"That's a nice-a donut."
Monday, April 25, 2005
For a Few Dollars More
Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More is the second spaghetti western in the so-called "Man With No Name" trilogy (the first being A Fistful of Dollars, and the third is The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly), each starring Clint Eastwood. The story is relatively simple; two bounty hunters go after a dangerous outlaw and his gang for the reward money. They each have different motives, but agree to team up, with one (Eastwood) joining the gang to take it down from the inside and the other (played by Lee Van Cleef) working on the outside.
I like For a Few Dollars more, but I don't hold it in the same regard as some others do (see its IMDb Top 250 ranking for example). The story is the weakest of the three in the trilogy. First, I did not feel any real empathy towards any of the characters, as they were not developed to their full potential. I also would have preferred a few more action sequences. In general, the movie suffers from some pacing problems.
That being said, there are a number of things to like about the film. First and foremost is composer Ennio Morricone's great score. Unlike many of the generic musical scores from more modern films, the music in Dollars truly fits the picture. And par for the course for a Leone film, the cinematography is beautiful. It is great how well headshots are framed to create tension. Also, some of the banter and interaction between Eastwood and Van Cleef is pure gold. There are some really funny moments here. Eastwood, rightfully, became a big star from these films.
The Verdict: B.
Michael Bentley 8:32 AM
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