FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (PER QUALCHE DOLLARO IN PIU) (1965)

   Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Ennio Morricone (music), Sergio Leone (director)

   This is the second of Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, following A Fistful of Dollars and preceding The Good,the Bad and the Ugly. Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name character is back in action, this time as Monco, with Van Cleef playing Colonel Mortimer. The two are bounty hunters seeking the same bandit but for different reasons. Through the desert, into El Paso, and deep into the Mexican wilderness, the antiheroes chase their outlaw. As with the other Leone Westerns, the film combines extreme, dirt-and-grime realism with action scenes straight out of fantasy. Monco confronts his foe in a saloon, then realizes the two exits are covered by his enemies. He whips out two huge guns, and with three quick shots solves the problem. Eastwood’s character does not ask many questions about what is right or wrong in a given situation, but close-up after close-up of Van Cleef’s eyes after his killings reveal an utterly evil soul. The haunting music of Ennio Morricone pervades nearly every scene.

   See also SPAGHETTI WESTERNS.