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andrewganley
Reviews
Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)
2hrs 10 minutes and never a dull moment
Part 2 of Leone's dollars trilogy I believe to be his most entertaining film (I admit I haven't seen Colossus of Rhodes but the reviews tell me I'm not missing much).
After the opening credits we have an opening statement. Where we are introduced to the violent nature of the era of the film and the occupation of the two leads, the film refers to them as bounty killers instead of hunters, which at first I thought to be a translation error but on repeated viewings I think it shows that being a bounty hunter isn't as sportsmanlike as other films have made it seem to be
Clint Eastwood and Gian Maria Volonte are great, but I think the real star is Lee Van Cleef, he is an actor that can play so many emotions in subtle changes of expression.
Another thing I'd like to mention is that Leone's way of recycling locations and actors from film to film and making them different and yet just as good as previous. I think to get the best idea of how to realise this is to watch this film and the Good the Bad and the Ugly in quick succession. It was only doing that that I noticed that the bartender in the El Paso tavern in this movie is the same actor as the Confederate general who guides Tuco to the monastery where he will meet his brother in TGTBATU.
Locations too, I recognised the gap inbetween the two hills where Manco and Mortimer meet as the same place that Tuco rides past as he's looking for Blondie in TGTBATU. Leone is just so good at reusing locations and making them new and interesting.
Anyway I'm waffling, I just think the film is an entertaining thrill fuelled adventure, and I believe it to be the definitive Spaghetti Western (More so than TGTBATU, which I believe to be an epic as much as a Spaghetti Western.)