A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Going back to where it all started and in some ways this my favorite of Leone’s spaghetti westerns. Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly are better films, but they are also bigger, grander and more spectacular. Too much so, they sort of break out of the genre and become something else. A Fistful of Dollars is simpler, grittier, lower budget and just more pure in fitting within the spaghetti genre vibe.
I got the restoration from Arrow and of course everything looks fantastic. Haven’t dived into all the extras yet, but there is plenty to go through. As for the film itself, it starts and end with timeless iconic scenes. The “three coffins” and “poncho” scenes are defining moments for the coming years of spaghetti western. The middle part is somewhat less memorable with the two gangs getting cleverly played against each other. Gian Maria Volonté shines in that whole endevour and of course Eastwood more or less defined his lifelong on camera persona in this film. I read in a biography of him that he apparently asked Leone for fewer lines, which is highly unusual for up and coming actors as you normally want to maximize your lines of dialogue, but Eastwood clearly knew that you can do a whole lot more with body language and attitude than spoken lines, if handled properly.
Rating: 4