365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 76- A Fistful Of Dollars

I am beginning a look at "spaghetti" westerns by watching one of the most famous, 1964's A Fistful Of Dollars. Directed by Sergio Leone and introducing Clint Eastwood to stardom, this film is loosely based on Kurosawa's Yojimbo and features a different type of samurai. The American anti-hero, the man with no name.

In creating this film Leone reinvented the western film. Hollywood was already going through a revisionist look at westerns, but this new type of film with a minimal script and extreme close-ups reintroduced a dying film genre to American and world audiences.

The film tells the story of a man who rides into a Mexican village and discovers there are to families fighting for control of the towns criminal activities, smuggling guns and booze. The man sees an opportunity to make some money by placing himself in the middle of the conflict, profiting from both without taking sides. Until he sees an injustice being done and takes steps to correct it, and that puts him in direct confrontation with the more powerful family.

The script is minimalistic and Eastwood himself cut some of his characters dialogue. We know little about the character. He is American, from Illinois and that is about it. The town coffin maker calls him Joe, but we never learn his name. Eastwood was a minor movie star and a popular TV star when he made the film. It's iconic imagery of the poncho, hat, cigarillo and the squinting glare have all become part of cinema history and made Eastwood an international star almost overnight.

But the film really works because of Leone's operatic directing style. The extreme close-ups and the long distance shots, the use of music to punctuate the scene, the detail to settings on a limited budget, it all worked to create a type of western that had never been seen before and would frequently be imitated.

At the Movie House rating **** stars.