For A Few Dollars More is another famous movie directed by Sergio Leone. One thing i have noticed is that Leone stick to the basic elements of the classic western. Leone creates a mythological place where a man is a good as his gun skills. The two main characters are obviously great with a gun and exhibit there skills by shooting the hats off of each others heads. Another skill one must have is to be able to make the ennemy think they have the upper hand. In Leone's movies the main character is caught off gaurd but kills them with a hidden weapon.
Clint Eastwood appears again in this movie, like most other Sergio Leone movies, as the unknown good guy out to get the bad guys. Lee Van Cleef also stars in this movie but unlike Eastwood he is out for revenge. Like in other Leone movies there are a group of bandits with faces as dirty as their hearts, who of course are after a large amount of money. Just like in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, there is a huge sum of money that the main characters are after and decide to team up to obtain it. The gun fights and other tense moments are typical Leone scenes with the use of a extreme long shot to close up of the mens faces looking at eachother.
On thing that I don't understand is some of the reoccurring mise-en-scene by Leone. For example, there are sveral scenes that Leone has insects in. Most of the times there is a fly on a mans face. it only happens a couple times but i just can't quite understand it.
4 comments:
Yea i am also not sure about those bug scenes. I couldnt think of anything that they added to the film. One thing that i really liked and thought was funny was the scene where the gunslingers shot eachothers hats off. This scene lasted a good minute and i thought it was very unnessesary. I also was suprised by the hidden gun. It usually isnt in most westurns that i have experienced and it gave the film a neat twist compared to classic westurns.
In Leone's films the main characters usually hide their weapons. Often there will be a scene where the main character will be caught off guard and someone will be pointing a gun at his head. Then you will hear the sound of a gun and the bandit dying followed by a shot of a partially covered revolver. Also about the hat thing, it seems that shooting someone’s hat off is to show their skill to somebody.
Yea, i found that pretty funny while watching the movie. I like the fact that in Leone's films, many characters do have hidden weapons. It makes things much more surprising and shocking. During the scene where the second protagonist uses his hidden gun, i was worried that he may die. He was being held at gun point and we see that the antagonist took his main gun. It was a very interesting choice and it put a upward spiral on the entire movie.
Another thing i have come to admire about Leone's movies is how he uses composition in all his shots. He uses hot spots, framing, leading lines and other techniques to draw the attention of the view to the subjects. For example, when characters come into buildings the door usually frames them along with an arch in the building. Also at the train station the ticket booth window frames the cashier.
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