10. For a Few Dollars More
09. Pulp Fiction
08. Before Sunset
07. The Big Lebowski
06. Shaun of the Dead
05. The Silence of the Lambs
04. The Godfather: Part II
03. Once Upon a Time in the West
02. Army of Darkness
01. The Godfather
Tagarchief: For a Few Dollars More
Great Movie Openings…..
For a Few Dollars More
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè
Music: Ennio Morricone
A Bullet for the General
Director: Damiano Damiani
Written by: Salvatore Laurani (story), Franco Solinas (adaptation)
Cast: Gian Maria Volonté, Klaus Kinski, Martine Beswick, Lou Castel
Year / Country: 1966, Italy
Running Time: 113 mins.
Zapata Westerns are a subgenre of the Spaghetti Western. They deal with political themes and play against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution between around 1910 and 1920, the years of the famous Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, after whom the genre is named. Famous examples include; Sergio Curbucci’s Companeros and The Mercenary, and Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dynamite. A Bullet for the General is an early contribution to the genre and is regarded as one of the best.
It deals with a group of cutthroat bandits, led by El Chuncho (Volonté). Their job is to steal guns for the revolutionary general Elias. During a violent train raid, they pick up young American Tate (Castel), who they take along with them as a welcome addition to their crew. What they don’t know is that Tate is secretly an assassin hired by the Mexican government to kill Elias with the golden bullet he carries with him.
Starring two actors familiar in the Spaghetti Western genre, namely the man with the characteristic laugh Gian Maria Volonté (Ramón Rojo in A Fistful of Dollars and El Indio in For a Few Dollars More) and, Klaus Kinski (The Great Silence, and also For a Few Dollars More), it became extremely popular in Europe, though butchered for both political and content reasons in overseas markets. The film makes many references to the Vietnam War. The character Tate for example is meant to represent the CIA’s interventions in Latin America.
A Bullet for the General is a fiesta with guns. Composer Luis Enriquez Bacalov (Django, Il Postino, Kill Bill) has provided a cheerful musical score, while El Chuncho and his bandits kill more Mexicans than the Wild Bunch. This is how a revolution works; misery and death contrast with joy and celebration. It is only difficult to sympathise with these hard characters. My general thought during the movie was therefore; ‘so, let’s kill this general and get it over with.’ A lot was made up by the excellent action and production design, and the final scene also delivers some heartfelt (and needed) emotion.
Rating:
Biography: Damiano Damiani (1922, Pasiano, Italy) is an Italian screenwriter, director and actor. He won awards for several of his films, such as the Mafia drama The Pizza Connection. In the eighties he also made the renowned mini-series La Piovra (The Octopus) about a prosecutor’s battle with the Mafia. This successful series ran for eight series on RAI Uno and turned out to be one of Italy’s best selling series abroad.
Filmography (a selection): The Hit Man (1960), Lipstick (1960), The Empty Canvas (1963), Strange Obsession (1966), A Bullet for the General (1966), The Day of the Owl (1968), The Most Beautiful Wife (1970), How to Kill a Judge (1974), A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (1975), Goodbye and Amen (1977), A Man on His Knees (1978), The Warning (1980), The Octopus (1984, mini-series), The Pizza Connection (1985), The Inquiry (1986), Massacre Play (1989), Angel With a Gun (1992), Killers on Holiday (2002)
For a Few Dollars More
Director: Sergio Leone
Written by: Fulvio Morsella, Sergio Leone, Luciano Vincenzoni
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè
Year / Country: 1965, Italy, Spain, West Germany
Running Time: 126 mins.
A credit sequence can make or break a movie, and I’ve always loved the one that opens For a Few Dollars More. A lone rider approaches in an extreme long shot. Suddenly, a rifle cracks, the rider falls, and the horse gallops off. Then Ennio Morricone’s score bursts in, and the credits roll. Simple, yet brilliant.
Next, a title card appears: “Where life had no value, death, sometimes, had its price. That is why the bounty killers appeared.” In the first half hour, we’re introduced to the film’s three central figures. Colonel Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) and Monco (Clint Eastwood) are rival bounty hunters who form an uneasy alliance to take down the deranged bandit El Indio (Gian Maria Volontè).
This second installment in Sergio Leone’s world-famous ‘Dollars Trilogy’ is a tense, action-packed rollercoaster. Just one year after the excellent A Fistful of Dollars, Leone delivers an even more stylish and accomplished Western. It’s also the funniest film of his career.
The decision to cast Lee Van Cleef as Eastwood’s ultra-cool counterpart was inspired. Few actors could match Eastwood’s screen presence, but Van Cleef not only holds his own, he arguably matches him in sheer badassery. Volontè, already a memorable villain in A Fistful of Dollars, turns in an even more manic, menacing performance here. His gang of outlaws, including a wonderfully twitchy Klaus Kinski, adds further flavor to the mix.
If the film has a flaw, it’s that its pacing is occasionally uneven. Some sequences, like the El Paso bank heist, drag a bit. But this is a minor gripe in a film overflowing with memorable moments, sharp dialogue, and unforgettable characters. Leone’s blend of style, suspense, and morbid humor has rarely been better.
And the ending – well, no spoilers – but suffice to say, it’s one of those perfectly twisted moments that’s sure to leave a massive grin on your face.
Rating:
Biography: Sergio Leone (1929, Rome – 1989, Rome) made his debut in the cinema working as a voluntary assistant and extra, among other things, in The Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio de Sica. Later, he became assistant director to Mario Bonnard. In 1959, when Bonnard was ill, he took over from him on the set of The Last Days of Pompeii. In 1961 he directed his first full-length film: The Colossus of Rhodes. But the film that was to bring him to the general attention came out in 1964: A Fistful of Dollars. His next films, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly complete what came to be known as the Dollars Trilogy and were a great box-office success. He would only make three more films before tragically passing away in 1989. He was taken from us by a heart attack in his house in Rome, while working on an ambitious project for a film on the Siege of Leningrad.
Filmography: The Colossus of Rhodes (1961), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), A Fistful of Dynamite (1971), Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
FRAGMENTEN UIT HET SCHEMERLAND 