80. For a Few Dollars More (1965) – Dir. Sergio Leone
For a Few Dollars More is perfectly balanced: it is more complex than A Fistful of Dollars, but more succinct and tense than The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Leone directs the film with a calculated hand, its deliberate pace and desolate setting help to craft the film's mythological foundation. The narrative, like a masterfully composed piece of music, pulses forward with rhythm and builds in intensity, while the haunting melodies and harmonies combine to accentuate the surreal cinematic landscape and the mysterious characters that inhabit it.
Three well written characters grace the film's narrative: two heroes form the base of the thematic trinity, and a detestable villain for them to vanquish is its apex. El Indio is, quite simply, an incredibly evil presence, and a most memorable cinematic antagonist. Governed by a mysterious past, an addiction to opium, and a misanthropic desire to do wrong, Indio, and his gang, wreak havoc across the sagebrush-littered land. Indio is a master manipulator, and possesses a messianic-like ability to lead and instill fear in his worshipers; he becomes a surrogate father for his band of brutish thugs. His command over his followers is almost cult-like, and there is just a hint of a supernatural power found in Indio’s cold-blooded, mind-gripping gaze.
It is no secret that Leone's films were inspired by the Japanese chambara genre, and, in turn, went on to inspire many Japanese and Hong Kong filmmakers, a trait evident in Eastwood's character, Manco. Manco, which is Spanish slang for “crippled,” or “handless,” does almost everything with his left hand, rendering his right hand all but useless, except for one very important task: shooting. It is almost as if Manco's right arm has a will and conscious of its own; it is a specialized appendage that possesses a superhuman ability to kill. This idea was probably the basis, although taken to an extreme, for Vampire Hunter D's talking, demonic hand, and for Jimmy Wang Yu's character in Chang Cheh's iconic film, The One-Armed Swordsman.
While Manco is the epitome of cool, he is almost too stoic. He's good at shooting, and looks good doing it, but doesn't offer up a compelling enough reason to care for him beyond his knight-errant sense of loyalty. Eastwood's character was left alone for most of A Fistful of Dollars, and the film's dramatic drive lacked for this misstep. To remedy this oversight, Leone completes the film's heroic duo with Col. Douglas Mortimer, played by Lee Van Cleef. While Manco is simply a gun for hire, looking out for a decent paying bounty, Mortimer has a defined past, and a real reason to hunt El Indio. Mortimer represents the emotional side of the mythological hero, and becomes an anchor for the narrative's drama.
Tying everything together in expert fashion is Ennio Morricone's haunting score. In a brilliant move by Leone and Morricone, one of the film's main themes emanates from an on-screen source, El Indio's pocket-watch, a possession on which he festishizes. It is almost is if the watch is the true source of his evil, the fountain from which an ominous, mind-controlling, sardonic tune plays over, and over, drawing him down a twisted pathway to hell. As a team, Leone and Morricone crafted some of the most memorable marriages of audio and video to ever grace the silver screen, and it is here, with A Few Dollars More, that they elevated their craft to near perfection. For a Few Dollars More is a classic genre picture, and one whose influence can be seen, and heard, throughout many, many films.
