Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Western Hit Film For A Few Dollars More Starring Clint Eastwood Reviewed

By Lizzie Copeland

Leone's Dollars Trilogy is without a doubt one of the all time classic series when it comes to all out action, suspense and, well, coolness. The film in the series that is considered a "Great Film" would have to be The Good the Bad and the Ugly, but the absolute coolest of the series is, without a doubt, For a Few Dollars More. Maybe not the best, but certainly the most fun of the entire trilogy, and definitely one to put on your queue the next time you sign into 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.

The villain and his pocket watch are really a great film duo. The pocket watch and the way he relates to it... It's almost as if they're partners in crime. See, the villain plays the musical pocket watch, and when the melody finishes playing, he draws his gun and shoots his victim dead. It's interesting the way it gives a definite timeline to the act of murder, and really makes the guy come across as a dastardly jerk.

Cleef and Eastwood make a great team as the heroes. Cleef plays Colonel Mortimer, a former Civil War hero turned bounty hunter, while Eastwood plays, again, the Man With No Name. This film is, chronologically within the world of the film, the final act, even though it was released second (The Good the Bad and the Ugly serves as a prequel to Fistful of Dollars), and Eastwood has had enough violence and wants to retire, but still plays the Kid role to Cleef's older, wiser bounty hunter.

One great scene has the two shooting each other's hats off, and then shooting said hats down the street, as, essentially, a way of chest pounding, showboating, to impress the other. It begins with the two wanting the other to back off their bounty, and ends with the two building a strong partnership that's a lot of fun to watch develop.

The music really makes the film, primarily with some scenes revolving around the pocket watch. The simple, twinkly melody it plays is played again in an orchestrated, layered arrangement for the finale, where we have a duel not just with matching pistols, but with matching pocket watches. The tension in this scene is almost tangible, physical in nature.

Leone is one of the all time greats, and it's too bad his career was cut short before he could complete Stalingrad, his WWII epic.

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. - 40731

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