Trama

Two bounty killers with similar intentions but different motivations team up to track down a psychotic Mexican outlaw before he and his gang can carry out an audacious bank robbery.

With his reputation preceding him after a white-knuckle duel eighteen months ago, a taciturn American bounty hunter rides into the godforsaken town of Tucumcari. After all, nothing can stop him--this time, the solitary stranger is after El Indio, a psychopathic bandit leader bent on destruction and mayhem. But the sadistic outlaw and his murderous jackals have already set their sights on robbing the impenetrable Bank of El Paso. As a result, the poncho-clad Americano has no choice but to break an unwritten personal rule: join forces with Colonel Douglas Mortimer, a hawk-eyed marksman with a hidden agenda. Now, two seasoned hunters, The Man with No Name and The Man in Black, are after the same prey. And as silent double-crosses and fragile allegiances pave the way for a bloody showdown at high noon, a question arises. Once, the nameless American risked life and limb for a fistful of dollars. Is it worth dicing with death for a few dollars more?—Nick Riganas

Eastwood (marketed as the Man with No Name) and Van Cleef (as Colonel Douglas Mortimer and marketed as the "Man in Black") portray two bounty hunters in pursuit of "El Indio" (Gian Maria Volonte), one of the most wanted fugitives in the western territories, and his gang (one of whom is played by Kinski). Indio is a ruthless, intelligent man. He has a musical pocket watch that he plays before engaging in gun duels. "When the chimes finish, begin," he says. Flashbacks reveal that the watch originates from a young woman (Rosemary Dexter), who killed herself while being sexually assaulted by Indio after he had found her with her lover (in Joe Millard's novelization of the film, the young man is her newly-wed husband) and killed him. The watch bears a photo of the woman and was presented as a gift by the young man before being killed.

The film begins with Colonel Mortimer (Cleef) illegally stopping a train in Tucumcari, and soon after collecting a bounty of $1,000 on Guy Calloway (Jose Terron). Mortimer's gun-slinging skill is displayed as he easily kills him from long distance. After collecting the bounty, he inquiries about Red "Baby" Cavanagh (José Marco), who has a $2,000 bounty, and was last seen in White Rocks.

Mortimer is told that Cavanagh has already been targeted by Eastwood's character, who is referred to as "Manco" (meaning one-armed in Spanish see below for an explanation). We see Manco ride into town and track down Cavanagh at a saloon playing five-card draw poker. Manco kills him and his men and takes the bounty. Eventually, the two bounty hunters, after learning about each other from different sources, meet in El Paso and, after butting heads, decide to team up to take down Indio and his gang.

Indio's primary goal is to rob the Bank of El Paso and its disguised safe containing "almost a million dollars." Mortimer persuades a reluctant Manco to join Indio's gang during the robbery in order to "get him between two fires." Manco is offered membership in the gang after rescuing one of Indio's friends from prison.

When Indio robs the bank, he brings the gang and the money to the small border town of Agua Caliente, where Mortimer reunites with Manco. The hunchback Wild (Klaus Kinski) recognizes the Colonel from a previous encounter in which the Colonel had deliberately insulted him and forces a showdown in which he is killed by the Colonel. The Colonel then proves his worth to Indio by cracking open the safe without using explosives, but Indio states his intention to wait a month if necessary to allow the furor over the bank robbery to die down and locks the money away in a chest in the treasure room.

Manco and the Colonel meet in the treasure room and plan to steal the bank money from Indio. The Colonel had already taken the money out of the chest earlier and now locks it again with his special ability to open and lock locks without keys. When they leave the treasure room by roof (because the door is locked) they realize that the bandits are outside waiting for them, knowing that Monco is actually a bounty killer, and that the Colonel is his cooperator. Just before Manco jumps down, he throws the bag with the money in a tree unnoticed. When Manco and the Colonel have climbed down, Indio's band severely beat them. Afterwards, Indio finds out that chest is still locked, which makes him believe that Monco and the Colonel never stole the money.

Later that night, Indio's right-hand man Nino (Mario Brega), on orders from Indio, kills the guard of Monco and the Colonel and releases them. Indio informs his gang that they "got away," and sends them after the escaped bounty hunters. He intends to kill off his gang with the bounty killers while he and Nino take all the loot for themselves. However, the smarter Groggy (Luigi Pistilli) figures out what Indio is up to and kills Nino. Before he can kill Indio, he finds that the Colonel has already removed the stolen money from the chest. Indio convinces Groggy to join forces with him to trap the bounty-killers.

The next morning, Manco and Mortimer shoot down the gang, one by one, in the streets of the town. Standing alone, Mortimer shoots Groggy when the outlaw tries to run for it, but then has his gun shot out of his hand by Indio, who then takes out his pocket watch and begins playing it. As the chimes nears the end, Manco suddenly appears with an identical pocket watch, playing the same tune as Indio's, which Mortimer realizes had been taken from him earlier. As this happens, Manco holds a Henry rifle on Indio and gives his gun belt and pistol to Mortimer, evening the odds. "Now we start," Manco announces and sits while Mortimer and Indio face off. During the standoff, Manco looks down at the pocket watch and sees the same picture of the woman Indio had sexually assaulted. The music finishes, and Mortimer outdraws and guns down Indio.

At this juncture, Mortimer takes Indio's pocket watch. Manco gives him back the other watch and remarks on a family resemblance; the Colonel replies, "Naturally, between brother and sister," indicating that the young woman's portrait was that of Mortimer's sister. His revenge complete, he decides to take no part of the bounty. As Manco tosses the last of the bodies into a wagon and counts them by the reward for each one, he realizes he is short of the $27,000 total, and spins around to gun down Groggy who had survived and waited in ambush. As he leaves, he takes the bag with the bank money out of the tree, though it is not clear whether he intends to return it. He then rides off into the distance with his horse towing the wagon full of the lifeless bodies of the entire gang.