For A Few Dollars More

Released on: 8/2/2011
Released by: MGM
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Klaus Kinski, Gian Maria Volonte, Lee Van Cleef
Year: 1964
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The Movie:

The unexpected and unprecedented box office success of A Fistful Of Dollars catapulted Clint Eastwood to stardom and spurred into production less than a year later a sequel to capitalize on his new found fame. The result was a darker, funnier, and all around better film in the form of For A Few Dollars More, the second collaboration between Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood but this time with the undeniably fantastic screen presence of Lee Van Cleef (though Leone originally wanted Lee Marvin, and for good reason) to play off of as well.

Monco (Eastwood) is a bounty hunter out to make a few quick bucks. He doesn't care about anyone else, he's completely self serving and to be honest, a bit of a bastard. He rides into El Paso on a mission to bring in a bandit named El Indio (Gian Maria Volonte) so that he can take home the sizeable reward being offered for his capture. A second bounty hunter, a former army man named Colonel Mortimer (Van Cleef), has got the same idea and as such has his eyes on the very same prize as Monco.

Indio, on the other hand, has got a good sized gang of bandits at his command, and they intend to take down a bank and make off with the contents. This very same gang will prove a little harder to deal with than both Monco and Mortimer originally anticipated, and they strike up a rather unusual relationship together in order to deal with the problems that a gang of homicidal bandits cane pose.

Everything that Leone showed us he was capable of in A Fistful Of Dollars is let loose in this second film. The scope is more epic, the close ups more extreme, the comedy is darker, the dialogue is sharper, and the violence is harsher. Leone perfected his technique in this film and every shot is composed so carefully and with such technical precision that even if there were no audio track to provide dialogue effects or background music, the film would still be a masterpiece simply on the strength of the visuals alone. Thankfully, however, the audio mix is just as strong as the look of the film. Morricone had really hit his stride by this point in his career and his score strengthens every single frame of film that it's used in.

Everything about this second film is more confident than the first movie. Eastwood is sharper and more relaxed, literally oozing cool out of every pore of his body despite the fact that he's stuck out under the hot desert sun for the bulk of the film. Lee Van Cleef gives one of his finest performances (considering his track record in westerns, that's saying something, because he truly is 'the man') and is as sneaky in act and deed as he is in appearance. Leone uses his oddly rodent like features to great advantage, really playing up on his striking features to give his character a larger than life aura, something that he'd play with even more in the third film, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Gian Maria Volonte returns to the fold again, perfectly cast as the sinister El Indio, playing the part with a maniacal glee that becomes, at times, quite infectious. Aside from the three leads though, you can't talk about the film without mentioning Klaus Kinski's turn as the lunatic hunchback or Luigi Pistilli's role as Groggy.

Looking at the 'behind the camera' credits for the film reads more or less like a roll call for the finest contributors to Italian genre cinema. Fernando Di Leo (Milano Calibro 9) contributed to the script and acted as a second unit director alongside Tonino Valerii (Day Of Anger). Massimo Dallamano (What Have You Done To Solange?)handled the cinematography while Bruno Nicolai (All The Colors Of The Dark) aided Ennio Morricone with the musical score. In short, the excellent cast was in fine company.

While, like its predecessor, it was shot fast and cheap (look for a few anachronisms and technical goofs throughout the film), For A Few Dollars More proves to be an exciting and ambitious film that succeeds not only on its gorgeous visuals but also on its stellar cast and fine crew. Leone would go on to bigger and better films with his next two films and prove himself as the king of the Italian west, but For A Few Dollars More stands as the film where he really and truly hit his stride. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was offered a better cut of the profits this time out, maybe he just wanted to make a better movie, maybe he was having more fun, or maybe it was all of the above but Leone really turned it up with this one and the result is one of the most enjoyable and, dare I say it, 'fun' films of the Spaghetti Western craze.

