"I knew someone like you once and they're was no one there to help. Now take that kid and get outta here." One of the most heartfelt lines in a movie ever. To know it was inspired by a Kurosawa flick? Makes me love it more
Reallly? Same here but honestly, the story was made for a Japanese jidaigeki. Unlike Fistful of Dollars, Yojimbo’s only gun wielding helps the character distinguish itself more than fistful of dollars. The cinematography is better in Yojimbo too. You just can’t beat a masterpiece like that.
Thats why in Kurosawa's Sanjuro, he made sure he incorporated some "copy protection." Basically scenes and elements impossible to include ina Western movie, like the stream with floating camellias.
I love both films but I just wish Leone would of gotten permission from Kurosawa first. It's kinda slimy. I love the Dollars Trilogy, especially A Few Dollars More...but this one leaves a sour taste in my mouth now. I've heard the defense that Kurosawa took inspiration from Red Harvest so it's not plagiarism when Leone did the same thing. But Yojimbo doesn't have the same plot as Red Harvest, it's inspired by it but the same events do not happen between Red Harvest and Yojimho, Yojimbo isn't an adaptation of Red Harvest. Fistful of Dollars, on the other hand, is very clearly a remake of Yojimbo. This isn't a situation where they were both adapting from the same source material, Fistful of Dollars has many of the same scenes. Same action beats, similar shot composition, same characters and same story events as what happen in Yojimbo, including events that only happen in Yojimbo and don't happen in Red Harvest. Scenes are practically identical, sometimes shot for shot It's clearly an unofficial remake of Yojimbo and I wish, like the creators of Magnificent Seven, they got Kurosawa's blessing to make it.
Well Leone atleast didn't make a fuss about it, he simply admitted it and gave Kurosawa his part. Leone had alot of respect for Kurosawa, just like pretty much every director that heard of him. But yes, he should have tried to get permission first, although it would probably be VERY hard to contact Kurosawa, especially in the 60s
It went full circle. Kurosawa inspired his samurai movies by american western. And then american western (and spaghetti western) were inspired by Kurosawa. Seven Samurai - A Magnificent Seven Yojimbo - A Fistful of Dollars
The full circle went more than you imagined. the original story was from Dashiell Hammet, _Red Harvest_ ,set in the 1930s just over in Mexico. This was finally done period as _Last Man Standing_ an homage to both Kurosawa and Leone.
Having watched both, Yojimbo is my favorite from the two. Such an ageless movie with great acting and costume design, the score for it is also amazing, despite being so simple.
These are both two epic movies and a masterpiece in their own rights! I am happy that they both have been made and we are so lucky we can enjoy them still after so many decades after they have been released 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I have never seen Yojimbo, and had no idea what the exact time period of the movie was, so I was absolutely stunned at 0:49 when the samurai just straight up pulls out a freaking revolver
I love both of these movies dearly, but Fistful of Dollars will always be my favorite because of Ennio Morricone's fantastic score. Both movies are great, Clint's revolver feels powerful and accurate as he fans it which parallels the sharpness, speed, a fear that Mifune's sword commands.
@@toamatau8785 So what you're saying is basically that Leone had absolutely no skill just because he copied this? What I meant is that you can copy a movie like The Room and it still won't make it good. Or you can copy an ok movie and make it even better, and this is what happened here.
Film buffs: "Itallian knock off films are always horrible." Sergio Leone: "Hold my vino. And get three Morricone scores ready." (Even if FoD is a knockoff, even if Yojimbo is better they're both ridiculously awesome films)
Despite the controversy, i love both films. Also i said it before and I'll say it again, they will never make movies like these again, heartbreaking to say. 😔
Apparently, Leone was trying to get the permission to call it a remake as he was making the movie. In an interview with Daren Aronofsky, Clint Eastwood talked about how he was already a fan of Kurosawa's films before he had even heard of Leone, and that he took Leone's script only because he thought it was a remake of Yojimbo. Clint told some reporters or something that it was a remake of Yojimbo but then someone on the team told him not to bring up Kurosawa or Yojimbo because rights to the remake "had not been finalized YET", lol. Still, I wouldn't call this an exact copy... it is like a remake without permission, not total plagiarism, imo. And Kurosawa sued him and won, and Leone never did it again, so it's all water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned. Now, R.P Sippy's blatant plagiarizing for the Indian classic Sholay, that is something I'm ashamed of, being of Indian descent myself. That man should have been sued by multiple affected parties, especially by Leone, but perhaps that would have been hypocritical of him, so Sippy got lucky.
