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A Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars (1967)

January. 18,1967
|
7.9
|
R
| Western

The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit.

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SpuffyWeb
1967/01/18

Sadly Over-hyped

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Glucedee
1967/01/19

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

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Chirphymium
1967/01/20

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

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Taha Avalos
1967/01/21

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

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allstarrunner
1967/01/22

It's always interesting to watch a movie decades after it came out and then to write a review about it! This movie does an awful lot extremely well - the acting, the soundtrack, the cinematography - I can understand why it did so well it it's day and while it has held up till today - 50 years later. There are definitely a few times where you watch it and you can tell it feels a bit dated by some of the stuff that goes on and the plot is a little weak in some areas - but these are all forgivable things when you consider it came out 50 years ago and I think in some ways we have improved upon things in cinema over those 50 years; but there is no question that this film helped pave the way for many films to come. Definitely worth a watch if you still haven't seen it.

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Wuchak
1967/01/23

RELEASED IN 1964 and directed by Sergio Leone, "A Fistful of Dollars" stars Clint Eastwood as an expert gunman who drifts into a Mexican town where he finds himself in the middle of a war between two factions, the gun-running gringo Baxters and the firewater-running Hispanic Rojos. The story's based on Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai flick, "Yojimbo," which was patterned after the work of John Ford, so "A Fistful of Dollars" is an Itala copy of a Jap imitation of an American Western (!). Interestingly, Kurosawa sued Leone, but it never went to court. It ended with a settlement of $100,000 and 15% of the revenue of "Fistful" for Kurosawa.Speaking of ripping off (or homages), Ennio Morricone's excellent score (as usual) features a moving piece obviously inspired by Dimitri Tiomkin's outstanding "El Degüello" from "Rio Bravo" (1959). Compare the two.The opening act is great and is probably why so many people fondly remember this movie, but the middle act is weak. It starts with a thrilling massacre of dozens of Mexican soldiers, albeit curiously bloodless, carried out by a machine gun the likes of which the Earth has never seen (until this movie). For instance, it has multiple muzzles, like a Gatling gun, yet nothing revolves. I could go on, but I'll have mercy.This sequence is followed by a gunfight near a graveyard where members of the factions are absurdly fooled by two motionless corpses placed there earlier by Joe (Eastwood). Why sure! The final act is marred by another unbelievable scene where Joe boldly faces the main antagonist in a showdown. He has total faith in something that protects him with zero concern that any other part of his body besides his central torso might be hit. Why sure! Someone might argue that Joe KNEW Ramón Rojo would only aim for the heart, but there were several other lethal heavies present. How did he know they weren't going to shoot? Speaking of Ramón, Gian Maria Volontè is charismatic in the role, but he's even better in the follow-up, "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), as a wholly different character.Other problems include bad English dubbing, cartoony gore, the camera's curious infatuation with close-ups of sweaty, maniacal countenances and no female character of much note, although Marianne Koch and Margarita Lozano appear in small roles.There's this myth going around that Leone's Dollars trilogy introduced the concept of the antihero, otherwise known as the "good (or likable) bad man." Actually, the antihero had been around for decades when "Fistful" was released in '64. Take, for example, John Wayne's Ringo Kid in "Stagecoach" (1939) or Richard Widmark's Comanche Todd in "The Last Wagon" (1956) or Anthony Quinn's Bob Kallen in "The Ride Back" (1957) and, particularly, Brando's Kid Rio in "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961). These are just off the top of my head.The difference with Eastwood's antihero in Leone's so-called Man With No Name trilogy is that, unlike the antiheroes above, he is without personality, unless squinting, shooting, killing and smoking cheroots are taken as profound marks of character. In Short, Leone introduced the antihero CARICATURE as opposed to the antihero CHARACTER. Cool caricatures with superhuman bravery & abilities work just fine when you're in your teens or early 20s, but after you mature a bit you naturally desire more three-dimensional and believable characters."A Fistful of Dollars" is worth checking out for its engaging first act and its iconic place in Western history, but there are superior Eastwood Westerns, such as the two Leone non-sequels (1965 & 1966 respectively), "Hang 'em High" (1968), "Two Mules for Sister Sara" (1970), "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976), "Pale Rider" (1985) and "Unforgiven" (1992).THE MOVIE RUNS 99 minutes and was shot in Almería, Andalucía, & Madrid, Spain; and Rome, Italy.GRADE: C

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Yarton Cajos
1967/01/24

Enjoy the "good bad guy" Eastwood persona and the Morricone music. But don't expect the story line to be realistic and just take it with a grain of salt. For example, Joe (Eastwood) takes the corpses of two Mexican soldiers and positions them leaning against a tombstone. The Baxter and Rojo families then converge on the cemetery -- one to "capture" them and the other to "kill" them before they can be captured. In the ensuing gunfight, the two supposedly "alive" soldiers never move and duck for cover. The Rojo family rejoices when they are "killed". Really? No one notices they never moved when the shooting started? Other things to add to the list: a hundred Mexican soldiers killed with a machine gun and no bullet holes or blood. Only one dead horse. Many more killed during the rest of movie with nary one bullet hole. Marisol punched in the face by Joe but she suffers no bruises or remembers that he did it. The Rojo family burns down the Baxter house where they suspect Marisol might be held. Really? -- you could kill Marisol! Marisol and her husband and son,when "freed" by Joe, being told to walk to the border for safety. No horses, no food, and no water. Good luck -- they're going to need it. You'll find many more.

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slightlymad22
1967/01/25

Having finished viewing Mel Gibson's Filmography in order, I'm now working my way through the legend that is Clint Eastwood's Filmography starting with A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)Plot In A Paragraph: A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into a town torn by war between two factions, the Baxters and the Rojo's. He schemes to play the two sides off each other, getting rich in the bargain.It's impossible to talk about Leone's spaghetti westerns without heading Ennino Morricone's superb score, so I'll start by saying he sets the tone with what is to come right from the opening credits. It's fantastic and he can be simple or inventive either way it's first class.In 1964 Clint was an established TV star, thanks to his role as Rowdy Yates on TV's Rawhide, a role he had played for 5 years and 7 seasons, so to say Clint was already at home playing a cowboy would be an understatement. Needless to say, we are a long way from Rawhide here. Considering what a risk (shooting a low budget Western in Italy and Spain, with a director nobody had heard of, with only one directing credit to his name, who didn't even speak English) this was at the time for Eastwood, he looks great in his now iconic outfit and very confident, We see Clint honing his trademark expressions!! The snarl, the squint and the famous grin!! We also see a rare occasion. Clint take a great deal of punishment in this movie, maybe the most vicious punishment he receives in his entire career.Grossing $14 million A Fistful Of Dollars was the sixth highest grossing movie and 1964. A Massive success given its $200,000 budget.

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