“For a Few Dollars More” Movie Review

 

“For a Few Dollars More”

Movie Review

 

For A Few Dollars More is a 1965 spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as bounty hunters and Gian Maria Volonte as the main villain. Klaus Kinski plays a supporting role as a secondary villain. The film was a co-production between Italy, West Germany and Spain. The film is the second part of the film series known as the Dollar Trilogy.

The man many called Manco ("Lefty") is a bounty hunter, a profession shared by former army officer Colonel Douglas Mortimer. They learn that "El Indio," a ruthless, cold-blooded bank robber, has been broken out of prison by his gang and that all but one of his jailers have been killed. When Indio murders his captor's family, he is shown holding a musical pocket watch taken from a woman who shot herself when he tried to kill her husband after raping her. The incident has haunted Indio, and he takes an addictive drug to cloud his memory.

Indio plans to rob the Bank of El Paso, which contains a secret vault containing "about a million dollars." Manco arrives in town and learns of Mortimer, who arrived earlier. He sees Mortimer deliberately insulting the hunchback Wilde checking the bank. Manco confronts Mortimer and after the two learn about each other, realizing that the others won't back down, they decide to work together. Mortimer persuades Manco to join Indio's gang and "leads him between two fires." Despite Indio's suspicions, Manco achieves this by freeing Indio's friend from prison.

Indio sends Manco and three others to rob a bank in nearby Santa Cruz. Manco kills three bandits and sends a false telegraphic alarm to wake the El Paso Sheriff and his posse, who are riding into Santa Cruz. The gang breaks through the back wall of an El Paso bank and steals a safe, but is unable to open it. Groggy is furious when only Manco returns from Santa Cruz, but Indio accepts Manco's version of events, thanks to Mortimer, who gives Manco a solid neck wound. The group rides into the small border town of Agua Caliente, where Mortimer, who has guessed their destination, awaits. Wild recognizes Mortimer, forcing a showdown that results in the Hunchback's death, after which Mortimer offers his services to Indio to open the vault without using explosives. Indio locks the money in a strongbox and says the loot will be delivered a month later.

Mango and Mortimer break into the strongbox and hide the money, and are soon caught and beaten. Mortimer secures a strong box lock, however, and Indio believes the money is still there. That night, Indio instructs his lieutenant Nino to use one of Cuchillo's knives to kill the man guarding Manco and Mortimer. After Nino frees the prisoners, Indio reveals that he knew they were hunters all along, executes Cuchillo for betraying the gang, and goes after Manco and Mortimer, hoping they'll all kill each other so he and Nino can split the money. However, Groggy realizes the plan and forces Indio to open the strongbox, which he finds empty after killing Nino.

Finally, after he and Manco kill the thugs, Mortimer calls out to Indio, revealing his full name. Mortimer shoots and kills Groggy, but Indio, sporting a pocket watch, is disarmed and challenges the bounty hunter to retrieve his weapon and kill him as the music ends. As the music ends, the same tune begins with a similar pocket watch stolen by Manco from Mortimer. Manco handed Mortimer his gun belt and pistol, "Now we begin." As the music ends, Mortimer fires first, killing Indio.

Mortimer retrieves the watch from Indio's hand, and Manco comments on Mortimer's likeness to the woman in the vignette photo on the cover of the watch. Mortimer reveals that he is her brother and, with his revenge complete, refuses and abandons his share of the bounty. Manco dumps the corpses of Indio and his men into a cart, finally adding the corpse after killing Groggy, and rides off to collect the bounties of all those who stole from his hideout, Stop to recover money.

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