The film begins as you see Lee Van Cleef tracking down and killing wanted men. He is so cold, calculating and non-emotional that he is perhaps one of the creepiest heroes in Westerns. Then, the action switches to Eastwood--doing pretty much the same thing, though with a bit more bravado and a little less menace. Both men are bounty hunters and apparently are nearly unstoppable. Then, the film switches to a prison break, where "El Loco" is being extracted as his gang wipes out almost everyone in the prison.
Well, El Loco has a $10,000 bounty and each of his men have bounties as well, so both Van Cleef and Eastwood head to El Paso, as they assume his gang can't resist attacking the richest bank in the West. However, shortly after our bounty hunters arrive, they discover the other is there for the same reason. So, instead of killing each other (which it sure looks like they might do), they decide to team up and split the reward money. However, down deep they both seem pretty foolish as they seem to want to take on the murderous gang alone and not split the money! The plan is for Eastwood to infiltrate the gang while Van Cleef attacks. This seems reasonable, as one of the gang members (the ever-handsome Klaus Kinski) knows Van Cleef. To infiltrate them, Eastwood "stretches the law a bit" by breaking one of El Loco's buddy's out of prison. Because they seem to trust him, Eastwood is sent with a few guys to divert the El Paso authorities to a fake robbery in another town. Eastwood does this but then kills the gang members with him. You see, Eastwood doesn't want the sheriff and his men on hand to get the reward! Unfortunately, the robbery does NOT occur the way Van Cleef and Easatwood reason it would, and El Loco and the surviving gang members escape with the money. It's actually nice to see this because up until now, the two have looked invincible. So, Eastwood re-joins the gang and Van Cleef follows. Once again, it seems very uncertain if these two really are a team or out to trick the other out of the reward. It's obvious that Eastwood's sole motivator is money, whereas Van Cleef's is only revealed at the end of the film.
Eastwood AND Van Cleef both infiltrate the gang (after Van Cleef kills Kinski to prevent him from talking). All seems to be going well and the two guys are waiting for their chance to pick them off one by one and return the stolen money to El Paso. However, it turns out that the incredibly sadistic El Loco is quite the schemer and knows the two are bounty hunters. So, the gang beats the stuffing out of the duo (though only a short time later they look just fine!) and tie them up and place a guard on them. However, El Loco is a major jerk and plans on killing off most of the gang and keeping the money for himself. So, he arranges for Eastwood and Van Cleef's escape (this is a really DUMB plan and a big shortcoming in the story). He reasons that the gang and the bounty hunters will wipe each other out as El Loco and his friend escape with the dough.
Unfortunately for El Loco, the gang is quickly wiped out and he is face-to-face with Van Cleef at the end of the film. Van Cleef shoots him but the wound is not fatal and El Loco's shot knocks away Van Cleef's gun! This leads to El Loco's trademark--he has a shoot out with his opponent which is to begin the second his pocket watch stops playing music. Well, just before the music stops, Eastwood shows up and saves Van Cleef's life--allowing him to retrieve his gun. It turns out Van Cleef had an identical watch to El Loco's because many years earlier El Loco had murdered Van Cleef's sister and brother-in-law! So, Eastwood being a cool guy and all, lets Van Cleef have the honor of killing El Loco in the gun fight. Van Cleef is so thrilled that Eastwood gave him a chance for revenge that he decides that he doesn't want the money and tells Eastwood he can have all the reward money. The final shot is of Eastwood stacking up all the MANY bodies and figuring how much money he will have earned. The dollar amount isn't quite right and he quickly spins around to waste the one surviving bad guy who just came out of hiding--telling Van Cleef he must have either miscounted or forgot to kill one of them!
Now that I've given a pretty thorough overview of the film, let's talk about what I liked. The music is classic spaghetti Western music--over-the-top and really, really cool! The villains are pure evil and fun to watch. The good guys are also pretty scary and fun to watch. But what I liked most about the film was its sense of humor (despite being a very violent film). The scene where Eastwood is talking to the crazy old man in the shack is wonderful and so are several little vignettes spaced throughout the film. The not-quite-a-prequel to this film, A FIST FULL OF DOLLARS was based on Kurosawa's Yogimbo and Sanjuro--and in this film, humor was also occasionally used to break the violence and tension extremely well.
