The Legend of Clint Eastwood
For a Few Dollars More, 1965
United Artists, the American distributor that picked up A Fistful of Dollars, wanted viewers to think the Leone Westerns were American, though Eastwood was the only Yank on the set. For a Few Dollars More might be the most honest title ever slapped on a sequel, but Leone had higher artistic ambitions; with each film the series got richer, in drama and visual style as well as at the box office. This time, Eastwood and costar Gian Maria Volonte (renamed Johnny Wels for American audiences) are joined by Lee Van Cleef, a Hollywood also-ran who became a star in Italy. Van Cleef plays an Army officer out for righteous revenge; Clint kills because the corpses of bad guys fetch a high price. When the townspeople make him sheriff, he asks about the pay, hears it's low, removes his badge and says, "I think you people need a new sheriff."