Long before either the Zucker brothers or the Wayans brothers forged brilliant parodies of popular movies, the Corbucci brothers Bruno and Sergio poked fun at the classic Sergio Leone Spaghetti western shoot'em up "For A Few Dollars More" with their own sagebrush send-up "For a Few Dollars Less." "Hercules in the Valley of Woe" director Mario Mattoli directed this amusing knock-off with a nimble touch and an eye for sight gags a year after the release of Leone's film. Of course, "For a Few Dollars Less" cannot compare with "For a Few Dollars More," but it boasts some hilarious moments, particularly the opening scene. If you remember, "For a Few Dollars More" unfolded with an hombre on horseback riding through the craggy desert wilderness who gets blown out of the saddle by an unseen assassin. Mattoli starts "For a Few Dollars Less" with a variation on the scene. Initially, we are shown a six-shooter aimed at an anonymous rider. The off-screen assassin misses him with his first shot and then switches to a Winchester repeating rifle. He fares no better with his second shot. Afterward, as the target still gallops toward the camera, our unseen assassin wheels out a cannon, but he cannot him even with a cannon! The imaginative opening credits that ensue rely on dolls, something never seen in an Italian western. Don't get me wrong, not everything works. Nevertheless, as parodies go, "For a Few Dollars Less" is an above-average comedy oater.
The action involves the timid, second accountant of the Silver City Bank, Bill (Lando Buzzanca of "Divorce Italian Style"), who fears that he has miscounted the money at the bank and wind up going to prison. One of the funnier sound gags has Bill calculating his count by slapping himself in the head. Each time that he does this, we hear a cash register. Bill goes off in search for his cousin, Frank (Raimondo Vianello of "Twins from Texas"), who is referred to here as 'the General.' Clearly, Raimondo Vianello is imitating Lee Van Cleef's Colonel Douglas Mortimer. The first time that we see Frank, he opens his frock coat and selects an appropriate pipe from a sheathe of pipes, like the Colonel chose an appropriate firearm from a bundle that he had tied to his horse. Poor Bill is afraid that he won't get out of town without his boss at the bank, Mr. Black (Pietro Tordi), figuring out that he has bungled his accounts. Desperately, Bill goes to visit his funeral parlor girlfriend, Sally (Lucia Modugno), and concocts the perfect disguise to get out of Silver City without arousing suspicion. Bill dresses up in a poncho and Stetson so that he resembles Clint Eastwood's 'Man with No Name. The Corbuccis embellish the sight gag by having Bill drag a coffin behind his mule (like the one Clint rode in "A Fistful of Dollars"), but the joke is that Sally is riding in the casket for a ways. The coffin dragging gag is unmistakably a riff on Sergio Corbucci's own masterpiece "Django" with Franco Nero.
Once out of Silver City, Bill meets his cousin Frank to borrow some of the money that he invested in Frank's get-rich-quick schemes. Unfortunately, all of Frank's schemes fell through, but Frank assures Bill that they don't owe anybody a red cent. Frank convinces Bill to commit some crimes so he can bring Bill in and claim the reward, and Bill can square his accounts at the bank. Leone would use this strategy in his forthcoming "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." One amusing scene has Bill trying to rustle horses, only to be caught by an elderly sharp-shooter, Calamity John (Carlo Pisacane), but Frank comes to Bill's rescue. Before they ride off, Frank warns Calamity not to lower his arms. Later, Calamity shows up in town with his hands still held high and explains to the sheriff that he cannot lower them. Eventually, after he winds up in jail with Miguel the Mexican (Elio Pandolfi), who bears a clever resemblance to the gifted Gian Maria Volontè, Bill uses a chunk of hard tack in his slingshot to knock the sheriff unconscious and break them out of the calaboose. They ride to Miguel's hideout and Miguel guns down the Mexican who tries to take over leadership of his gang. Yes, you guessed it, they stage a duel to the accompaniment of a music box. Afterward, just as El Indio climbed a scaffolding to explain his elaborate bank robbery scheme, Miguel climbs a similar scaffold, but he falls through it. When Miguel does rob the Silver City Bank, he brings back a polished wooden cabinet and the General has to pick the lock with an absurdly huge knife. When they open the door, they find Bill sitting in the equivalent of a portable water closet!
If you believe that parodies started with the Zucker Brothers and their incredible comedy "Airplane," think again. Prolific director Mario Mattoli and the Corbucci Brothers beat them to the draw with "For a Few Dollars Less." Incidentally, "For a Few Dollars Less" appeared several years before the best known of the Spaghetti spoofs "They Call Me Trinity" with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.
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