Just watched both of them back to back. Yojimbo feels like it's more complete, with more characters and storylines, while Fistful cuts out a lot of "unnecessary fluff" so to speak, but as a result some moments it takes from Yojimbo make less sense. That said, both are very entertaining movies in their own regards.
As someone who was raised on Kurosawa films, this was a fantastic match up of the Eastwood movie remakes. Thank you so much for this vid comparison! Keep up the excellent work!
Ok, remakes are always a mistake, but Sergio Leone had something by his side: he was genius By the way both films meant a revolution in their genres: the jidai-geki and the western
Another story like a city need help with random people against a bandit. Yet it was remade by western theme and a pixar Animation about ants hired a "warrior" Like circus bugs against a cricket
Sergio Leone avrà pur copiato il soggetto e delle inquadrature, ma questo è uno dei pochi casi in cui "l'imitazione" supera l'originale. Per un pugno di dollari rimane nella storia
Interestingly not only did Sergio Leone rip off Yojimbo but it wasn't even Ennio Morricone who wrote the the music for Fist Full Of Dollars. It was Alessandro Alessandroni .
Really sorry sir but Alessandro was the guy who provides the iconic whistling for the music theme and it is an amazing performance to go with a great theme
I've always liked Yobimbo, and Sanjuro and ALL the Kurosawa/Mifuni work and since I was born and raised on the US/Mexico boarder I appreciate what you're trying to do by mixing the two different genre. But putting theme music from “Fistful of Dollars” in a masterpiece like Yojimbo is like trying to paint teeth on the Mona Lisa--you could do it, but veyond messing up something that's already perfect, what is the point?
They are both great. Although they are similar, you can clearly see that each one got some different styles. But since I've seen Yojimbo first, I would say it's better. Otherwise, it would be the other way around.
Watched both past week, here's my thoughts: Protagonist: FOD Cinematography: YJB Acting:FOD (narrowly) Story: YJB (narrowly) Villan: FOD Set Design: YJB Pace: FOD Creativity: YJB Soundtrack: FOD Action Choreography: YJB Some will say "But Yojimbo is the original", the point of a remake is to be faithful to the original but different enough to justify a remake, and that is exactly what A Fistfull of Dollars is, Leone and Eastwood never denied it.
leone's mistake was not to present his movie as a tribute version of Yojimbo .. that's why he was sued for plagiarism and Kurosawa himself later acknowledged that he received more royalties with Fistful of Dollars than with his own movie
"The wild western gun slinging Cowboys and the Americans who fought in the Revolution and won their freedom can also be called Samurai." - Kazunari Yamada
Can't believe kurosawa is suing Clint over "copyright infringement" screw off. They aren't carbon copies of each other. They got a few things in common with a general same overarching plot. You don't see Avatar having problems with pocahontas do you? Toho is clearly just being money hungry and they're bored for controversy.
And pretty much I still don’t understand how people call a fistful of dollars great, or a masterpiece or even a remake, it’s a complete rip off to yojimbo, but yes it’s praised only cuz it’s from the dollars trilogy, and Sergio Leone did it.
It doesent change the fact it’s a rip off. Sergio Leone even got sued for that, he wasn’t even authorized to remake yojimbo, how can people call an obvious rip off of another movie “great and enjoyable”, if that’s the case I want to make my own rip off of yojimbo and get away with it
I mean... if you rip off a masterpiece shot for shot, you've "technically" made a masterpiece, just not your own. To a person who doesn't know about the film that came before it, it does look like a Sergio Leone masterpiece.
The best and most memorable scene in Fistful is not based on Yojimbo. When Eastwood puts on the bulletproof vest, is iconic, even in Back to the Future you will see it. That's not in Yojimbo. There's also those funny lines from Eastwood. Leone wanted to do an imitation of Yojimbo, with a cheap budget, this kind of thing was very common, especially in low budget movies. Leone was so talented, that by doing a crude imitation of Yojimbo he made another masterpiece that he could look in the same mirror as Kurosawa's film. That is extremely difficult to achieve, make a remake of a great movie, and make it so great. Later, Leone showed that he was not a copycat in his next two movies; For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly even better than Fistful. If Leone hadn't stolen from Yojimbo, this movie wouldn't exist, and maybe neither would the dollar trilogy. Just love Fistful, that beautiful bastard.
