"A FEW DOLLARS MORE" - COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH!

I’m getting slightly hooked on these westerns. I really am. I totally see why there is a whole bunch of people out there who watch the old classics ad nauseam. Oh don’t worry; I won’t be subjecting you guys to the same treatment. But a few of the good ones will crop up in the blog now and again. The ones that are good, cinematically relevant you know… I kinda started watching Sergio Leone movies mainly because Quentin Tarantino is a fan (yes, I’m sad. But you see, Quentin Tarantino is a guy I am a MASSIVE fan of so I was curious. Plus Sergio Leone isn’t exactly an obscure character no one has heard of so I wanted to see what the fuss was about). Anyway. I now know what the fuss is about. I will attempt to convey said reasons.

We are, once again in the Wild West. When men were men and only those with sharp wits but even sharper shooting skills could survive. There are many ways you could use your wits and gun to live, and one of them is bounty hunting. And the bounty hunting stakes sky-rocket one fine day, when an infamous bandit and gang leader, Indio, escapes from prison. Munco (Clint Eastwood) and Colonel Douglas Mortimer ( Lee Van Cleef) cross paths and swords (well, guns) when they both start chasing the same man so an uneasy truce is formed between these two lone wolves. But as the chase continues deep into the heart of the desert and loyalties are tested over and over again, one thing begins to become painfully clear: Only one of the bounty hunters is actually after the bounty. The other one has a slightly different agenda ready for Indio.

I am actually pleasantly surprised by these films over and over again. We are – or at least I am – slightly prejudiced into thinking these “old” films are rather simplistic. They don’t have any special effects – but this we already knew – and they don’t have any “depth” in the story. You know, black vs white. Goodies vs Baddies. It HAS to be boring, right? Well, no. Not really.

I mean yes, it’s true, a lot of these films are “black and white”, but this is still often an occurrence, especially in mainstream cinema. It is a plain and simple fact that, for all our snobbery on the matter, we enjoy it. We want to cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys, get all worked up, but deep down know that the goodies WILL prevail in the end. When worded like that, that just sounds like an incredibly boring idea.       But this film appeals straight for our heart strings so cleverly, you just… Get sucked up. Besides, it is not a simple matter of good overcoming bad”. Firstly, this is the Wild West. Everyone is CONSTANTLY double crossing everyone else. You have to be constantly on your toes to follow the shifting alliances and you can never quite guess which way the plot is going to swerve next… Plus, there is the matter of the definition of “good” and “bad”. In this instance, Indio is as bad as bad can be. But the “good”… Well… I mean, to my mind, Clint Eastwood is automatically “good” but is he, here, in this instance? He is, basically, killing people for money. Ok I grant you, they are “bad” people but still. He is dangerously close to being a hired killer. And then there is the fact that he is very clearly quite selfish – in that he is out to protect number one – and ONLY number one. I mean, this being Clint Eastwood, his charisma carries him but still. Oh and by the way, you have NO idea how impressive Clint Eastwood is in a western role until you have seen it. No wonder he never quite drops the act (I mean I’m sorry but it IS true). As for Lee Van Cleef – the archetypal western villain – he seriously gives Mr Eastwood a run for his money as far as charisma goes. And that is really, REALLY saying something.

In short, if you need a whirlwind of cathartic emotion to whisk you away from your day to day troubles, Sergio Leone is your man, again. Highly recommended.