A Fistful of Dollars

Great intro into the Western Classics, love the improvements on the 4K

Modern westerns owe a lot to Spaghetti Westerns like Fistful of Dollars. Without them we wouldn't have the grit that make so many westerns enjoyable now. Before they came into the States, American Western cinema was very "clean". While they were good and enjoyable in their own ways they never really depicted the violence and greed that made the "Wild West" so wild. The main hero's morals were always good and selfless, and the division between good and bad was pretty much black & white. But in here we see the west in all it's bloody and dirt covered glory.Aside from helping change the scope of Western movies this also stars Clint Eastwood in his now legendary "Man with No Name" character. Who has a very strong presence in the movie that rivals that of John Wayne. The Stranger (Eastwood), rides into a barren border town where two rival gangs wrestle each other for power. Cashing in on boot legging and gun running these two gangs try to the use Eastwood's skills at gun-slinging against the other not realizing that he's actually playing them both to make a lot of money. As for gun play the Stranger is very good at it. He clears out rooms in seconds with well placed shots capable to taking other bandits down before they can even draw.The Stranger is no hero, he's out to get his and owes allegiance to no one. A personal philosophy that more or less works well for him. Despite his stone like exterior though he does have a heart as shown when he actually goes out of his way to try and save a mother. Or his ride back to the god forsaken town to rescue a friend. His actions speak for themselves, he doesn't need any fancy monologues. Probably the best example of what a good Anti-Hero really is. When all is done with both gangs dead in their hideouts he rides off never to be seen again in what would become the iconic ending for all the Dollar movies. His name changes but his demeanor doesn't.This movie is old but if you appreciate film making and westerns in general its amazing what was done with a small budget. Especially knowing about the language barrier that existed between Eastwood and his costars. Despite all that movie is still pretty well edited and the English dubbing is good. Who would have known then that what was originally supposed to be just another B-movie would have such a profound effect on cinema? Great movie, worth watching and owning if not for it's story at least for Eastwood's magnificent performance. Best one in the trilogy I think, but then again they are all great.

A Fistful of Dollars is easily one of the best spaghetti westerns you can get. The story is pretty simple. A mysterious gunslinger arrives in a town where its citizens are caught up in a rivalry between two rival gangs: Los Rojos and The Baxters. The gunslinger decides to use his extraordinary skills with his .45 to get in good with boths gangs in hopes of walking away a rich man. Sound familiar? That's because A Fistful of Dollars is an unauthorized adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's samurai classic, Yojimbo. Rather than being treated as another pulp film (like so many spaghetti westerns before and after), Fistful is treated with class. The direction and cinematography, while not as defined as director Sergio Leone's later work (I.e The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, Once Upon A Time In The West, ect.), is still leagues above the work you see in a lot of films today and the music by composer Ennio Morricone is simply amazing. The acting is terrific, especially from Clint Eastwood as the mysterious gunslinger. He hardly speaks, yet he's gone down in history as one of the most badass protagonists in cinema. While A Fistful of Dollars isn't as good as its two sequels, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, its still a great piece of Italian cinema. The film itself gets a 4/5 from me.But what about the blu-ray? Compared to the first two DVD releases, this is a great upgrade. Don't expect anything demo worthy, but colors and detail look fine when you consider that this was a low budget film that wasn't very pretty to begin with. This release also has an optional 5.1 audio track but its hardly an upgrade to the original mono track. The special features are all great as well, the highlight being a TV-only intro that was only shown the first night it aired on American television. However, if you already have the special edition DVD from 2004 then the blu-ray upgrades aren't quite as noticeable. They share all but one of the special features and the video quality is already pretty good on the DVD. Because of this, I'd give this blu-ray release a 3.5/5.All in all, A Fistful of Dollars is a fantastic film and this blu-ray release does it justice. If you still have your old DVD copy of this movie then an upgrade is a no brainer, However, I'd wait for a low price if you already have the 2004 DVD.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics released on both UHD + Blu-ray this first entry in what would become known as 'The Man with No Name Trilogy." directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood (in his first starring film) as a mysterious gunfighter who decides to come between two warring gun-running families in a western border town in order to play one off the other for his own personal profit, until the battle becomes more personal than he had intended. Influential and stylish film is rough in places but remains popular with good reason.Looking splendid in 4K, quite an upgrade over the previous DVD and Blu-ray sets, porting over those numerous extras and now including an audio commentary by the reliable Tim Lucas. I presently have no way to view the UHD disc, so my review is solely about the Blu-ray.