Cultural exchange at its finest. On first glance Fistful is blatantly ripping of Yojimbo. But take a closer look at the aestetics and the way Yojimbo is filmed. It is clearly a western - just taking place in Japan. So ultimately, mutual inspiration made both american AND Japanese films better. There is no "clean" or "pure" culture. Forget about it. We have been inspired, appropriated and appreciated since the first cave paintings.
"I knew someone like you once and they're was no one there to help. Now take that kid and get outta here."
One of the most heartfelt lines in a movie ever. To know it was inspired by a Kurosawa flick? Makes me love it more
I saw Fistful of Dollars first even though I am Japanese. Both are my favorite movies. Thank you.
I am Japanese.
Fistful of Dollars is sh×t copy movie.
Reallly? Same here but honestly, the story was made for a Japanese jidaigeki. Unlike Fistful of Dollars, Yojimbo’s only gun wielding helps the character distinguish itself more than fistful of dollars. The cinematography is better in Yojimbo too. You just can’t beat a masterpiece like that.
I can't describe how euphoric it was watching these two masterpieces side by side. Thank you for that.
Well Stated !
the reason its such a good remake of yojimbo is because its literally just yojimbo, scene and all
Solid reasoning.
@@budakbaongsiah 1:40
Leone settled a lawsuit from Kurosawa over stealing from him in fistful.
@@kenkaplan3654 and kurosawa rightfully won it
Thats why in Kurosawa's Sanjuro, he made sure he incorporated some "copy protection." Basically scenes and elements impossible to include ina Western movie, like the stream with floating camellias.
Fistful of Dollars is a example of how do you make a masterpiece remake
If only Leone got permission from Kurosawa first
@@RandomAllen yeah
Remake? More like a stolen copy lmfao
@@bibi-we4lg facts
@@calogerogriffin861 It's still a good movie tho
I love both films but I just wish Leone would of gotten permission from Kurosawa first. It's kinda slimy. I love the Dollars Trilogy, especially A Few Dollars More...but this one leaves a sour taste in my mouth now. I've heard the defense that Kurosawa took inspiration from Red Harvest so it's not plagiarism when Leone did the same thing. But Yojimbo doesn't have the same plot as Red Harvest, it's inspired by it but the same events do not happen between Red Harvest and Yojimho, Yojimbo isn't an adaptation of Red Harvest. Fistful of Dollars, on the other hand, is very clearly a remake of Yojimbo. This isn't a situation where they were both adapting from the same source material, Fistful of Dollars has many of the same scenes. Same action beats, similar shot composition, same characters and same story events as what happen in Yojimbo, including events that only happen in Yojimbo and don't happen in Red Harvest. Scenes are practically identical, sometimes shot for shot
It's clearly an unofficial remake of Yojimbo and I wish, like the creators of Magnificent Seven, they got Kurosawa's blessing to make it.
And it is clearly as Kurosawa said Red Harvest inspired him to make Yojimbo.
Unlike Leone who clearly made a prototype without asking for permission.
Yeah
@@KBrianO That's not true. Kurosawa never said that Red Harvest inspired him, there is no evidence of him saying that.
Yes - what Leone did was slimy indeed.
Well Leone atleast didn't make a fuss about it, he simply admitted it and gave Kurosawa his part. Leone had alot of respect for Kurosawa, just like pretty much every director that heard of him. But yes, he should have tried to get permission first, although it would probably be VERY hard to contact Kurosawa, especially in the 60s
Both are legends. Rest in peace Leone and Kurosawa
It went full circle.
Kurosawa inspired his samurai movies by american western. And then american western (and spaghetti western) were inspired by Kurosawa.
Seven Samurai - A Magnificent Seven
Yojimbo - A Fistful of Dollars
The full circle went more than you imagined. the original story was from Dashiell Hammet, _Red Harvest_ ,set in the 1930s just over in Mexico. This was finally done period as _Last Man Standing_ an homage to both Kurosawa and Leone.
Kurosawa didn't steal plots scene by scene. He sued Leone, who settled for Fistful. Magnificent 7 bought the American screen rights from him.
The fight sequences from Yojimbo are just 🗿🤌
I like Yojimbo more, but they're both great.
Same here
I like both.
I like a fistful of dollars more
YoJimbo > Fist Full Of Dollars
Sanjuro was great, but For A Few Dollars More + The Good The Bad And The Ugly were incredible films.
Two more remakes of Yojimbo are Last Man Standing and The Warrior and the Sorceress. Both are great films. 😉
Great job, had been hoping someone out there had done an edit like this! many thanks :D
Having watched both, Yojimbo is my favorite from the two. Such an ageless movie with great acting and costume design, the score for it is also amazing, despite being so simple.
