For a Few Dollars More (1965)

Two bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a Western outlaw.

Director:

Sergio Leone

Writers:

Sergio Leone (scenario), Fulvio Morsella (scenario)

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè

Top Rated Movies #107 | 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Monco
Lee Van Cleef	...	Col. Douglas Mortimer
Gian Maria Volontè	...	El Indio (The Indian)
Mario Brega	...	Nino, Member of Indio's Gang
Luigi Pistilli	...	Groggy, Member of Indio's Gang
Aldo Sambrell	...	Cuchillio
Klaus Kinski	...	Juan Wild - The Hunchback
Benito Stefanelli	...	Luke 'Hughie'
Luis Rodríguez	...	Manuel, Member of Indio's Gang (as Luis Rodriguez)
Panos Papadopulos	...	Sancho Perez, Member of Indio's Gang (as Panos Papadopoulos)
Mara Krupp	...	Mary - Hotel Manager's Beautiful Wife (as Mara Krup)
Roberto Camardiel	...	Tucumcari station clerk (as Robert Camardiel)
Joseph Egger	...	Old Prophet (as Josef Egger)
Tomás Blanco	...	Tucumcari sheriff (as Tomas Blanco)
Lorenzo Robledo	...	Tomaso, Indio's Traitor

Storyline

Manco is a bounty killer chasing El Indio and his gang. During his hunting, he meets Col. Douglas Mortimer, another bounty killer, and they decide to make a partnership, chase the bad guys together and split the reward. During their enterprise, there will be lots of bullets and funny situations. In the end, one of the bounty hunters shows the real intention of his hunting.

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Plot Keywords:

mexico | shoulder holster | new mexico desert | alamogordo new mexico | arizona desert | 

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Taglines:

The man with no name is back... The man in black is waiting! As if one wasn't enough . . . as if death needed a double!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy Spain West Germany

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

10 May 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

For a Few Dollars More

Filming Locations:

Desierto de Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$600,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$15,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Produzioni Europee Associate (PEA), Arturo González Producciones Cinematográficas, Constantin Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The bank manager of El Paso was played by Carlo Simi, who was the set designer on the film. He was dubbed with a very English accent for the International release.

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Goofs

During the opening credits, the smoke from the rifle comes well before the shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Train Conductor: Tickets. Tickets, please. Tickets. Tickets. Thank you. Tickets.
Col. Douglas Mortimer: Is this part of Tucumcari?
Train Conductor: We should pass there in about 3 to 4 minutes.
Col. Douglas Mortimer: Thanks.
Carpetbagger on Train: Well, eh, excuse me, but you made a mistake, Reverend. I couldn't help hearing you're going to Tucumcari. I sell goods around here, and I gotta tell you, you're on the wrong train. I think the nearest stop to Tucumcari is Amarillo. By getting off at Santa Fe and returning by way of Amarillo, you should be able to get right where... you're....
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The title credits disappear as if being shot by a gun.

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Alternate Versions

The British cinema release version was cut by the BBFC to shorten the beating scene after a few punches, and to completely remove the second flashback sequence where Mortimer's sister shoots herself to avoid a possible rape. Although all UK video and original DVD releases contained these scenes the 2005 Special Edition DVD was missing around 20 secs from the beating (which ends abruptly and without the dialogue exchange between Indio and Groggy).

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movie Fights in Nightclubs and Bars (2014)

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Soundtracks

Indio's Flashback Pt. 2
(uncredited)
Composed by Ennio Morricone

User Reviews

One of my favorite westerns- a fitting middle section to the "Dollars" trilogy

As the second of the three films legendary filmmaker Sergio Leone collaborated on with Clint Eastwood (not to mention his first with Lee Van Cleef and his second with 'Fistful' actor Gian Maria Volonte), For a Few Dollars More gets well earned respect from the fans of the director and the groundbreaking star. And yet, occasionally there are those who'll not even know this film from Leone and Clint exists since it does sometimes get under the shadow of their two most infamous works, Fistful of Dollars (which for the most part introduced Clint and Leone to the public's awareness) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (which solidified Clint as a Western icon and gave Leone a similar status for film buffs). But taken as a film unto itself, aside from its place in the trilogy, this is a Western that simply delivers the goods, and it does so with a spectacular marriage of style and substance.

The story begins by introducing our two (anti) heroes, bounty hunters Douglas Mortimer (Cleef), former Colonel, and Monco (Eastwood), a drifter. They both set their sights on the leader of a gang of bandits named Indio (Volonte), who is plotting to go after over a million locked in a bank in El Paso. At first, Monco and Mortimer seem like their after Indio for the same reason- reward money- though there seems to be more than each man counted on with him and his gang.

From the opening scenes with Cleef and Eastwood, to the scenes in El Paso, and then into the set pieces in the stone ruins in the Mexico desert(s), For a Few Dollars More displays the utmost skill by Leone in his storytelling, as well as in his use of the camera. Using Fistful's camera-man Massimo Dallamano, Leone does what he does best in his spaghetti westerns- he creates a perfectly in sync mood with his characters: each look in a scene, whether it's intense waiting for guns to be drawn, or just regular conversation, the look of the film draws the viewer in without over-doing it. Some points are made bold or repetitious (like Ennio Morricone's score, that keeps its whistling theme and serene watch theme completely in check), though it's not done to any degree of annoyance or by accident.

In fact, that's what makes his westerns such fun, is that you take them seriously as films, yet he always reminds you that it's all in the 'movie-world' just by the way Mortimer or Monco strikes up a match. As for the actors themselves, Eastwood and Cleef are total pros in this genre, so ever line of dialog comes out naturally, and the supporting actors (however dubbed over from original Italian) all contribute great notes as well. At the least, it can appeal to a new generation of kids looking back to older movies, which may look at this and consider it more modernly crafted than a John Ford oldie. A+