Well almost no one mentions it, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE is my favorite of the trilogy, cuz it contains the most complex characters. Of the three films only the first focus is on Eastwood's character the man with no name. And The Good The bad and The ugly the movie focuses on tuco played by Eli wallach. In both of those two films The villains are pretty much stuck though John Maria volante doesn't tremendous job in fistful of dollars. He almost steals movie from Clint Eastwood. However, in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, entertaining as he is, Eastwood the man with no name is mostly along for the ride as volante and Van Cleef struggle for control of the movie.It's a marvel to watch!

While the movie isn't the greatest, John Wayne's best performance is in, undeniably in harm's Way IN HARM'S WAY, because Wayne and Patricia Neal kept that rambling film together for nearly 3 hours, overshadowing every other major start it appeared and there were a lot of them. 9

What is especially sad about RIO LOBO is that it didn't have to be a bad movie. All of RIO LOBOS numerous flaws are easily correctable! First, except for Wayne and Sherry Lansing (future president of Paramount Pictures), The movie was poorly cast. Chris Mitchum is wooden, Jorge Luke is incomprehensible, Jack Elam is cartoonish, Jennifer O'Neal is petulant and both Victor French and Mike Henry are insipid, stock villains. For some inexplicable reason, Howard Hawks failed to shoot or insert key scenes, such as introducing Victor French in the beginning of the movie, inserting scenes with both French and Mike Henry throughout the film and leaving Sherry Lansing's mutilation off camera. Jerry Goldsmith's score is the worst of his career, totally forgettable. Just imagine what Elmer Bernstein (THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE COMANCHEROS and THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER) could have done with it. Or, perhaps, Ennio Morricone (FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY). If Hawks had made EITHER of those choices, RIO LOBO would have been THE BEST OF THE TRILOGY, rather than the WORST. After all, RIO LOBO has the strongest story.

By far, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. Van Cleef was reduced to a stock villain in THE GOOD, THE BAD &THE UGLY. While Van Cleef made the most of the character "Angel Eyes" (as blue-eyed Henry Fonda was originally offered the role), there is none of the complexity to the character that Van Cleef showcase to maximum effort has Colonel Douglas Mortimer. Mortimer is much better written; and his motives are kept hidden until the final moments of the movie. FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE One of the best psychological westerns ever made.

I love so many Wayne films, I would hate to single one out. However, my favorite Wayne performance, by far, is Wayne as iral.Rockwell Torrey.in IN HARMS WAY. Wayne doesn't shoot a gun or throw a punch, but he and Patricia Neal dominate that movie in a way I had never before or since seen in my 70+ years of watching movies.

Even more remarkable is that Wayne actually if only appears in about 19 minutes of the entire movie! It is also only one of two Wayne films which he refers to anyone as "Pilgrim," the other being "McClintock!"