These are both two epic movies and a masterpiece in their own rights! I am happy that they both have been made and we are so lucky we can enjoy them still after so many decades after they have been released 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Straight up STOLE it
I have never seen Yojimbo, and had no idea what the exact time period of the movie was, so I was absolutely stunned at 0:49 when the samurai just straight up pulls out a freaking revolver
It's set at the end of the _Edo_ period, in 1860, just prior to the American Civil War. I hope you've seen _Yojimbo_ since posting your comment.
Yeah, it’s right around the end of the era of samurai as the Meiji restoration was only a few years later.
Turning the revolver into a Winchester in A Fistful Of Dollars WAS PURE GENUIS
Not just any revolver … a Colt Paterson revolver
@@weswolever7477 not right. Its a smith and wesson model no. 2 Army.
I love both of these movies dearly, but Fistful of Dollars will always be my favorite because of Ennio Morricone's fantastic score. Both movies are great, Clint's revolver feels powerful and accurate as he fans it which parallels the sharpness, speed, a fear that Mifune's sword commands.
We need more movie directors like Kurosawa and Leone...
just kurosawa would be fine lmao
@@kyriss7 He's not even that good weeb
@I3INARY_ Just because it has been copied doesn't mean it's good u fucking idiot, especially when compared to guys like Leone.
@@xraystudios3693 "just because it's been copied doesn't mean it's good. Anyways Leone is good because he copied this"
@@toamatau8785 So what you're saying is basically that Leone had absolutely no skill just because he copied this? What I meant is that you can copy a movie like The Room and it still won't make it good. Or you can copy an ok movie and make it even better, and this is what happened here.
So great movies. Kurosawa of course.
Makes me tear up a bit every time I watch this
The Music from the Mercenary didn't have to go so well but ooooooh boy did it. Gave me the chills 😢
That was amazing editing. Great job
just great: 'bravo!'
こういうスカッとした活劇がまた見てみたい。変に女を絡めない筋書きとしぶとい男臭いヒーローがいい。今のナヨっとした役者と映画界では望むべくもないが
Man... shut up!
@@01dirtydirk lol
back when remakes were good
Back when remakes were so different and unique
Both are legends.
Film buffs: "Itallian knock off films are always horrible."
Sergio Leone: "Hold my vino. And get three Morricone scores ready."
(Even if FoD is a knockoff, even if Yojimbo is better they're both ridiculously awesome films)
Thank you for this!!
Both great Movies
Despite the controversy, i love both films. Also i said it before and I'll say it again, they will never make movies like these again, heartbreaking to say. 😔
what controversy?
They are both masterpieces
Thank you great
I love this
I feel betrayed
That was god damn beautiful
Very well made. Thank you very much.
Grandes diretores com suas obras primas.
Apparently, Leone was trying to get the permission to call it a remake as he was making the movie. In an interview with Daren Aronofsky, Clint Eastwood talked about how he was already a fan of Kurosawa's films before he had even heard of Leone, and that he took Leone's script only because he thought it was a remake of Yojimbo. Clint told some reporters or something that it was a remake of Yojimbo but then someone on the team told him not to bring up Kurosawa or Yojimbo because rights to the remake "had not been finalized YET", lol. Still, I wouldn't call this an exact copy... it is like a remake without permission, not total plagiarism, imo. And Kurosawa sued him and won, and Leone never did it again, so it's all water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned.
Now, R.P Sippy's blatant plagiarizing for the Indian classic Sholay, that is something I'm ashamed of, being of Indian descent myself. That man should have been sued by multiple affected parties, especially by Leone, but perhaps that would have been hypocritical of him, so Sippy got lucky.
I feel that Yojimbo is the better movie, but they're about even in my book.
Just watched both of them back to back. Yojimbo feels like it's more complete, with more characters and storylines, while Fistful cuts out a lot of "unnecessary fluff" so to speak, but as a result some moments it takes from Yojimbo make less sense.
That said, both are very entertaining movies in their own regards.
-Bruce says
"Outstanding!"
This is great! Now you need to splice in Ashoka Tano from The Mandalorian, end of Seson 2, Ep 5.
I thought the same
Épico ese siera cine y la canción es la cereza en el pastel 👏👏👏🤠🤠
great :)
I love the characters and humor of yojimbo more
And this is how STAR WARS was born...
Thank u Ahmed Hussein 🙏
nicely done..
