FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE: 4K UHD Blu-ray (PEA/UA, Arturo Gonzalez/Constantin Films, 1965-67) Kino Lorber
Despite its critical detractors,
the whopping success of A Fistful of Dollars (1964) in Italy cued its
director, Sergio Leone and his new producer, Alberto Grimaldi to create a sequel
worthy of its reputation. If nothing else, For A Few Dollars More (1965)
raked in even more at the box office than the original – all told, 3.1 billion
lire, or $5 million dollars. In Spain, it was the #1 draw, setting an all-time
record of $4.5 million, while in France, For A Few Dollars More became
the 7th most popular film of all-time. In the US and Canada, the
picture would go on to take in another $15 million. Yet, despite its undeniably
impressive fiscal haul, the critics again were tepid in their praise, and,
occasionally, down-right pretentious in their nastiness. Famed New York Times’
critic, Bosley Crowther and Chicago Sun-Times’ Roger Ebert led this charge,
suggesting Leone had once more managed to create a picture that celebrated ‘murderers’
and ‘killer bravado’ at the expense of character design, ladling ‘one
Western cliché after another…composed of situations’ rather than plot. It
mattered not to an audience, as For A Few Dollars More quickly developed
its own cult following among fans, garnering new ones along the way to screen
immortality. It’s easy to reason why.
Clint Eastwood’s man with no name
(okay, in this one he is briefly referred to as ‘Manco’) is, herein, subtly
more refined, and infinitely more comfortable in his weathered garb. He exudes
a sort of ugly and intermittently cruel machismo that, without Eastwood’s own
underlay of brooding charisma, would have rendered the character a total
bastard. On this outing, that honor instead goes to co-star, Lee Van Cleef (in
a role originally intended for Charles Bronson) as Colonel Douglas Mortimer, who
steals virtually every scene in which he appears and catapults the picture’s
audacity to a whole new level of compellingly sadistic finesse. Interestingly,
although Mortimer is references as having hailed from the South, Van Cleef
sports a decidedly non-Southern accent, native to his New Jersey roots. But the
picture’s pièce de resistance remains costar, Gian Maria Volonté's El Indio,
easily the most reviled and sinisterly corrupt villain ever to grace the
Western milieu. As with its predecessor, none of the live-action footage contained
an audio track; Eastwood and Van Cleef later flown to Italy to dub in all of
their dialogue, with SFX mixed in later still.
For A Few
Dollars More subtly evolves Leone’s visual flair into a more regally complex visual tome,
like a classic Remington landscape, slightly gone to seed. It is rumored,
screenwriter, Luciano Vincenzoni wrote For A Few Dollars More in just 9
days; Leone, satisfied with the story but not the dialogue, and hiring Sergio
Donati to spruce things up. Production was divided between AlmerÃa, Spain - where
production designer, Carlo Simi, recreated the town of El Paso - and Rome's
famed Cinecittà Studios (interiors only). Interestingly, the El Paso set still
stands today and remains a popular tourist attraction. The town of Agua
Caliente, where the pivotal moment of Indio’s retreat after the bank robbery
was photographed, was actually a real place - Los Albaricoques, a tiny ‘pueblo
blanco’ on the NÃjar plain. Returning to the fray, composer, Ennio Morricone, who
again wrote almost the entire score before Leone had finished shooting the
picture, a fascinating blend of diegetic and non-diegetic cues. Never intended
for insertion into the movie, a song was created to promote the picture on the
pop charts - Maurizio Graf singing ‘Occhio Per Occhio’ (a.k.a. An Eye
For An Eye) to Morricone’s cue, ‘Sixty Seconds to What?’
On this outing, the man called
Manco – or Lefty is a bounty hunter, a profession he shares with ex-army
officer, Colonel Douglas Mortimer. Separately, Manc’ and Mort’ unearth that a brutal,
bank robber, El Indio, has been sprung from prison by his gang. All but one of
the jailers was mercilessly dispatched during that palace coup. Meanwhile,
while Indio indulges in the slaughter of the family of the man who captured him.
He also reveals to us a pocket watch stolen from a woman (Rosemary Dexter) who took her own life while being raped by him. Interestingly,
given his pitiless exterior, this latter incident continues to haunt Indio, who
abuses a powerful narcotic to fleetingly obscure this memory. Indio plots his
next robbery in El Paso – a million-dollar heist…if successful. Manco arrives
in the town, witnessing Mortimer insult Wild (Klaus Kinski) - the hunchback, who
is patrolling the bank. Manco confronts Mortimer. However, as both men wisely
assess neither will back down, they decide to work as a team. Mortimer
persuades Manco to infiltrate Indio's gang. To test Manc’s fidelity, Indio
sends him to Santa Cruz with a small posse to rob another bank. Instead, Manco murders
Indio’s bandits, then sends a fake telegraphic alarm to provoke the El Paso
sheriff (Tomas Blanco) and his men to ride to Santa Cruz.
