For A Few Dollars More

Sergio Leone takes the signature elements including Ennio Morricone's musical punCtuation, and ramps them up to the point of self-parody in this overlong sequel to A Fistful of Dollars (1964) . Somewhat confusingly, he also revives some of the players that Clint Eastwood taciturn protagonist had put down in the earlier film, notably Gian Maria Volonté, who once again plays the principal baddie.

It's more of the same and with a running time of over two hours, a lot more, but on the upside Leone introduces Lee Van Cleef as a super-cool, black-garbed gunslinger (one of many in the history of the genre), who adds interest to the plot and provides a welcome antidote to the grimacing antics of the gaggle of greasy cretins who we know are about to get plugged. Klaus Kinski, who was also to appear in other copy-cat spaghetti westerns, appears, all madly staring eyes and nervous tics, in a humiliating role as a hunchback loser.

 

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