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With: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonte, Mara Krupp, Luigi Pistilli, Klaus Kinski, Joseph Egger, Panos Papadopulos, Benito Stefanelli
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Written by: Sergio Leone, Luciano Vincenzoni, Fulvio Morsella
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Directed by: Sergio Leone
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MPAA Rating: R
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Running Time: 132
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Date: 12/17/1965
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For a Few Dollars More (1965)
The Big Bounty
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
For a Few Dollars More features Eastwood not as "The Man with No Name," but as Monco, a bounty hunter who learns of the high price on a dangerous bandit called Indio (Gian Maria Volontè). Unfortunately, another, more experienced bounty hunter Col. Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) has also decided to bag Indio for himself. So the two strike up an uneasy partnership, with Monco pretending to join Indio's gang and the Colonel giving the orders from behind the scenes.
It's a good deal longer and more expansive than A Fistful of Dollars, and Leone heightens the sense of danger by making both the Colonel and Indio as crafty and cunning as Monco; since there's no clear winner, every scene crackles with energy. As always, Ennio Morricone's score provides suspense and a unique mood. Klaus Kinski stars as one of Indio's goons (he was also in Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence.) In the U.S. cut, all references to the name "Monco" were cut out so that the distributor could advertise the film with the "Man with No Name" gimmick.
In 2011, MGM released a single-disc Blu-Ray edition. Extras are the same as on the deluxe DVD, including a commentary track by Leone scholar Sir Christopher Frayling, interviews and featurettes, including several with Eastwood. There are also trailers, TV and radio spots.
In 2019, Kino Lorber released a 4K restoration Blu-ray, which looks spectacular, while still retaining the movie's original drive-in quality grain and grittiness. Morricone's score radiates magnificently from the soundtrack (available in 5.1, Stereo, and Mono). This release includes a Tim Lucas commentary track, an "on location" featurette with Alex Cox, and an astonishing array of other extras, many of which have already been available on earlier releases. But the list includes a 2003 interview with Eastwood, a featurette on the American release version, trailers, stills, radio spots, and trailers for other Westerns in the Kino Lorber library. This is essential.
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