Review of For A Few Dollars More

Introduction

The second film in the Serge Leone ‘man with no name’ spaghetti western trilogy that launched the career of Clint Eastwood, this DVD of For A Few Dollars More proudly states on the inlay that it is the ‘uncut full length feature version’. Called spaghetti westerns as this series of movies was shot in Europe with mostly European actors, which has led to some of the worst dubbed films in movie history!

The man with no name actually has one in this movie – Manco, and although a sequel to the first film, you don’t need to have seen that first to understand this one, as they are complete stories in their own right.

The follow up to A Fistful Of Dollars sees mysterious lone gunman Clint partnered with Lee Van Cleef as two bounty hunters gunning for notorious bandit El Indio (Gian Maria Volonte), who has broken out of a Mexican jail with a $10,000 price on his head. The action later centres in the town of El Paso, where the bandit plans to rob the bank and steal the safe.

Although all the wanted posters refer to the baddies as ‘Wanted – Dead or Alive’, this being a Clint film inevitably means they have karked it when the reward is collected. The weaponry used in this movie is wide and varied, and Van Cleef sports a multi part pistol with shoulder attachment which enables him to shoot accurately across huge distances, only achievable in movies.

Clint and Van Cleef work together but also tend to be rather suspicious of each other (maybe Van Cleef saw Clint double crossing both of those gangs in A Fistful of Dollars at his local multiplex), they attempt to capture or kill El Indio and his whole gang in order to collect the bounty.

Video

The film has been restored in sound and picture quality, although many imperfections still are evident. Of course for a film over 35 years old, there are limitations given the quality of the source print, and a fair few scratches and pops can be seen throughout the film. However this is by no means the worst I have seen, and comparing the film with the unrestored trailer that is included on the DVD shows what the unrestored version probably looked like!

The major gripe with this is that they did not bother to give us an anamorphic transfer. Only the final film in this series The Good The Bad and The Ugly enjoys this treatment, but if they went to all the trouble of restoring the source, why waste it by not providing an anamorphic transfer?! The image is still pretty sharp and although some grain is evident at certain points, contrast is reasonably high, and colours are vivid and not overly saturated.

Audio

Only a Dolby Digital mono soundtrack is available, which is still perfect for showing up the appalling dubbing! OK, so it’s not as bad as the first film, but still a laugh sometimes.

The audio is not as distorted as the first film, and the musical score is not as harsh, again beautifully composed by Ennio Morricone. Dialogue is clear however.

Features

The only extra is the original theatrical trailer, and the menus are in the same style as the previous movie – mostly static with Clint next to a pair of saloon doors, with clips of the film playing through them.

You also get a printed booklet that includes a lot of background information, which seems common with many of the recent MGM releases. I don’t know why they do this, as I’m sure a feature on the DVD itself would be more welcome with a DVD audience.

Conclusion

There are marked improvements over the original film in this sequel. Notably Serge Leone’s direction in this movie has obviously been more carefully orchestrated, especially the gunfight and action sequences, and the film I felt is faster paced than its predecessor.

The typical Western clichés are all there, and the climax sequence with the traditional gunfight influenced a whole host of films to be released after this. The final scene with Van Cleef riding off into the sunset leaving Clint with a cartload of dead villains on which he can collect the bounty, is one I’m sure I have seen in later movies.

These films are usually over two hours in length, and although full of action sequences, can be a little slow in parts which may hinder their appeal to younger audiences who are seeing them for the first time, having been used to recent fast paced Hollywood action flicks. Again in contrast to today’s films, the victims have obviously got shot, but the blood doesn’t really flow in these movies. A small splodge on the victim’s shirt is all that you see usually.

The restoration of the film itself has improved things greatly, much to the point of showing up the limitations of the source. Why they decided on the non anamorphic transfer though is unforgivable, and rumours have been circulating that they are to re-release them with this improvement.