Fistful Of Dollars

Year: 1964

Grade: B+

Country: Italy

Director: Leone

Review

based on yojimbo, though not as good. the two warring factions of the town weren’t equally dispicable (like they were in yojimbo) and as a result clint eastwood was a sort of savior of the innocents, rather than a wise warrior teaching two warring families a lesson. kurosawa seems to oversimplify the stupidity of people and even though it may not be realistic, i like it. this movie didn’t do that to the same extent. not even eastwood can better mifune’s performance from the yojimbo, but he does a fine job. it’s hard for me to watch westerns based upon kurosawa movies because i always get caught up with the differences between the two… this one didn’t do as good a job as yojimbo in portraying the wanderer as equally intelligent as he is physically strong. the bartender in fistful of dollars wasn’t nearly as good as the owner of the sake shop in yojimbo. the bad guy in fistful of dollars wasn’t as well-rounded as the one in yojimbo. the town in fistful of dollars wasn’t as foreboding as the one in yojimbo, but leone did do a good job with it. the first glimpse of the town we get in yojimbo is of a dog carrying a human hand down the middle of a dusty road…in fistful of dollars it’s a small boy being chased away by a couple of thugs shooting at his feet as he runs away. that’s fine film making. it’s hard trying to followup a film like yojimbo, but fistful of dollars does a good job and actually has a very good ending and better score than the original.