So yeah, this is part of a loosely connected trilogy of movies, where Clint Eastwood plays the same character, "The Man With No Name" or "Blondie". Would highly recommend both of the other ones if you two enjoyed this one. (the others being of course, the follow up to this film, For A Few Dollars More and the epic, critically acclaimed The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.. which is actually a prequel to the Dollars movies.. probably one of the first Prequels to ever be made)
I always thought it was a prequel too, as the Good the Bad and the Ugly is set earlier during the civil war. But how the hell did Blondie blow 100,000 dollars (half for Tuco) by the time he reached San Miguel. There is also a veiled reference to The Man With No Name it Clint's later movie Joe Kidd when Mr Harlan remarks that Joe once hunted men.
@@joehart7260 Well for one thing, it kind of gives the game away when Leone re-uses other actors like Gian Maria Volontè and Lee Van Cleef to play different characters in more than one of these movies. Clint isn't playing the same character either... but he might as well be, for all the difference it makes.
@@paintedjaguar Yeah, Chico the fat bearded guy in Fistful becomes Nino in FAFDM and the union soldier thrown off the train by Tuco in TGTBATU. Not sure about Clint though. He was called Joe after all in Fistful and he's Joe Kidd in Clint's later movie. It was Clint's movie, so maybe he just wanted to acknowledge the character.
Italian director Sergio Leone loved traditional American westerns, especially those by the great director John Ford, and his "spaghetti westerns" are a stylized, exaggerated amalgamation of his favorite elements from those westerns. For his masterpiece "Once Upon A Time In The West", Leone even traveled all the way to Arizona's Monument Valley, a favorite location of Ford's, to shoot two sequences.
Yes, "Once Upon A Time In The West" is often forgotten when it comes to Leone, cause it's not part of the famous Dollar-trilogy. But it is truly his masterpiece - and in general a masterpiece of the Western genre.
Actually this is a direct ripoff of Akira Kurosawa's "yojimbo" , as was "magnificent seven " a copy of his "seven samurai". Believe Kurosawa even sued and won
@@t0dd000 I can imagine it's not for everyone. Esp. it's very slow paced, the more by todays standards. I personally love it and think it's a masterpiece. So many iconic scenes. And yes, the one at the beginning is definitely one of them. There was a local cinema that did reruns of it every few month back in the 80s when I was a teen, and my friends and me always went there. We new nearly all of the dialogs by heart. One of my friends always started saying the Charles Bronson lines when he was drunk at the most unfitting locations, like to the bouncer when we wanted to get into a club. It's a miracle he never got a good beating for that... :D
Yes. And after that they are ready for Sergio Leones absolute masterpiece "Once Upon A Time In The West". Even though it lacks Clint Eastwood, it has a great cast and lifted the Western Genre - that he as one of the inventors and the forefront of Italo-Westerns already redefined - to a whole new level.
@@Blutteufel Yes. But still it's the established term for those 3 movies and is even marketed as such. And even if it was not planed as and is not a 3-part continuous story, the 3 movies share enough thematic and other commons, that the term trilogy fits in retrospective.
This movie was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's classic samurai movies, particularly Yojimbo (which has essentially the same plot), and it revolutionized the Western genre. It introduced the infallible protagonist that was copied by many in later years. For a different take on the genre at the time, I recommend Shane, The Big Country, and High Noon. All three are classics from that era. The modern classics like Tombstone and Unforgiven stylistically have a lot in common with High Noon and Shane.
It wasn't inspired by Yojimbo, it IS Yojimbo, almost scene by scene, just in a different setting. Kurosawa sued Leone for plagiarism and the court ruled that he had to be paid part of the film's revenue. Kurosawa later jokingly said that "For a Fistful of Dollars" was "his" most profitable film.
This was technically a foreign film from Italy which is why it’s called a Spaghetti Western. This was a re-imagining of the genre.A lot of American westerns were pretty formulated for their time. This caused the studios to get lazy in making movies. This also happened with gangster movies, war movies and a lot of movies up to the 60’s. But there’s still some good American westerns. There’s some good John Wayne movies that were made with John Ford .
Your right A Fistful of Dollars along with 2 other Westerns in the Dollars Trilogy For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly were filmed Italy and Spain. When The Good, The Bad The Ugly was released in 1966 along with other films Internationally finally in US in 1967 the films made Clint Eastwood an international star. They were called Spaghetti Westerns in which numerous stars appeared in including Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson in Once A Upon A Time In The West. Lee Van Cleef appeared in several spaghetti westerns in 1960s and 1970s and James Coburn. There are plenty of good Clint Eastwood westerns released in US but High noon is a classic to along with Shane. John Wayne had numerous classics and liked some of westerns more from 1950s into 1960s like True Grit and even his final film released in 1976 The Shootist.
Sergio Leone is a very special filmmaker. The budgets got bigger after each installment in the Dollars Trilogy, and it shows. The middle film, Few Dollars More is probably the tightest and best of the three, just because Good Bad & Ugly - although many people's favourite - is a bit too long, but it does have great music and an iconic ending. His masterpiece is Once Upon A Time In The West - the greatest western ever made, and possibly the greatest movie in any genre.
