Without doubt among the best of the western genre, Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone's Man With No Name trilogy, the unofficial launch of the "spaggetti western" subgenre, rewrote the rules, using the intangibles of cinematography, Ennio Morricone's haunting scores, and settings to extract engaging storytelling despite the less-than-flawless dubbing of character voices and the cheesy sound effects (the overused gunshot sound is straight out of Warner Brothers cartoons). Combined with exciting shootouts, Leone's trilogy made movie history and remains compelling cinema.
Arguably the best of the Leone trilogy is this second installment, a sequel to A Fistful of Dollars. Contrary to the nickname, Clint Eastwood's character does indeed have a name - identified as Joe in Fistful, here he is identified as Monco. And he also has an equally ruthless and skilled rival in Colonel Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef in his finest performance). Indeed, the theme of the film is the rivalry of the two bounty hunters turning to mutual respect and eventually to teamwork, shown in the climatic showdown with the villianous Indio, a brutal killer (perhaps a bit too brutal for the film's own good) with whom Mortimer has a score to settle, a score that becomes clear in the haunting chimes of the watches owned by both Mortimer and Indio.
Pairing Eastwood and Van Cleef was a good idea even before shooting began, and pairing Joe Monco (The Man With No Name) with Douglas Mortimer proves it with the superb chemistry between the two bounty killers, a chemistry that elevates an engaging story to true masterwork.
Arguably the best of the Leone trilogy is this second installment, a sequel to A Fistful of Dollars. Contrary to the nickname, Clint Eastwood's character does indeed have a name - identified as Joe in Fistful, here he is identified as Monco. And he also has an equally ruthless and skilled rival in Colonel Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef in his finest performance). Indeed, the theme of the film is the rivalry of the two bounty hunters turning to mutual respect and eventually to teamwork, shown in the climatic showdown with the villianous Indio, a brutal killer (perhaps a bit too brutal for the film's own good) with whom Mortimer has a score to settle, a score that becomes clear in the haunting chimes of the watches owned by both Mortimer and Indio.
Pairing Eastwood and Van Cleef was a good idea even before shooting began, and pairing Joe Monco (The Man With No Name) with Douglas Mortimer proves it with the superb chemistry between the two bounty killers, a chemistry that elevates an engaging story to true masterwork.