Video/Audio/Extras:

MGM previously issued this film as part of The Man With No Name Trilogy along with the other two films Eastwood made with Leone, A Fistful Of Dollars and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. The transfer, audio and extras on this single disc reissue appear to be identical to the disc that was in the boxed set. The film is presented in its original 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer. There definitely could have been more care in the restoration department and yes, there are spots where the overzealous scrubbing of grain results in some waxy complexions and details disappearing, but it's not all that bad. Colors look good, detail in many scenes is very strong and there's way less compression obvious here. You won't have any problems spotting edge enhancement in spots, but most fans know that already.

There is an English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mixe supplied for the film, but there are an array of dubs and alternate tracks included as well: including the English mono track, a Spanish mono track and a French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track with subtitles provided in the same three languages. So yeah, take your pick between the original mono mixes, in lossy standard definition, or lossless 5.1 DTS-HD tracks, there's no lossless mono option provided, unfortunately. That said, the DTS-HD track is pretty decent. Dialogue is never hard to understand and the levels are well balanced. Much of the action comes from the front of the mix but Morricone's classic score is spread out rather well throughout the soundstage and swells up from the rear channels to add plenty of mood and atmosphere.

Once again, MGM has tagged Christopher Frayling for another fascinating commentary that is part film analysis, part Leone history and part trivia track. He's not once at a loss for words and he makes some interesting comparisons here between this film and some of Leone's later works within the western genre. Frayling gives plenty of detail on the rushed production history of the film, the producers wanted to turn it over as quickly as possible to cash in on the success of the first movie, as well as some of the strange details relating to Leone's shooting structure, or lack thereof. Some of the more interesting bits of the commentary relate to the way that Leone cast many of the local gypsies as banditos in the film, to give it a more authentic look and feel and some of the problems that were inherent in Leone's decision to do so.

Frayling gets in front of the camera for another exclusive extra entitled The Christopher Frayling Archives: For A Few Dollars More. Like the similar piece on the first disc, this nineteen minute piece is a chance for Frayling to show off more of his extensive collection.

Up next is a twenty minute documentary entitled A New Standard. This is a lengthy and informative discussion with Frayling on some of the themes and ideas that Leone pioneered in the film. He discusses the marijuana use in the film and how it worked or didn't work within the context of the movie as well as a lot of the more subtle religious symbolism that's there if you want to look for it. He puts the film into context against the time it was made and against Leone's other movies and this makes for a very entertaining and informative segment that thankfully doesn't crossover with the commentary track too much at all.

Back For More is a seven minute video interview with Clint Eastwood in which he talks about how Leone's sense of humor put many of the cast members at ease on the set. He also goes into quite a bit of detail on how Leone influenced the films that he himself would later direct, and why. It's nice to see Clint talk about Sergio as fondly as he does here, and it's also quite interesting to hear his reasons for not making Once Upon A Time In The West (Charles Bronson ended up in the lead and I honestly can't see how anyone could have played it any better than he did in that movie), a film which many consider to be the finest western ever made.

Just like on A Fistful Of Dollars, we get a Tre Voci segment that once again brings together Alberto Grimaldi, Mickey Knox, and Sergio Donati. The famous story of how Morricone's score, which was completely finished before filming even started, was played on set to get performers in the mood at Leone's request. They also talk about how the dialogue was written specifically to play to Eastwood and Van Cleef's strengths not only as tough guys, but as comedic actors too. The humor is turned up a bit in this film compared to the first movie and the interplay between these two actors is a big reason why.

Up next are five minutes worth of alternate scenes that were chopped or excised from the final cut of the US version of the film for one reason or another. The scene where Eastwood's character is named, the scene with Indio laughing hysterically, and the scene where Eastwood and Van Cleef are beaten were all presented differently and they're shown here in their alternate forms.

Rounding out the extra features is twelve minutes worth of location comparison footage, twelve radio promo spots, the excellent theatrical trailer, the double bill trailer, and a still gallery of roughly forty images.

Overall:

It's not a perfect presentation but it's a definite improvement over the DVD and you can't beat the price - there's a ton of supplemental material here and despite some noise reduction and the fact that the picture could have looked better, this release comes recommended. The disc is a great value at the low asking price and the movie itself? Simply one of the finest westerns ever made, spaghetti or otherwise, paling only to Leone's later two entries in the genre.

Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!