen of the Dollars Trilogy, and definitely the coolest, if not exactly the very best (which would probably be The Good the Bad and the Ugly). Put it on your movie downloads queue the next time you visit your movie download service.

The movie is really defined by all the little cool moments. While The Good the Bad and the Ugly was really defined by Eli Wallach's incredible performance as the complex, dirty and amoral character of Tuco, and Fistful of Dollars was the one that really started the whole genre off and defined its style, For a Few Dollars More is the one with all the coolest stuff, like Lee Van Cleef browsing through his selection of dozens of guns whenever he needs to shoot someone, or Clint Eastwood beating a guy up with just one hand.

See, he uses a pocket watch every time he kills someone. It's a musical pocket watch, so he winds it up and lets it play while staring down his adversary. When the music comes to a stop... He draws and fires. Definitely a great villainous ritual for any western baddie to commit to.

Lee Van Cleef plays Colonel Mortimer, who was once a Civil War Hero and has since become a bounty hunter. He plays a sort of a paternal role to Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name, teaching him a few things about the craft that he doesn't really know quite yet, while pursuing a somewhat different objective. While The Man With No Name just wants to make a few bucks, Mortimer is hoping to get revenge.

The two have one of the all time great man-movie bonding scenes, shooting each other's hats off and upping the stakes with each shot in order to impress and intimidate the other. They wind up forming a partnership that begins as uneasy and quickly becomes almost affectionate. A far cry from the loveless working relationship Eastwood shared with Eli Wallach in The Good the Bad and the Ugly.

There really isn't another film in almost any genre outside of the musical that uses music quite as effectively as this film. The pocket watch plays a little melody written by Ennio Morricone, and in the finale, the melody is layered into an epic orchestrated piece that really builds an incredible amount of tension before anyone draws a pistol and finally fires.

Leone is without a doubt one of the all time greats, and this is one of his funnest films. It's only too bad that his career was cut short before he could finish Stalingrad, his epic WWII film he had plans to create.

If there's only one thing missing from the film, it's Eli Wallach, who's turn as Tuco may have been one of the all time great western performances, but regardless, the film is a whole heck of a lot of fun. - 40723

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