A complex gestation: based in fact on an (uncredited) treatment by Enzo dell'Aquila and Fernando Di Leo called 'The Bounty Killer', then adapted by Leone and Fulvio Morsella, then scripted by Luciano Vincenzoni, with some polishes (such as the great joke at the end where the bounty on all the dead bandits doesn't add up) from Sergio Donati. Apparently the film also borrows from westerns Leone was familiar with such as The Bravados, The Bounty Hunter and The Tin Star. Influential on later films - the flashback device anticipates Giu La Testa, the revenge story comes into Once Upon A Time in the West, the final circular duel foreshadows the ending of The Good the Bad and the Ugly.
Assistant director Tonino Valerii went on to direct My Name is Nobody, editors are Eugenio Alabiso, Giorgio Serrallonga, more great deep focus photography from Massimo Dallamano. (Yes, the credits are all using their proper Italian names on this one.)
Leone had again tried to get Henry Fonda and James Coburn and Charles Bronson (he did in the end, of course), almost got Lee Marvin who cancelled at the last minute. Lee Van Cleef had been badly injured in a car accident and had given up acting when offered the part - he had to delay for two days whilst finishing painting a house! He had some difficulties on set, couldn't run, could ride only a very tame horse, and was seen self-medicating many an evening in the hotel bar. Being 40 he wasn't that much older than Clint, so the 'Old man' / 'Kid' repartee doesn't really work. Gian Maria Volonte is good as dope-smoking villain (the first in a mainstream film).
It's also funny from the opening scene; the kid who demands money, the man thrown out of his hotel room, the ending, the duel between Eastwood and Van Cleef - when Clint's hat is bobbing up and down in the air it made me think of René Clair, I'm not quite sure why - something to do with Entr'acte? I think the biggest laugh I had was in the extended pocket-watch scene with the man who betrayed Indio - it's very protracted but then goes into a massive church organ passage - it's so over the top I found that hilarious. Ironic use of interesting instruments - the single twang of the Sicilian maranzano (Jew's harp') as a quirky commentary. Quite irreligious in the way Indio 'preaches' to his gang from the pulpit of a church. Loved the scene with the old man (Joseph Egger) who's house is dangerously close to the railroad - Clint here displaying a nice line in bemusement. His character is essentially a little more human than in the previous film. His salary of $15,000 had risen to $50,000, and the film's bigger budget shows in the interior designs (by Carlo Simi again) and the creation of an entire town in Almeria.
With Luigi Pistilli, Klaus Kinski, Luis Rodriguez, Mara Krupp, Mario Brega.
It was the biggest hit in Italy up until then and held the record until 1971, when it was topped by the first Terence Hill / Bud Spencer Trinity film (I think - it's just a jotting - don't actually quote me on any of this shit. Actually most of the above information comes from Christopher Frayling's extraordinarily detailed and well researched book 'Something To Do With Death' - a must for any Leone fans.) Also an interesting Nick Fun Fact that Sergio's wife Carla was often on set trying to smooth potential bust ups between the crew.
P.S. Why isn't it Per Qualche DOLLARI in Più?
RT: 130 mins.
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