A Fistful Of Dollars (DVD)

...it seemed he had invented a new genre in cinema. These low-budget westerns filmed in Europe featuring mainly European actors, with their propensity for theatrical violence were seen by the fans of the traditional western as a cheap tawdry imitation of a classic film genre.

BACKGROUND

Sergio Leone cut his teeth in cinema by making the so-called 'sword and sandal' epics in Italy in the late fifties and early 60's along ...
...turn they were part of a long tradition of 'epic' films going back to the silent era such as Cabiria (1913) and Quo Vadis (1912). The style and attitude of the filmmaking involved in these films was to clearly influence the later Leone westerns. Leone was not the first person to make European Westerns, As far back as 1925 the French novelist Blaise Cendars had written a novel based on the California gold rush and the early pioneer John Sutter. The ... more

When Sergio Leone made the first of his 'Spaghetti' westerns 'A Fistful of Dollars' (1964) it seemed he had invented a new genre in cinema. These low-budget westerns filmed in Europe featuring mainly European actors, with their propensity for theatrical violence were seen by the fans of the traditional western as a cheap tawdry imitation of a classic film genre.

BACKGROUND

Sergio Leone cut his teeth in cinema by making the so-called 'sword and sandal' epics in Italy in the late fifties and early 60's along with other future 'spaghetti' western directors such as Mario Bava, Sergio Corbucci and Domenico Paoella. These films were the mainstay of the Cinecitta studios at the time and dealt with the adventures of ancient world superheroes such as Hercules, Maciste, Ulysses and Samson. In their turn they were part of a long tradition of 'epic' films going back to the silent era such as Cabiria (1913) and Quo Vadis (1912). The style and attitude of the filmmaking involved in these films was to clearly influence the later Leone westerns. Leone was not the first person to make European Westerns, As far back as 1925 the French novelist Blaise Cendars had written a novel based on the California gold rush and the early pioneer John Sutter. The great soviet director Eisenstein made this novel in to a screenplay. Although Eisenstein's version was never completed another version by the German director (and Nazi supporter) Luis Trenker, 'The Emperor of California' was made in 1936. More recently and in many ways the direct stimulus for the Leone films was the success of Harlad Reinl's 'Winnetou the Warrior' westerns, made in West Germany and filmed in Yugoslavia. These films were based on a popular series of books by the nineteenth century German writer Karl May. These movies starred the ex-Tarzan actor Lex Barker and were financially very successful. The Italian filmmakers who had witnessed a decline in the popularity of the 'sword and sandal' films decided to try their hand.

A FISTFUL OF PASTA?

Sergio Leone began casting 'A Fistful of Dollars' in 1963 and despite its low budget he still wanted a big name American star to head the cast. When his first choices, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and James Coburn were demanding too much money he approached a number of American actors working in Europe including Richard Harrison a veteran of other low budget westerns. Harrison refused the role but suggested Leone try the 34 year-old Clint Eastwood, a co-star in the TV series 'Rawhide'. Thus Eastwood became the 'Man With No Name'. The up and coming Italian stage actor Gian Maria Volonte was cast as the main baddie Ramon Rojo and the popular German actress Marianne Koch got the role of Marisol.

Leone had one main problem even before the film was finished, there had already been 25 Italian low- budget westerns made these had mostly been snubbed by the critics and cinema public alike. It was thought that the appetite for European westerns was finished. That is not to say that westerns per say were unpopular, the American variety were still hits but due to a downturn in the popularity of these in the US fewer were being made. Leone decided to satisfy this European craving for American westerns by passing off 'A Fistful…' as an American western even though Eastwood was the only person on set who could speak English. Volonte was credited, as John Wels and Leone became Bob Robertson. Even the classically trained composer of the film score Ennio Morricone was listed on the credits as Dan Savio.

Leone and two writers Tessari and Catena wrote the story line for 'A Fistful of Dollars' in a 3-week period in Rome. They based it on Kurosawa's samurai film 'Yojimbo' (1961). In Kurosawa version, a wandering samurai offers his services to as a Yojimbo (bodyguard) to two rival factions vying for control of a small village. The samurai decided to play one faction against the other and finally resolves to end the feuding by having a showdown with the surviving villain who happened to posses the only firearm in the area. Leone version was so close to the Kurasawa version that Kurasawa sued and Leone had to pay Kurosawa and his co-writer Kikushima compensation and grant them exclusive rights to the film's distribution in Japan plus 15% of worldwide box-office takings.
Although taken from Kurosawa, the original use of the 'Servant With Two Masters' storyline can be traced back to a Dashiell Hammett novel of the 1920's. Hammett (who went on to write 'The Maltese Falcon') used the same plot in his first novel 'Red Harvest' using rival gangster factions instead of Japanese merchant families. Even earlier, elements of the same story can clearly be seen in Mark Twain's short story 'The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg' (1899).

