With a Few Dollars More, Leone Delivers an Epic…

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

With A Fistful of Dollars, Sergio Leone practically invented the spaghetti western, with his second film in that genre; he’d create one of the greatest films that the spaghetti western movement ever produced. For a Few Dollars More is not only better than its predecessor, it’s light years beyond it in style, scope, and all around artistry. Where as the first film was a truly memorable gritty western with an anti-hero you can’t soon forget, the second film was an out-and-out epic with two anti-heroes that you can’t possibly forget, and a villain with a psychopathic bend that might very well be a challenge that our heroes can’t possibly defeat.

One of the biggest charms of the Italian produced westerns were their willingness to give the audience less than respectable heroes. These aren’t squeaky clean lawmen; they’re bounty hunters with questionable morals, backgrounds, and ethics. But, they’re iconic too, the icon aspect is really a testament to the men that brought these parts to life, Clint Eastwood’s entire career was born from his performances in these movies, and Lee Van Cleef really proved himself to be a star after toiling in unrewarding roles for years before this.

It’s almost ironic that despite the vast wealth of westerns that were made by various American studios through out the history of cinema, Leone’s five European made westerns constantly find themselves entering into the top ranks of fan favorite movies in the western genre. Somehow it would appear that this little man from Italy created some of the most American films ever made, but that isn’t entirely a correct assumption. What happened was this, a little man from Italy, with a great understanding of cinema, opera, the Wild West, and a vision for the epic, created movies that the whole world could love, he just chose to use the western as his vehicle, and it paid off.

The story? It’s almost secondary, Leone dealt with images, not stories. But, since you asked, I’ll sum it up for you. Two bounty hunters are hunting the same man, they join up, and hopefully their combined strength will be enough to end his career. Heck, the story doesn’t really matter, has it ever when Leone is concerned? He doesn’t deal in stories really; he deals in characters, big characters, very cinematic characters, but characters that are defined through operatic standards.

Suffice to say, this movie is epic in scope, humanistic in the end, and very exciting. You don’t watch a movie like this, you experience it, and you walk away amazed. Try it on for size, because you’ll want to wear this one out.

-William J. White