CLINT EASTWOOD IS BACK, AND HE’S BURNING AT BOTH ENDS – IF YOU CAN TAKE IT.
Two rivaling bounty hunters (Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef) go after El Indio (Gian Maria Volonté), a gang leader who is wanted by the government dead or alive. The sequel to Fistful of Dollars (1964) does not continue that film’s story and Eastwood doesn’t even seem to be playing the exact same character (although they’re very similar). But it does follow the themes and style established by Sergio Leone in the first film. Exciting and vividly filmed, with plenty of quaint showdowns, including the classic scene where Van Cleef runs into Klaus Kinski in a bar. The former is particularly memorable as the aging Civil War veteran who needs the bounty to retire.
1965-Italy. 132 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Arturo González, Alberto Grimaldi. Directed by Sergio Leone. Screenplay: Sergio Leone, Luciano Vincenzoni. Cinematography: Massimo Dallamano. Music: Ennio Morricone. Cast: Clint Eastwood (Monco), Lee Van Cleef (Douglas Mortimer), Gian Maria Volonté (El Indio), Josef Egger, Mara Krup, Rosemarie Dexter… Klaus Kinski.
Trivia: Original title: Per qualche dollaro in più. Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin were allegedly considered for the part of Mortimer. Followed by The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
Last word: “I was broke. I couldn’t pay my phone bill, and it wasn’t all that big. They offered me more money than I ever made on any picture, and that’s what started it. It was Sergio Leone who came over and said, I want you to do a thing. So I did it. It was the first one I did with Clint Eastwood, ‘For a Few Dollars More’. I left April the 12th,1965; then exactly one year later I left on the second one, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. That went back-to-back with ‘The Big Gundown’ where I starred on my own, instead of with Clint, and … it’s been goin’ like that ever since.” (Van Cleef, “Bad at the Bijou”)
