A Fistful of Dollars
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Movie Reviews of A Fistful of Dollars
Movie Review: Aesthetic, artistic, existential....A LANDMARK!
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember not long ago, there was a time when westerns made me gag... In my eyes, if John Wayne defined this genre, not a single film was worth watching.... Then I saw "High Plains Drifter" and I was TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY (nice pun, huh?)...... I fell in love with the Clint Eastwood western, and he became my Western Icon. I HAD to watch the Man With No Name trilogy that I had heard so much about... and I was NOT dissapointed....If you are a true film lover, and if you appreciate film as the artisitic form of expression that it is, then you love the Man with No Name trilogy with every fiber of your being, and it's opening chapter, "A Fistful of Dollars" will grab you by your neck and draw you into the world of Sergio Leone "spaghetti" westerns.
Eastwood is the aesthetic hero, the existential wanderer motivated by pure self-interest...but he has his own code of honor which he upholds... He is the reincarnation of every solitary warrior that has ever ridden in every age of history. And with his entrancing and supremely fatal skill, he leads us through the desolate landscape of the REAL American frontier; This time we're entrenched in a feud between two rival gangs in a small Mexican ramshackle border village known as San Miguel. As the shopkeeper says "Every woman is a widow"...the only people with jobs are the bell-ringer, who tolls for the dead, and the eccentric old coffin-maker.... Gian Maria Volonte is superb as the murderous Ramon, a person who must have been typical in his day.
This hypnotic film will make you drool for it's sequels, "For a Few Dollars More" (my favorite of the three) and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". It is a true landmark film, unlike anything you have ever seen. Even the title sequence is enticing!
DVD Verison: While the picture quality is far superior to any VHS version, and I imagine, even better than the picture quality of the original theatrical release, it's still not up to par with more modern films. It's the best you can get from this film, though (remember, it was very low-budget!)
As for the sound, it is quite bad when compared to other DVDs. But again, that's the low-budget of the original sound on the original version. But I imagine that this is the best you can get out of the sound quality for this film.
It certainly doesn't take away from your film experience, though!
Movie Review: A Fistful of Dollars - A true genre classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
A Fistful of Dollars is truly one of the big classics in the western genre and one that began a newer, better style of western films. First in a string of Clint Eastwood's "spaghetti" westerns, it has a style and cinematic class all to itself. This is where Clint Eastwood began his style of western hero who doesn't say much, but gets his point across through his facial expressions and of course his actions, more specifically with his six shooter at his side. The premise:
Clint Eastwood plays "the man with no name" other than the name given to him by one of the characters in the film, Joe. In what is now a classic style, he rides into town on a mule and witnesses the brutality of the town bullies. Without saying a word to them, they harass him and he calmly goes into one of the town bars, has some food and listens to what the bar owner has to tell him about the town's situation. He casually decides to stay and do something about the entire situation, walks out and takes out four of the bad guys. What follows from there is such an outstanding film that is fraught with a certain degree of humor as he deftly plays both sides against his middle and walks away with "A Fistful of Dollars."
If you're a fan of the western genre and haven't seen this classic, I highly suggest you pick this DVD up. Some might be put off by the age of this movie, that is simply not the case though as this movie is timeless. Despite the fact that it was made in Spain, with many European actors and in a foreign language, it's just pure fun!
The DVD:
Given today's almighty DVD's where there is every sort of special/extra feature that a fan can imagine, this one is your meat and potato's kind. It has the movie, a great theatrical trailer and a booklet. It is nice and simple, with not too much to get wrapped around other than the outstanding movie within. The booklet is an extremely interesting read, giving some facts for the movie I wasn't aware of. {ssintrepid}
Movie Review: Nice shooting, Sergio!
