No doubt, Clint Eastwood had plenty of phenomenal one-liners in his time as a Western icon. “Everybody’s got a right to be a sucker once,” “Sometimes the dead can be more useful than the living,” and “It’s a hell of a thing, killin’ a man,” all come to mind.
However, none of these lines are as cool or as delicately threatening as Bronson’s words are here. Even the famous line from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly about “those who dig” doesn’t come across nearly as intimidating as Harmonica’s. Considering what follows, he certainly lives up to them.
Whether Sergio Leone himself or his co-writer Sergio Donati penned these words, we cannot be sure. We only know that Bronson is the lucky actor to have uttered them.
It’s no wonder that Leone reportedly wanted Eastwood for the leading role to begin with, though landing on Bronson proved to be far more than simply settling. Bronson commands the screen with his macho, stoic presence, alerting his enemies to his presence with those familiar harmonica notes that linger in the ears.
Just like the character’s infamous line itself, a simple look from his weary eyes or a note from his trademark instrument would strike fear into the heart of any gunslinger across the West. Not only is his “two too many” line powerfully written, but the slick, gritty delivery packs a punch that kickstarts an exceptional motion picture, one that would never have been the same without Bronson in the leading role.