Fun fact, Akira Kurosawa sued Sergio Leone from Japan for plagiarism...
it's not a fun fact, everyone knows that 🙄
なるほど
wow... bahkan film yang aku anggap legend, ternyata meniru film yang lebih legend lagi 😅😅😅
A dose de Closes de Leone é muito maior. Ele reforça e acrescenta novas ferramentas estiltísticas e praticamente reinventa Yojimbo.
Don't forget "Last Man Standing", another remake of Yojimbo, released in 1996, with Bruce Willis. Now the plot is about gangsters.
¡-E-P-I-C-!
荒野のほうも面白かったよ。クリントの出世作だと思うと感慨深いね
both are great! but Yojimbo is the masterpiece!
and Last Man Standing too
Os estilos de ambos os diretores são diversos. Leone é baroco, operístico. Kurosawa é formal, dentro da linha mais tradicional de filmar.
As someone who was raised on Kurosawa films, this was a fantastic match up of the Eastwood movie remakes.
Thank you so much for this vid comparison!
Keep up the excellent work!
ไม่มีคำอธิบายสุดยอดครับผม THANKS.
びっくり ここまで外国の方が黒沢映画を知ってるとは、さすが世界の黒沢
Kurosawa is very well known to film enthusiasts in the west
Mr. Kurosawa is one of the most well-known film director in the world, actually. At least on the movie circle.
good ! [ dani no motojime ]
Ok, remakes are always a mistake, but Sergio Leone had something by his side: he was genius
By the way both films meant a revolution in their genres: the jidai-geki and the western
Why is everyone, so mad.
yojimbo is far superior
JØË VS SANJURO ❤
Akira, Sergio, Toshiro, Clint, Ennio. a magic pentacle?
Don’t forget Mifune Toshiro.
He played the yojimbo and a lot of main roles in Kurosawa’s film
موسيقى جميلة جدا .
Great - now just do a three way comparison - Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars and Bruce Willis in Last Man Standing !
My mistake … four coffins
I like yojimbo more!!
I like a fistful of dollars more
@Heinz Kissvelvet Oh, It's sh×t copy movie 😂
Me too ❤
ラホス､仲代､素晴らしい敵役😀
0:16 Yojimbo beats Fistfull by this hand.
now add Last Man Standing
Yojimbo with better guns.
Another story like a city need help with random people against a bandit. Yet it was remade by western theme and a pixar Animation about ants hired a "warrior" Like circus bugs against a cricket
Both great movies, but I personally prefer Yojimbo over a Fistful of Dollars
tocca, pe forza
Wow! I love both movies but to see the similarities presented like this is mind-blowing.
This has a few scenes from Sanjuro as well
Damn
no, all scenes are from Yojimbo
@@halflanding1900 no was José, 1:11 is from Sanjuro
@@jettmorgan-bourke3516 You mean the scene where he goes in to rescue the girl? I find it at 1:07:54 in Yojimbo.
@@halflanding1900 you were right, I watched Yojimbo last night and I realised I misremembered, I completely forgot that arc was in Yojimbo
0:30
Did Anyone Know The title Of This Theme?
L'Arena by Ennio Morricone! It's from the Zapata Western "The Mercenary" also used in Kill Bill Vol.2.
Sergio Leone avrà pur copiato il soggetto e delle inquadrature, ma questo è uno dei pochi casi in cui "l'imitazione" supera l'originale. Per un pugno di dollari rimane nella storia
Interestingly not only did Sergio Leone rip off Yojimbo but it wasn't even Ennio Morricone who wrote the the music for Fist Full Of Dollars. It was Alessandro Alessandroni .
Really sorry sir but Alessandro was the guy who provides the iconic whistling for the music theme and it is an amazing performance to go with a great theme
Source?
Fistful of Dollars 1964
Yojimbo 1961
so it was a copy... surprise.
I've always liked Yobimbo, and Sanjuro and ALL the Kurosawa/Mifuni work and since I was born and raised on the US/Mexico boarder I appreciate what you're trying to do by mixing the two different genre.
But putting theme music from “Fistful of Dollars” in a masterpiece like Yojimbo is like trying to paint teeth on the Mona Lisa--you could do it, but veyond messing up something that's already perfect, what is the point?
They are both great. Although they are similar, you can clearly see that each one got some different styles. But since I've seen Yojimbo first, I would say it's better. Otherwise, it would be the other way around.
