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When most
people think of the western genre, a generic John Wayne portrayal
pops into their heads. The hero is brave and righteous. At
some point the audience is treated to a song. Suddenly evil
arrives on the scene, and the hero must reluctantly take action.
The bad guys bloodlessly (as far as we can see) get what is
coming to them, and the movie ends happily with the damsel
in the arms of the hero. Yawn. It is no wonder that westerns
began to lose their popularity by the 1960s. This cleared
the way for original ideas and more risk taking. Peckinpah's
The Wild Bunch exploded on the scene in 1969 as the first
American film to take the western to another level of violence
and realism. But a couple years earlier three European films
dubbed "spaghetti westerns" debuted in the U.S.
These films from director Sergio Leone introduced a flawed
and troubling character as its hero, while stylistically depicting
violence in a brutal and yet comical fashion. The western
would never be the same.
A gun-toting
mercenary (Clint Eastwood) shows up to a remote town near
the border of the U.S. and Mexico. He is greeted by several
trigger-happy drunks. He soon finds out from a scared local
that the town is ruled by two gangs. One gang controls the
liquor, and the other gang is in the gun trade. The mercenary
decides to put the rivalry to his advantage, and soon his
gunfighter skills deliver him employment as a double agent.
But these ruthless criminals are not that stupid-or are they?
The plot
is taken straight from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. At one point
Eastwood even wields a samurai sword. Yet somehow they got
away without giving credit to Kurosawa during the opening
credits or on the DVD packaging. Ungrateful wretches! In addition
to the plot, it is clear that Leone learned a lot about composing
widescreen shots from Kurosawa's films. One thing that Kurosawa
did not have was the vibrant Ennio Morricone score, which
is employed so well by Leone in setting the mood of the film.
This is
not a revelation, but Eastwood shines in the role of "The
Man With No Name." Some actors go through their career without
ever finding that perfect part, but Eastwood found it at a
relatively early age, and would reprise this character twice.
The characters he has played throughout the last thirty years
have not veered far from "Man With No Name" territory. Actually
that character does have a name, but you will have to find
that out for yourself.
For whatever
reason MGM released the Dollars Trilogy on DVD in the reverse
order of the way they were filmed. But it really does not
matter which film is viewed first, since the only connection
between the films is Eastwood's character.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The image
is decent. But compared to the anamorphic The Good, The
Bad and The Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars is significantly lacking
in sharpness and detail. Fistful is closer in quality to For
a Few Dollars More, except More contains digital artifacts
and print blemishes that Fistful is thankfully not burdened
with. Colors, including a lot of brown, are dull and lifeless,
but that might be the look Leone wanted. Fleshtones are also
difficult to judge, as nearly everyone has that unshaven windburnt
look. A pan and scan version is on the other side of the disc,
but this will only appeal to those who find letterboxing unbearable.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
Other than
the sound being a little harsh (Morricone's music, a character
unto itself, is probably intentionally harsh sounding anyway)
there is little to complain about. Deep bass is expectedly
absent. But more importantly there are no instances of pops
or crackles, and hiss is never noticeable.
Keep in
mind that all of the dialogue has been dubbed, even Eastwood's.
Most of the actors were European, so they spoke their lines
in their native language. Eastwood spoke his lines in English,
but evidently they did not bother to record him at the time
of filming. This means that frequently the mouth movements
do not match up with what is being said. The liner notes reveal
that Eastwood did not record his dialogue for the film until
its release in this country, three years after the film was
shot.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? A trailer
and an informative but brief liner essay are the only supplements.
Do not watch the trailer before watching the movie, because
the trailer spoils a large part of the ending!
Parting Thoughts
I am not
really surprised by the scarcity of supplements, but I do
wish MGM had given A Fistful of Dollars (and For a Few Dollars
More) the same image treatment that it gave to The Good, The
Bad and The Ugly. But this deficiency is not enough to pass
on this great movie. It is a must for any fan of Eastwood
or Leone.
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