For the next few weeks my spotlight will be on Director
Sergio Leone’s famous Dollars Trilogy. These films made Clint Eastwood a star
and changed the western movie forever.
Review 1: A Fistful of Dollars
In 1964, movies were going through a period of tremendous
change. The studio system had collapsed and many films that had been incredibly
popular before didn’t sit as well with audience used to watching the body count
increase in Vietnam every day. The western had long been a symbol of American
film and that symbol was now fading. Cowboy films were becoming less and less
popular as more and more TV shows were giving audiences the same experience. In
Italy however, the legend of the American cowboy was still strong and these
Italian made “spaghetti westerns” were quite popular with audiences in that
country. Sergio Leone was an established Italian director by the time he made a
Fistful of Dollars but he had never made a western. He was a fan of American
westerns and loved the genre. He made some very important choices when making
this film, one of which was to hire TV star Clint Eastwood in the title role.
The rest as they say is history.
When one watches the film today it is still quite striking.
This begins with the great musical score composed by Ennio Morricone. This
music is far different from the traditional brassy western score and in many
ways a precursor of what things are to come. The film is the shortest of the
trilogy at about an hour and three quarters and it movies at a breathtaking
speed. The music follows this speed with
an abandon that is operatic and thrilling, something quite different from the
traditional score. The over the top aspect of the score adds to the mood of the
film and never feels either cheesy or out of place and it still feels different
and iconic even today.
Eastwood’s Performance as the man with no name (called here
Joe) is also iconic and quite different from the typical western leading man.
He has a presence almost like a stick of dynamite with which the fuse only need
be lit and yet he does not talk much. This lack of talking propels his
character into territory not before seen in a popular western. Eastwood of
course is also great at the action and he still looks cool to this day.
The story was ripped straight from a Japanese samurai movie
Yojimbo which was directed by Kurosawa. In some ways the story of two feuding
families works better as a western and with Leone’s style which tells the story
with less dialogue and more visuals. Leone here is perfecting his craft and
figuring out ways to make the Western his own while working on a small budget.
Fistful was made on nothing and yet it looks pretty expensive. The cast of
lesser Italian actors play their roles admirably and the visuals are sometimes
stunning.
Overall Fistful thrills and exhilarates in a way different from
any other great western before. The operatic score and Eastwood’s performance
make the film something to admire. It isn’t perfect though with parts of the
film feeling dragged and others feeling too quick but it was the first of its
kind and changed the western forever! 4.5/5
As always please say what you thought of the review in the
comments below and also be sure to check back for the next review in my
spotlight on Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy
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