One final note is about the performances of Klaus Kinski and Van Cleef. I was absolutely amazed at Kinski's facial expressions--as he was able to make his face tick violently when he was scared. This was amazing and I doubt many people could do this. As for Van Cleef, I really think he stole the show in the film despite Eastwood being so strongly associated with the film. He was truly menacing and the focal point for much of the film.
Well, El Loco has a $10,000 bounty and each of his men have bounties as well, so both Van Cleef and Eastwood head to El Paso, as they assume his gang can't resist attacking the richest bank in the West. However, shortly after our bounty hunters arrive, they discover the other is there for the same reason. So, instead of killing each other (which it sure looks like they might do), they decide to team up and split the reward money. However, down deep they both seem pretty foolish as they seem to want to take on the murderous gang alone and not split the money! The plan is for Eastwood to infiltrate the gang while Van Cleef attacks. This seems reasonable, as one of the gang members (the ever-handsome Klaus Kinski) knows Van Cleef. To infiltrate them, Eastwood "stretches the law a bit" by breaking one of El Loco's buddy's out of prison. Because they seem to trust him, Eastwood is sent with a few guys to divert the El Paso authorities to a fake robbery in another town. Eastwood does this but then kills the gang members with him. You see, Eastwood doesn't want the sheriff and his men on hand to get the reward! Unfortunately, the robbery does NOT occur the way Van Cleef and Easatwood reason it would, and El Loco and the surviving gang members escape with the money. It's actually nice to see this because up until now, the two have looked invincible. So, Eastwood re-joins the gang and Van Cleef follows. Once again, it seems very uncertain if these two really are a team or out to trick the other out of the reward. It's obvious that Eastwood's sole motivator is money, whereas Van Cleef's is only revealed at the end of the film.
Eastwood AND Van Cleef both infiltrate the gang (after Van Cleef kills Kinski to prevent him from talking). All seems to be going well and the two guys are waiting for their chance to pick them off one by one and return the stolen money to El Paso. However, it turns out that the incredibly sadistic El Loco is quite the schemer and knows the two are bounty hunters. So, the gang beats the stuffing out of the duo (though only a short time later they look just fine!) and tie them up and place a guard on them. However, El Loco is a major jerk and plans on killing off most of the gang and keeping the money for himself. So, he arranges for Eastwood and Van Cleef's escape (this is a really DUMB plan and a big shortcoming in the story). He reasons that the gang and the bounty hunters will wipe each other out as El Loco and his friend escape with the dough.
Unfortunately for El Loco, the gang is quickly wiped out and he is face-to-face with Van Cleef at the end of the film. Van Cleef shoots him but the wound is not fatal and El Loco's shot knocks away Van Cleef's gun! This leads to El Loco's trademark--he has a shoot out with his opponent which is to begin the second his pocket watch stops playing music. Well, just before the music stops, Eastwood shows up and saves Van Cleef's life--allowing him to retrieve his gun. It turns out Van Cleef had an identical watch to El Loco's because many years earlier El Loco had murdered Van Cleef's sister and brother-in-law! So, Eastwood being a cool guy and all, lets Van Cleef have the honor of killing El Loco in the gun fight. Van Cleef is so thrilled that Eastwood gave him a chance for revenge that he decides that he doesn't want the money and tells Eastwood he can have all the reward money. The final shot is of Eastwood stacking up all the MANY bodies and figuring how much money he will have earned. The dollar amount isn't quite right and he quickly spins around to waste the one surviving bad guy who just came out of hiding--telling Van Cleef he must have either miscounted or forgot to kill one of them!
Now that I've given a pretty thorough overview of the film, let's talk about what I liked. The music is classic spaghetti Western music--over-the-top and really, really cool! The villains are pure evil and fun to watch. The good guys are also pretty scary and fun to watch. But what I liked most about the film was its sense of humor (despite being a very violent film). The scene where Eastwood is talking to the crazy old man in the shack is wonderful and so are several little vignettes spaced throughout the film. The not-quite-a-prequel to this film, A FIST FULL OF DOLLARS was based on Kurosawa's Yogimbo and Sanjuro--and in this film, humor was also occasionally used to break the violence and tension extremely well.
One final note is about the performances of Klaus Kinski and Van Cleef. I was absolutely amazed at Kinski's facial expressions--as he was able to make his face tick violently when he was scared. This was amazing and I doubt many people could do this. As for Van Cleef, I really think he stole the show in the film despite Eastwood being so strongly associated with the film. He was truly menacing and the focal point for much of the film.