Watched both past week, here's my thoughts:
Protagonist: FOD Cinematography: YJB
Acting:FOD (narrowly) Story: YJB (narrowly)
Villan: FOD Set Design: YJB
Pace: FOD Creativity: YJB
Soundtrack: FOD Action Choreography: YJB
Some will say "But Yojimbo is the original", the point of a remake is to be faithful to the original but different enough to justify a remake, and that is exactly what A Fistfull of Dollars is, Leone and Eastwood never denied it.
And last man standing with bruce willis also a sword and sandal movie with david carradine but that one was so bad it shouldn't count.
Last man standing great film.
ME GUSTA MAS EL ESTILO DEL JØË JAPONES 🇯🇵
Such an embarrassment for fistful lol
Why that? I mean, it was supposed to be a remake...
@@_blank-_ Really? I thought Clint Eastwood said that it was supposed to be a remake, and he did Fistful partly because he liked Yojimbo very much. 🤷
leone's mistake was not to present his movie as a tribute version of Yojimbo .. that's why he was sued for plagiarism and Kurosawa himself later acknowledged that he received more royalties with Fistful of Dollars than with his own movie
Nothing to be embarrassed about Fistful is a great western remake of a great Samurai movie. It actually did the original a great deal of good.
Yak it isn’t a remake it’s a rip off, if it was a remake Sergio leone wouldn’t have got sued.
The music makes fistful of dollars better
really adds some character and atmosphere
"The wild western gun slinging Cowboys and the Americans who fought in the Revolution and won their freedom can also be called Samurai." - Kazunari Yamada
Who is the man who made such a stupid statement?
I don't know 😂
Y Leone bien contento por que recibió una carta de reclamo firmada por el maestro Kurosawa
でもリメイクではなくて
違法で作ってるからなぁ
まるパクリ
でもイーストウッドだけは良いね
Can't believe kurosawa is suing Clint over "copyright infringement" screw off. They aren't carbon copies of each other. They got a few things in common with a general same overarching plot. You don't see Avatar having problems with pocahontas do you? Toho is clearly just being money hungry and they're bored for controversy.
a weeb being stupid again. just play your little videogames and leave these 2 greats alone.
@@josephine1465 the person may be a weeb but he said the truth. Japanese copyright law is sometimes a joke.
Yojimbo is an emotion
FFD is a decent remake
I think Fistful of Dollars is better
And pretty much I still don’t understand how people call a fistful of dollars great, or a masterpiece or even a remake, it’s a complete rip off to yojimbo, but yes it’s praised only cuz it’s from the dollars trilogy, and Sergio Leone did it.
Because it's still a great and enjoyable movie to watch you moron
It doesent change the fact it’s a rip off. Sergio Leone even got sued for that, he wasn’t even authorized to remake yojimbo, how can people call an obvious rip off of another movie “great and enjoyable”, if that’s the case I want to make my own rip off of yojimbo and get away with it
Yeah and? I enjoyed both movies
I mean... if you rip off a masterpiece shot for shot, you've "technically" made a masterpiece, just not your own. To a person who doesn't know about the film that came before it, it does look like a Sergio Leone masterpiece.
Yeah Fistul of Dollars is just so ridiculously mediocre, it’s eben the worst one in the trilogy tbh
The best and most memorable scene in Fistful is not based on Yojimbo. When Eastwood puts on the bulletproof vest, is iconic, even in Back to the Future you will see it. That's not in Yojimbo. There's also those funny lines from Eastwood.
Leone wanted to do an imitation of Yojimbo, with a cheap budget, this kind of thing was very common, especially in low budget movies. Leone was so talented, that by doing a crude imitation of Yojimbo he made another masterpiece that he could look in the same mirror as Kurosawa's film. That is extremely difficult to achieve, make a remake of a great movie, and make it so great.
Later, Leone showed that he was not a copycat in his next two movies; For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly even better than Fistful.
If Leone hadn't stolen from Yojimbo, this movie wouldn't exist, and maybe neither would the dollar trilogy. Just love Fistful, that beautiful bastard.
Cultural exchange at its finest.
On first glance Fistful is blatantly ripping of Yojimbo.
But take a closer look at the aestetics and the way Yojimbo is filmed. It is clearly a western - just taking place in Japan.
So ultimately, mutual inspiration made both american AND Japanese films better.
There is no "clean" or "pure" culture. Forget about it. We have been inspired, appropriated and appreciated since the first cave paintings.
To be honest, the western and the samurai film are the same genre, just with a different setting.
agreed, we build on the past no matter the cost or consideration