CULT DVD Review

A Fistful of Dollars

Overall: 91%

Feature: 89%

Extras: 94%

A Fistful of Dollars: Special Edition (2 discs)

So here’s where it all started. The film that launched the careers of actor Clint Eastwood, director Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone into the stratosphere. It also kickstarted the spaghetti western genre and it still remains a heavily influential film in its own right.

A Fistful of Dollars

Eastwood was coming off the back of the popular television show Rawhide and signed on to play the eponymous Man With No Name (he’s never actually referred to as this, it’s a posthumous marketing ploy). Doing as little as possible, Eastwood imposes a striking, enigmatic figure as he strolls into a troubled town at odds with each other and plays them both at their own game. Leone had joked that Eastwood had two acting tricks: hat on or hat off. But to his credit its all that is needed, Eastwood judges what is required of the character. He should remain a mystery and Eastwood had even asked for lines to be cut. The spaghetti western style contains more stylized violence and a blurring off the lines between the good guys and the bad guys than was to be found in American westerns.

Leone was heavily influenced by Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and the film follows a similar plotline but is a completely different film in its own right. It’s a stylish, darkly humorous, and enjoyably odd western that contains much of the hallmarks of the genre. Leone may have went on to improve his style but here the films boyish, fresh charm is very much part of its appeal.

Ramón Rojo

EXTRAS:

Commentary by Sir Christopher Frayling:

A wonderful commentary by writer Sir Christopher Frayling, who knows everything about the making of this film. On paper it sounds like it could dull but Frayling is an enjoyable host and the amount of knowledge he has on the film is indispensable. Of particular interest is Akira Kurosawa’s reaction to the film.

A New Kind of Hero:

A good documentary but is it’s only talking head is Sir Christopher Frayling, much of what is covered here is in the commentary. So it you don’t fancy the entire commentary watch this to get the best bits.

A Few Weeks in Spain:

It’s wonderful to listen to the great man, Clint Eastwood himself have a think back on the making of the film which is what this documentary is all about. Eastwood is in good humour and he has some fun anecdotes about Sergio and his manic style of getting the film made.

Tre Voce / Three Voices:

Three old timers, producer, writer and voice dub actor who were involved with the film reflect on the production and the films impact. Short but sweet.

Location Comparisons:

A quick look at what some of the locations look like today. Weird to think that people live in places where The Man With No Name has killed some outlaws.

Restoration Italian Style:

Quick documentary explaining the process of getting the best restoration of the film onto DVD.

The Television Cut: Lost Prologue:

Fascinating stuff. A prologue was filmed in 1977 for the Television premiere of the film to give a little more humanity and reasoning behind the Man with No Name. The director Monte Hellman introduces and discusses it with his tail between his legs. It was only ever aired once and starred Harry Dean Stanton and an Eastwood double (in the wrong poncho). An interesting part of the history of the film.

The Network Prologue:

Truly bizarre. Badly edited, Eastwood’s close-ups are squashed into the scene even though they are completely different lighting and so it was obvious that Eastwood was not involved. It has thankfully never accompanied the film again but DVD is a great way to discover hidden artefacts like this. A Leone collector explains how he taped the film using a Betamax player and it was one of the very few videotapes in the world that had the prologue on it.

Radio Spots: I found these quite funny. Don’t think they were supposed to be.

Trailer: Always a bonus having the original trailer

Double bill trailer: fistful / few dollars - Back then, people had no idea that the best was yet to come.

Collector’s Gallery: A bunch of production stills.

FEATURE: 89%

EXTRAS: 94%

OVERALL: 91%

A brilliant disc for a classic film.

Stewart McLaren

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