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Sunday, June 5, 2016

A Fistful of Dollars A.K.A. Fistful of Dollars, Per un pugno di dollari (1964)

An Italian West German Spanish spaghetti western directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood and Gian Maria Volonte.
A lone cowboy enters a town controlled by two rival gangs. By working for both of them, he plays them against one another to their ultimate destruction.
This is Yojimbo (1961) with cowboys instead of samurais. The greatest appreciation of this can be gained by watching both films. Same goes for Seven Samurai (1954) and The Magnificent Seven (1960). They are all so good and the mirror images across the world are so similar that I can't decide if I like cowboys or samurais. The plot was good enough for a famous director to steal and get sued for, so it's good enough for me. The characters were stereotypical and undeveloped, except the main character. He was undeveloped, but showed more depth and was less stereotypical than the others. There was mystery surrounding him and his motives for his actions. The visual style featured extreme close-ups and long crane shots, which is common for Leone. The soundtrack for this is very memorable, like most of the spaghetti western genre. Being written by Ennio Morricone obviously played a large role in this. Overall, we've got a quality western with lots to type about. I rate it good.

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