THE FILM

*Cast*

Joe --------Clint Eastwood
Ramón Rojo --------Gian Maria Volonté (as Johnny Wels)
Marisol --------Marianne Koch
John Baxter --------Wolfgang Lukschy
Esteban Rojo --------Sieghardt Rupp
Piripero --------Joseph Egger
Benito Rojo --------Antonio Prieto
Silvanito --------José Calvo
Consuelo Baxter --------Margarita Lozano
Julián --------Daniel Martín
Rubio --------Benito Stefanelli
Antonia Baxter --------Carla Calò
Antonio Baker --------Bruno Carotenuto
Chico --------Mario Brega

*Plot*

The story is simple enough, a drifting gunslinger, the Man With No Name (or Joe as he appears on the credits) enters small town of San Miguel near the Mexican border. It is immediately obvious to him that the rule of law does not exist. After some local thugs make fun of his mule he calmly confronts them and asks them to apologize to the mule for hurting its feelings. When they refuse he promptly beats them to the draw and guns them down. Our 'hero' quickly learns that the town is controlled by two warring families the Baxters, led by John Baxter the town sheriff (who make money by selling whiskey and guns to the Indians) and the Rojo's led by Ramon. The stranger finds out that the families have reached a stalemate in their feuding and as in 'Yojimbo' he begins to play one against the other for his own financial gain leading to a dramatic and bloody confrontation...

WHY IS IT SO GOOD?

A Fistful of Dollars was not like a traditional western. The Clint Eastwood character did not conform to the clean-cut image and morally just outlook of the more traditional western heroes. In fact his morals are dubious throughout and in the final analysis he is not much better than any of the other characters he shoots down. We are made aware of this right from the beginning, when the stranger sees a small boy being shot at by a drunken gang member he doesn't intervene, although later to some extent he redeems himself by setting Marisol free and you could argue that throughout he never harms the innocent. This lack of morality of the character so worried the American network ABC that in one showing of the film they added a specially filmed prologue starring Harry Dean Stanton that attempts to explain the stranger's more just motivations for his actions. This prologue was only shown once and was made against the wishes of Leone.

Leone wanted to make a more stylized version of the western giving it a more 'operatic' feel. He uses little dialogue and often lets Ennio Morricone's inspired musical score do most of the 'talking'. Morricone music was (and still is) unique. For the soundtrack of 'A Fistful of Dollars' he creates a sound that is recognizably a western theme but he also introduced more quirky, frenetic Mexican folk elements interspersed with unintelligible shouts and whip cracking. This type of music along with its distinctive use became a trademark for all the spaghetti westerns that followed.

Technically Leone was very innovative; he uses very wide shots that give the film a spacious uncluttered look. He also uses quick zooms and many extreme close-ups. The use of quick cutting from character to character as well as adopting unexpected camera angles gives the film an added vibrancy. All this gives the film a very distinct feel.

The liberization of the western themes and the introduction of more explicit violence seemed to be in tune with the changes occurring more generally in society in the sixties and the film although critically dismissed in the US was very popular with audiences. The film presented a cynical picture of the colonial west in contrast to the more romanticized version of the traditional western films. The towns were dusty, the people were dirty and the rule of law was rare, violence ruled and money was the motivation for most. In some ways this could be said to be a more realistic view of the old west and certainly in some aspects Leone did insist on realism for instance taking care to use the right sort of guns for the period.

In the end 'A Fistful of Dollars' changed the way all future westerns were made. It acted as a trailblazer for later films like the 'The Wild Bunch' and even films of a different genre like 'Bonnie and Clyde'. It re-ignited interest for the western genre in the US and made an international star of Clint Eastwood.
Leone always defended himself against critics of his films by saying that he himself was a great fan of the traditional western by directors like John Ford ('Fort Apache', 'The Searchers') and John Sturges ('Magnificent Seven', 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral') and he claimed that the real inspiration for the Eastwood character was the lone gunfighter in George Stevens' classic 'Shane' rather than the Japanese samurai of 'Yojimbo'.

In conclusion Leone simply updated the genre to reflect the changing sensibilities of the audiences then as now change is usually rejected by the establishment but is often embraced by the younger more liberal elements in society. With the passing of time Leone and not his critics, has been proved right.

Thanks you for reading/rating this opinion.

© Mauri 2003
 

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