Meanwhile, Indio’s men blast a hole
in the wall of the El Paso bank, stealing its safe. Too bad, it proves
impossible to open. One of Indio’s men, Groggy
(Luigi Pistilli) is gravely suspicious when Manc proves the lone survivor.
However, Indio accedes to Manco's justification, owing to Mortimer having inflicted
him with a realistic wound. Indio and his men arrive at Agua Caliente where
Mortimer is waiting. Recognizing Mortimer, Wild is summarily executed by
Mortimer who now offers his services to Indio as a safe-cracker. Indio is impressed,
and later locks up his ill-gotten gains in a strongbox – to be distributed
evenly in the course of a month’s time. Manco and Mortimer break into the
strongbox and steal the cash, but are caught and beaten to a pulp. However, as
Mortimer has secured the strongbox lock, Indio still believes the money is
safe. Later, Indio instructs his lieutenant, Niño (Mario Brega) to murder the
guard on Manco and Mortimer’s cell, using a knife belonging to Cuchillo (Aldo
Sambrell). Afterward, Indio suggests he knew all along Manco and Mortimer were
bounty hunters. He executes Cuchillo for supposedly betraying the gang, and
orders the rest of his men to hunt down Manco and Mortimer.
The plan is to have everyone die in
a blood feud, resulting in more loot for himself and Niño. Alas, Groggy unearths
this conspiracy, murders Niño, and forces Indio to open the strong box, revealing
the money is no longer there. Manco and Mortimer easily dispatch Indio’s bandits.
Mortimer shoots Groggy, only to be disarmed by Indio, who challenges Mortimer
to a showdown. In the end, Mortimer shoots first, killing Indio. Mortimer
retrieves Indio’s watch. Manco remarks on Mortimer's uncanny resemblance to the
woman in the photographs. Mortimer now reveals the woman who Indio raped, who
took her own life, was his sister (in the Spanish version, Mortimer is the
woman’s father). His revenge complete, Mortimer declines his share of the bounty
and departs. Manco tosses the bodies of Indio and his men into a nearby wagon, adding
Groggy's corpse to the heap before embarking to collect the bounties, and, to
recover the stolen money from its hiding place.
For A Few
Dollars More is a deliciously dark revenge tragedy. While it lacks the
forward-moving trajectory of the first movie’s storyline, many of the vignettes
that populate it are infused with Leone’s streak of artful genius and populated
by a killer, hand-picked cast that could not be better if they tried. As trenchant
as it remains, For A Few Dollars More serves up some ace action
sequences that still get the blood pumping almost 60 years after its theatrical
release. As with its predecessor, For A Few Dollars More was
photographed in Technicolor’s patented Techniscope, revealing exceptional clarity,
particularly in extreme close-ups. And, as with this new 4K remaster, derived
from Kino Lorber’s previous efforts on standard Blu-ray, this native 4K release
takes a sizable leap ahead in overall image quality. Colors vibrancy and
density – check! Black levels with zero crush – check! Indigenous grain –
check! Wow and thank you! Funded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and
using an original camera negative curated at the Cineteca di Bologna in Italy, For
A Few Dollars More looks immaculate in UHD. We get 2 audio tracks, DTS in
5.1 or 2.0, each sporting excellent clarity for dialogue, SFX and Morricone’s
score. The 4K contains 2 commentaries, the first by author, Tim Lucas, and the
other by historian, Sir Christopher Frayling. Mercifully, Kino includes the
original Blu-ray version. This has both commentaries, but also houses a reflection
piece by filmmaker, Alex Cox, plus Frayling’s archives – and another bumper
crop of extras, nearly 2 hrs. of great retrospectives. Frayling returns and
hosts two individual pieces totaling almost 40 mins. Clint Eastwood is on hand
too, in an all too brief (barely 7 mins.) interview. There are comparisons
between the Italian and US release, a puff piece on locations, a brief featurette
on ‘restoring’ the movie (from 2004), and another Trailers from Hell,
hosted by Ernest Dickerson. Add to this a massive gallery of poster art,
stills, and other junket materials, plus theatrical trailers, radio and TV
spots and…well…you’ve pretty much been given a crash course history lesson on
the making of this iconic western sequel. Bottom line: as with its predecessor
and subsequent sequel, For A Few Dollars More is required viewing. No
self-respecting western aficionado can be without it. The 4K easily bests the
old Blu, no slouch either. This set comes very highly recommended!
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
5+
EXTRAS
5+
Comments