The reason why this is my favourite in the trilogy ...
Not only do I find it the most enjoyable in the trilogy by a wide margin,but it's the only one in the trilogy where you can create your own scenarios in the different events or situations that occur.
For instance,Indio has obviously raped and caused Mortimer's sister's death.But we never know if his sister knew Indio personally.He knew Mortimer by name when he shouted out to him.So Indio could have just broken in one night,and after the events found out her surname.Or it's strongly implied that it may have been a woman he was stalking for a long time.Or it could have been a woman that he was actually with,and she broke up with him after finding out what kind of man he was.Did Mortimer and Indio actually know each other but Indio didn't recognise him because he'd aged?
In the bank robbery sequence where Manco and Mortimer are waiting.Both men are still distrusting of each other at this point.Would Mortimer let Manco kill Indio? Does Mortimer want his revenge right then and there? Is Manco hoping to capture or kill them here himself.Or is he actually hoping they'll rob the bank successfully,so the gang's reward will go up?
The scene where Manco breaks into the storage room late at night,and Mortimer has already beaten him to the money.Was Manco planning on leaving Mortimer high and dry here? He tried to trick him once by getting Indio to go in a different direction,and then Mortimer surprised him by turning up,and then telling Indio he knows about the money,and cracking the safe open.Was Manco going to just hide the money and join the gang again?Or take off with the money and forget about taking down the gang? Or was he going to take the money to Mortimer and get ready to take down the gang with him?
Indio's revelation that he knew Manco was a bounty hunter all along.Is he just saying that or did he actually know? Was he always planning on using him to let him take out his men so that he could get away with the money.Or maybe he planned on using him as a scapegoat for when he started picking his men off himself.Or maybe because of his self destructive and psychotic personality he just liked living on the edge,and liked the danger of having a bounty killer in the gang to see what happened.After the robbery,he does seem lacking in motivation,and just general interest in anything.
Manco riding off with the money at the end.Will he keep it all or not? A million dollars plus 27'000 in the 1800's would have been a ridiculous amount of money.He might be greedy,or he might think 27'000 plus the extra for the return of the money would be a nice sum for his settling down.If he intends to at all,he seems like someone who's just happy to have money in his pocket and keep drifting.Maybe his future is destined to be just like Mortimer.An ageing gunslinger.
Sorry for rambling on,it wasn't supposed to be an in-depth analysis over what is really a dark-humoured spaghetti western.But I love this film and this is another reason why.Whereas most of the situations in A Fistful Of Dollars,and The Good,The Bad,and The Ugly are just presented to you at face value,with this film you can create your own intepretations of the characters motivations,and situations,and IMO there's no right or wrong answer.
What does everyone else think?