Summary: 5 Stars
Leone lifted this morality tale to new heights. Conceived by Hammett, it would seem, out of Kurasawa, giving birth to a giant milestone in cinematic history. Packing Squint Eastwood in his holster, he out-gunned the American West. This is vision, this is creative imagination. It's a far better film than Yojimbo (I've just watched them back to back, and Yojimbo is a tad too alien for me). It leaves Bruce Willis standing (not his fault, but the re-make is feeble). Right from the opening titles, and hearing that distinctive music, you know that this is going to be something different and something special. How does this happen? Some stories mature with re-telling, as they pass through a variety of constructions: after all, Hamlet began one thousand years before Shakespeare got his hands on it. Leone added a touch of Italian operatics to the score, as well as style and sharp camera-work; but he also had a firm grip on the basics of the Western myth, and raised it to the nth degree. The title seems slightly misleading. In the end, the man from nowhere rides off and on to nowhere. He's mounted on what looks like the old mule he came in on, and I don't think he's even got stirrups. He gave all the gold back to the government --- not sure whose government. Perhaps he did keep a modest fistful for himself: that would have been the dollars paid him by the Baxters and the Rojos, less board, booze, cheroot, lodging, bullet and coffin expenses. The point seems to be that there are no good guys that aren't just as bad as the bad guys. Cowboys need Indians, and cops need robbers. They feed on each other, and things would be more peaceful if neither of them existed. Who are Marisol and Julio supposed to represent? I could swear the kid's name was Jesus. It's just occurred to me --- perhaps Shane is another name for John? Could Joe be John? In the end, I'd be surprised if the old moke didn't get the joke.Movie Review: The first classic in the Spaghetti Western genre - a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo
Summary: 5 Stars
This 1964 film was the first of what came to be called "Spaghetti Westerns" and took then TV star Clint Eastwood and made him into a major Movie Star. If you look on IMDG at Clint Eastwood's career you will be amazed at how rich and varied it has been. Star of all kinds of movies, director of many films, producer, writer, and much more. Just amazing.
This film is Sergio Leone's remake of Kurosawa's wonderful "Yojimbo" (1961) and uses guns instead of swords just as John Sturges's "The Magnificent Seven" had done with "The Seven Samurai" (1954) in 1960. In both films, an unnamed stranger shows up in a town torn between two crime families. The stranger proves his ability with a gun in one and a sword in the other. He is courted by both sides, and angers both by taking payment and doing `chores' for both sides. A local tavern owner and a carpenter employed making coffins befriends him and pay for that later. The stranger also sees a family whom he helps to his terrible cost.
In the end, he gets the two sides to fight and all but destroy each other while he cleans up those who remain on the winning side.
Eastwood uses such a taciturn style that it became a trademark for many years. He uses few words, and the fighting comes in separated torrents rather than wall-to-wall blood as it might have seemed in 1964.
Rated R for violence that seems somewhat tame by today's standards. We see worse and more gruesome stuff on almost any episode of CSI.
A classic that is worth seeing or seeing again.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
Movie Review: Sublime classic and solid western
Summary: 5 Stars
As my western movie watching weekend continued I chose to watch this film, having seen The Good, The Bad and The Ugly the day before I was all ready salivating at the thought of watching a similar type of a story, part of this trilogy of the No Name Man as it captured my interest and attention and made me worried that I will be obsessed with spaghetti westerns for a while.
Eastwood has no name again, but he has wits, talent for shooting and an iron drive for smoothing out the ripples in human relations as he stumbles upon a town driven by two families, on dealing with guns and the other with alcohol. All I can say it that he befriends each one behind the other's back and plays on their strengths and weaknesses in order to help them destroy each other while he gets either rich or dead doing it.
The story is really quite modern again, as this can be taken out of a western scenario and put in any city at any era and it will work.
There is humor and there are some moments where Clint gets his butt kicked, ala Jackie Chan style, but as Jackie he comes back both on top and victorious- but half the fun watching it is figuring out how he's going to do it.
This was really incredibly interesting, it has the mood, the atmosphere, the hot desert sun and crazy characters that also appeared in other westerns with Eastwood and who either irritate the viewer or make him root for Clint and his gun and characters that needed his friendship and heroics in order to save them. Overall this movie might be old, but it's great and will satisfy plenty or personalities with its quick humor and great action.