Great Eastwood,Leone spaghetti western (Rating: 5.00)
Review : A Fistful of Dollars is a great western.It stars Clint Eastwood,and was directed by Sergio Leone,who also directed the excellent westerns For a Few Dollars More;The Good,the Bad,and the Ugly;and Once Upon a Time in the West.Eastwood plays a drifter who comes to a small Mexican town run by two separate families-the Rojos and the Baxters,and he plays both sides.(he makes a great deal of money in the process!)I won't say anymore about the plot.The film was made on a very small budget,but Leone did an excellent job with what he had to work with.The musical score by Ennio Morricone(under the name Dan Savio)is outstanding,nobody scores a western,spaghetti or otherwise,like him!This film was a remake of a Japanese film called Yojimbo,I think,but I've never seen it before.It was also remade a few years ago,starring Bruce Willis,called Last Man Standing,and that wasn't as good as A Fistful of Dollars,but it wasn't bad.Overall,A Fistful of Dollars ranks very high on my list of favorite westerns.I'd really like to get this film on DVD sometime,because my VHS copy is about twelve years old and is showing some wear!Besides,I think this film would be better viewed in the widescreen format.
The film that started a career (Rating: 5.00)
Review : A Fistful of Dollars is the first of the classic Sergio Leone Dollars trilogy and also the film that helped skyrocket Clint Eastwood to the top. Borrowed from a Akira Kurosawa film, the story centers around a gunman who appears in a town with two rival families trying to control everything. For his own profit, the gunman begins to play both families until finally it all blows up in a huge gunfight. This is a classic spaghetti western that should not be missed. The whole genre is different from the often idealized hero portrayed in American westerns. The spaghetti westerns threw all the cliches on their side and instead used their own including the anti-hero, extreme close-ups, sadistic villains, and eerie musical soundtracks. Clint Eastwood plays the role of the Man with no Name, even though he is called "Joe" in this one. His squinting, cigar-chomping gunman set the stage for westerns from then all the way until now. Gina Maria Volonte stars as the violent leader of the Rojo family. In the DVD check out the credits. Almost all the names of the Italian actors were changed for the American release. Volonte would later return in For a Few Dollars more as the evil Indio. The rest of the cast consists mainly of spaghetti western regulars, most notably Mario Brega. Once again Ennio Morricone gives us another haunting soundtrack that must be mentioned when talking about these movies. The DVD is relatively cheap but still offers fullscreen and widescreen, great theatrical trailer, and a booklet full of interesting information. A must have for fans of spaghetti westerns!
"New Breed of Western......New Breed of Hero" (Rating: 4.00)
Review : In the small dusty border town of San Miguel, two gangs of "criminals and smugglers" are both trying to take over the town and be the "bosses". Out of nowhere enters our hero, the very dangerous(but very cute) gunman with no name(Clint Eastwood). In this first of the trilogy directed by Sergio Leone
Clint decides to play the rival gangs against each other, first working for one then the other. Why? Because there's money to made here. In the process, there are deadly shootouts, Clint saves a family,gets his face bashed in (I hated that part) and well I wont give away the end.
This film was followed by "A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". All three a must see's for the Eastwood fan. This one was based on the Japaneese film "Yojimbo" and was also the basis for the more recent "Last Man Standing" starring Bruce Willis.
Billed as "A New Breed of Western" (more commonly called spaghetti westerns, although it was shot in Spain), it is a cinematic treat you wont want to miss. The actors performances are terrific and the scenery stunning.
The DVD(by MGM) is a must have. The picture is crisp, the colors are sharp and the widescreen excellent. The sound is Mono,(only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5) but it still sounds good, the horses and guns are crisp and the dialouge is fine.(The film is nearly 40 years old )
Not a whole lot of extras, but for me This movie was the extra!
What the DVD has is the Original Theatrical Trailer, Scene Selection, and a very informative booklet that talks about the making of the film. It also has subtitles, English and French which could be helpful for hearing impaired viewers, and a standard film format on the other side for those who might prefer it to the widescreen.
If you have never seen it and you like westerns, you'll love it. If you have already seen it and know you love it, you will enjoy the DVD.
thanx-Laurie
first of it's kind (Rating: 5.00)
Review : Sergio Leone's A fistful of Dollars, is a great film to watch.
The opening titles jump at you and the music by Ennio Morricone
Is worth owning as well if you can get it.This film shows Clint Eastwood in his best role to date I think,A bounty hunter.this alone made me want to watch this movie.Though the movie Clint fights of bandits with the legendary QUICK draw, which he is best at....this movie is the first of the classic "dollars" trilogy.once you watch this you will love spaghetti westerns.
thanks.
Great movie...Good DVD (Rating: 5.00)
Review : Without a doubt this movie is classic. This movie is the first in wonderful series of movies by Sergio Leone starring Clint Eastwood as the "Man with no name"(even though he had a name in all three movies). This movie is just fantastic from start to finish. My only problem is that the transfer to dvd was good but not great. It does include a behind the scenes booklet with a ton of facts and notes and the original trailer is a nice touch. Even though there are no special features on the disc, the movie looks and sounds great and you DO get more than you pay for.
Good Movie Bad Dvd (Rating: 1.00)
Review : This is in my opinion the best in the man with no name series.
But The good, the bad, and the ugly got the animorphic widescreen extended treatment. This movie deserves to get better treatment on dvd, for Eastwood fans. Heck, the whole trilogy could use an overhaul and then the lousy minimal box set they already put out would be obsolete. The second film For a Few Dollars More also deserves to be remastered. I don't care what people say for me clint was the best of the gunslingers in the history of hollywood, (move over john wayne) and made the best westerns, other than John Ford's Masterpiece stagecouch.
|
