Somewhere on the internet I was reading about a list of the greatest westerns of all time. I was surprised that I had seen very many of them, to be fair I'm not a huge fan of the genre. However, I do feel the need to understand why John Ford is overwhelmingly revered. And some of the revisionist films I've seen (particularly those of Sam Peckinpah, and others like McCabe & Mrs. Miller, 3:10 To Yuma, etc...) have made me reconsider this.
Thus, I felt that I needed to visit "The Dollars Trilogy" directed by Sergio Leone starring Clint Eastwood. I think it's hard not to feel some of the influence of Sergio Leone even if you're not completely familiar with his films. Perhaps the distinctive evocative scores of Ennio Morricone that punctuated the films took on a life outside of the films in reproduction or parody. I can see how these films paved the way for the later revisionist film makers who followed and how Leone breathed new life into the genre with his distinctive style. I guess I was also interested to see how Leone would adapt one of Kurosawa's great films, Yojimbo (which in itself was a thinly veiled adaptation of one of my favorite Dashiell Hammett novels Red Harvest) in A Fisful of Dollars. This the film that plucked Clint Eastwood from obscurity and thrust him ito the limelight with his star making performance. In this film Leone established many of the traits that would be repeated in the following two episodes of the trilogy. For A Few Dollars More is probably the most overlooked since it is in the middle, but has its merits as well. In particular it presents the west as place of personal loss and sexual brutality that would influence future westerns and introduces Lee Van Cleef who will also appears in the final installment. There is a great performance by Klaus Kinski in this film as well. I think it is generally understood that The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is the crowning achievement of the series and one of the all-time great westerns. Eli Wallach has often been singled out for his performance as Tuco. It is known as morality study that has more nuance than is usually seen in westerns.
Bonus: Here's an introduction to "Spaghetti Westerns" from the Onion AV Club.
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