Iconic, game-changing Western (Fistful Of Dollars, A (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Fistful Of Dollars, A (DVD)
Date:	02/09/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant performances and action

Disadvantages: None

note: also appears in part on The Student Room and Flixster

A Fistfull of Dollars is the first in the spaghetti western trilogy by legendary Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, which also included The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, and also For A Few Dollars More. They all depict the exploits of the notorious Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood), as he treks across various terrains with his skill in weaponry and sheer guile as his tools.

In Fistfull, he arrives at a border town named San Miguel, where two mob families are warring, and essentially Eastwood's character plays both sides against the middle, promising to both that he will put the other to rest. He hopes that he can make a hefty sum with this rouse, although isn't naive enough to expect that he can make a clean getaway - he'll encounter plenty of gunfire and bloodshed, but will he be able to make it out alive? The fact there's two sequels (even if they are only sequels spiritually) obviously tells you the answer, and there's never any fear that Eastwood's going down for the count, but there's some genuinely intense moments in this film, notably as Eastwood goes along to a gunfight and tricks the other gunmen into thinking that he is dead with the genius use of a metal plate.

The film is highly influential and has been parodied and copied throughout numerous genres - the aforementioned metal sheet scene was perhaps best copied in Back to the Future Part 3 (and there I was as a child, thinking that it was original to that film!). Eastwood's performance and sheer presence is what undeniably makes the film an absolute treat - his rough-shaven, greasy appearance and level of badassery makes him a delight to watch, and whilst he's something of a rogue, he's without a doubt a loveable one. Iconic isn't even the word.

An action-packed, firmly-plotted western with a stellar lead performance from Clint Eastwood as the iconic, seminal anti-hero of cinema. Ennio Morricone's soundtrack is marvellous, and there are many iconic scenes abound. A great start to the trilogy.

Summary: One of the best westerns