How a rushed nine-day script became a defining masterpiece of the spaghetti Western genre

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 · Updated 25 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Sergio Leone’s 1965 sequel to A Fistful of Dollars was written in just nine days and initially dismissed by critics as a violent cliché. Yet, it transformed the cinematic image of the bounty hunter from a social pariah into a figure of complex, heroic respectability, eventually earning $25.5 million worldwide.

The production of For a Few Dollars More was a gamble from the start. Clint Eastwood, hesitant to commit to a second film without seeing the first, only agreed after viewing a raw Italian-language print. With Charles Bronson declining the role, Lee Van Cleef stepped in, earning $17,000 compared to Eastwood’s $50,000. Screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni completed the script in nine days, though director Sergio Leone later brought in Sergio Donati to refine the dialogue. The film was shot entirely without live sound, requiring the actors to dub their lines later in Italy; notably, Van Cleef chose to retain his native New Jersey accent rather than adopt the Southern drawl suggested by his character's backstory.

The film’s technical innovation relied heavily on Ennio Morricone’s score. Leone often directed scenes to music played on set, integrating the soundtrack as a diegetic element—most famously through the recurring motif of a musical pocket watch. This watch serves as the psychological anchor for the villain, El Indio, and his antagonist, Colonel Mortimer. The narrative follows these two bounty hunters as they form an uneasy alliance to track Indio, a cold-blooded criminal haunted by a past atrocity. The tension culminates in a final, rhythmic showdown where the watch’s melody dictates the timing of the fatal shots.

While contemporary critics like Bosley Crowther condemned the film for its perceived glorification of violence, its legacy has shifted dramatically. Modern assessments, including a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, highlight its stylistic elegance and narrative compression. Historian Richard Schickel famously argued that it stands as the strongest entry in the Dollars Trilogy, surpassing its predecessor in complexity. Beyond its critical reappraisal, the film left a physical mark on cinema history: the set built in the Almería desert remains a tourist attraction today, serving as a testament to the enduring impact of this international co-production.

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