For a few Dollars more (1965) - Second part of the 'Man with no name' trilogy

'For a few dollars More' was a movie directed by Sergei Leone and starred Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Gian Maria Volontè. It followed the first successful movie of the spaghetti western trilogy, 'The Man with No Name'. However, what was interesting was that when Clint Eastwood was sought to be signed on for the second movie of the series (after the first, A Fistful of Dollars was not yet released), and Clint was hesitant to sign on the second movie without having even seen the movie (A Fistful of Dollars had been released in Italy, and was a success there, but not yet released in the US). For him, an urgent copy of the print was ordered, and after seeing the movie (even though the print was not in English, but in Italian), he believed enough to sign on for another movie. Another interesting bit from the movie was that the set that was built for the movie, a town called 'El Paso' in the Almeria desert, still exists. The movie is rated as one of the best in this category, with the classic portrayal of the characters in the Wild West along with the depiction of the American Southwest.
Clint Eastwood was called 'Manco' in the movie because people would see him doing any work using his left hand, his character always kept the right hand free to draw a gun and always be ready.



The movie is about the hunt for an outlaw called "El Indio (Gian Maria Volontè)" by 2 bounty hunters, one of them being the` younger 'Manco' (CLint) and the older, once highly respected Colonel Douglas Mortimer (who is no longer much respected, since he is now reduced to being a bounty hunter - one who hunts down criminals for the cash reward on offer against them). Colonel Mortimer has a personal agenda in the hunt for "El Indio", since El Indio had once raped and killed the Colonel's sister. Manco however is after the bounty money.
The 2 join hands in the hunt for El Indio, however, each has their own agenda. As a part of the hunt, it is decided that a reluctant Manco will join Indio's gang, as Indio is planning a raid on a safe in El Paso that contains almost half-a-million dollars, a huge sum of money by any standard. After the raid, Manco and Colonel Mortimer are caught in the act of stealing the money from the bandits, and are brutally thrashed, but are left free by Indio who in reality wants to have a fight between the gang members and the bounty hunters so as to ensure that the entire money belongs only to Indio. This action dutifully happens, and now there is a face off between Colonel Mortimer and Indio.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964): The original spaghetti western

In the 60's, and the early 70's, Spaghetti Westerns, shot with young or ageing US leads along with Spanish / Italian stars, and using an Italian / Spanish cast caught on, and continued till the early 70's, when people started getting tired of this line of films. Two of the people who were most closely associated with these types of movies were the director, Sergei Leone, and the young upcoming star, Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood came to be famous for a trilogy of movies called the "The Dollars Trilogy" or "The Man With No Name Trilogy" - primarily because Clint was not given a screen name in these movies, and this was in effect used as a promotion point for these movies. A Fistful of Dollars was the movie that started this trend, and was the first movie in the trilogy, with the others being For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Most of these movies were shot in Spain, in regions that resembled the dry, wasteland like region of the American Southwest. Another great highlight of the movie was the music by Ennio Morricone.



The Spaghetti Western culture had a touch of irony to it, since the original role was offered to Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson, but both of them refused, and a few others, after which Clint Eastwood was signed on. With the success of the genre, both of them starred in a later movie of his, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
A Fistful of Dollars is the story of a man arriving at a small town on the Mexican Border called San Miguel, and how he gets involved in the huge rivalry in the town between 2 families who want to establish their dominance in the town. These 2 families are;
- The Rojo brothers, Don Miguel, Esteban, and Ramón.
- The other family is that of the sheriff John Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy)
The Man with No Name arrives in the town, and sees a chance to make some money ('a fistful of dollars') in this rivalry between them, but gets involved in a different way, by rescuing the captive of Ramon, Ramon's mistress (Marisol).
The Rojos catch Clint Eastwood and torture him for this effrontery, but he manages to get free with the help of the coffin maker. In their search for him, the Rojos finally get up on the Baxters by burning down their home and killing them all. Now that they are the one strong family in the town, the stranger returns to a final fight, and finally kills them all, and then moves out before the authorities make their presence felt.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) - A great Spaghetti Western

This is a movie that will certainly not win any major awards, and was a major constituent of what were called the 'spaghetti westerns'. It was a movie directed by Sergio Leone, and starred Clint Eastwood (and Sergio Leone was the master of the art, having made a large number of such movies). What were Spaghetti Westerns ? - These were films that started coming out in the 60's, and continued till they started becoming the butt of jokes in the 70's, after which these died out. The other specialty of these movies is that they were primarily directed and produced by Italians, with a mix of young and upcoming Hollywood actors, and many other members of the cast being a mix of Italian and Spanish actors. A large number of these movies were made with a desert, wild countryside, to resemble the American Southwest (although the shooting of many of them was done in a region of Spain that was similar).



The movie has 3 characters representing each of the 3 terms:
- The Good: Clint Eastwood as Blondie. Also famously known as 'The Man with No Name'. A bounty hunter who is the best of the 3, but who can shoot first if his morals allow it as a case of self-defense. He can also swindle as part of his bounty hunter job in order to make money. Blondie knows the name of the grave stone where confederate money is hidden, but his partner knows the name of the cemetery, and hence they need to work together.
- The Bad. Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes. A sociopath, a mercenary also known as 'Angel Eyes', who can kill or shoot anybody in his path. He, as a Sergeant interrogates Tuco, and discovers the name of the cemetery where the gold is hidden, but is unable to get the exact grave stone.
- The Ugly. Eli Wallach as Tuco. More of a lout, wanted by the authorities (and he uses this fact as part of his partnership with Blondie to make money). He finds the name of the cemetery (Sad Hill Cemetery) where the gold is hidden, but Blondie gets to know the name of the grave stone. He is partnering with Blondie, but at some point, they are all in for themselves.

The movie is mainly about these 3, and their quest for finding hidden confederate gold. Blondie and Tuco are on/off partners, but are forced to become good partners when one of them gets to know the name of the cemetery where the gold is hidden, and the other gets to know the name of the grave stone. And then there is the third one, Angel Eyes, who also gets to know about the gold, and will not let anything stand in his way, including making a temporary partnership with Blondie to discover the gold. The movie is about their quest, mixed with scenes of treachery, bitter battles between the Union and Confederate forces (the movie is set in the Civil War timeframe). In the end, the three are standing in the cemetery, guns drawn, in a Mexican stand-off with each other. Who will win ?