I would put Once upon a Time in America as his best film, every inch as great as The Godfather's first two movies; and as for greatest western ever made, while West is one of them, there is just no movie that could ever be made that will ever surpass several of those that John Ford or Howard Hawks did. There are plenty of western classics that are equal to West. At its peak, there were just too many masterpieces in the genre. Today it might be a forgotten genre, but when it was on, it produced some towering cinema... as long as black and white and Technicolor don't scare you, that is.
I agree, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is the greatest Spaghetti Western ever made - hell, the first 13 minutes with Jack Elam, Woody Stroud and Charles Bronson is worth the price of the ticket!
@@jollyrodgers7272 I have to disagree. "Once upon a time in the West" is not really a Spaghetti Western anymore, since it was produced in the US, with mainly american actors and crew. Therefore, the best "true" italian Western is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". It is no accident that Leone's last three films (of only 7 he ever created as a director, not counting his last unfinished movie about the siege of Leningrad) are called the "America Trilogy", even though they are not really a trilogy. But each of them takes a look at a specific american (continent) myth: The Wild West (and its end), the Mexican Revolution and the Mobsters of the early 20th century. The "Dollar Trilogy" is completely different, even though it also takes place in the Wild West.
@@panther7748Discordo porque o capital majoritário foi italiano, a equipe técnica foi toda italiana, portanto a concepção foi de um diretor e técnicos italianos; e também teve participação de muitos atores italianos.
The trilogy is fabulous ,especially "the good, the bad and the ugly". The masterpiece is still "Once upon a time in the west". It s not only the best western, but , like many others think, i think it s still the best movie ever made. Every shot in this movie is like a painting, the music, the frame , the light, dialogs etc ...perfect .
Totally. Once Upon A Time is the one where Leone brought all the elements together into one definitive masterpiece. Eric and Sarah need to watch it ASAP. If they put it off, I guarantee they'll be like, "SHIT, we should have watched this one sooner!" 👍
Sou brasileiro e estou totalmente de acordo. Mas Il Buono, il bruto, il cattivo também é uma obra-prima. São dois filmes geniais no mesmo patamar, apenas diferem no ritmo. Sergio Leone criou um estilo único, imbatível, inigualado ainda. Parecia um verdadeiro artista do renascimento.
One of the VERY few western's to win the Oscar for best picture, the film "Unforgiven", from 1992. It too stars Clint Eastwood. Another iconic western, and the only Oscar won by John Wayne, is "True Grit" from 1969. My Grandpa would take me to Shines Cinema movie theater when I was very young. I would have been 5 when I saw this. Western's ruled the movies from the first film until about the 80's. The first "motion picture" is of a horse from the side. I think the first actual movie was "Nations Pride". Anyway, please don't give up on the genre until you've seen what's out there.
Personally, this is my favorite Clint Eastwood Western. It has a very simple linear plot, but it's also groundbreaking in ushering in a new era of how to make Westerns: shady protagonist, character closeups, graphic and bloody violence, tense music, witty dialogue. There are a lot of shots in this movie that I've seen copied in later films and not just Westerns.
gotta say, i'm *thrilled* that you're posting reactions so frequently. we're all glad you're back so don't get burned out, keep it fun, etc etc. that said, *thrilled* _and_ all great choices too.
Some westerns worth a watch: Stagecoach (1939), The Oxbow Incident (1942), High Noon (1952), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962),The Shootist (1976), and Unforgiven (1992).
Another great western is The Magnificent Seven. A group of Mexicans hire gunmen from Texas to defend their town from bandits. The lead gunman holds auditions for potential hires. This movie has been accused of plagiarism because there was a Japanese movie called Seven Samurai with a similar plot. These samurais are actually ronins because they don't work for a lord.
It's not as well known but after the Eastwood trilogy Leone made the best western of all time, Once Upon a Time in the West. Hope you guys can check it out.
The next one and direct Sequel to this on in the Dollar's trilogy or Man with no name trilogy is For a Few Dollars More. Which is also fantastic. Then to round out the trilogy it's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which isn't only a great Western but a must watch on anyone's Film list.
Great start to the trilogy. They just get better and better. You should definitely watch “Once Upon a Time in the West” one of the greatest westerns ever put to film.
For many, myself included, Once Upon A Time In The West is the greatest western ever made. It’s one of my all time favorite movies ever. Sergio and Ennio were geniuses.
Before I became a cinephile I didn't watch Westerns either. More because I thought they mythologized the Western era. Especially as an Indian (not Native American), I always sympathized with the Native Americans. And there is a lot of that, but if you watch a lot of them you'll realize what a flexible genre it can be. This movie was an unofficial remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo which was itself a loose adaptation of the pulp classic Red Harvest. Westerns had a huge impact on Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai which ended up influencing a lot of directors of Westerns. I know a lot of comments will tell you to watch the rest of the trilogy, and you should, but I've always preferred Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. If I were to put together a short list of important westerns it would go something like this: Fort Apache (1948) Red River (1948) Winchester '73 (1950) The Searchers (1956) [Not one of my favorites, but it was hugely influential on the genre] Seven Men from Now (1956) The Tall T (1957) Man of the West (1958) Ride Lonesome (1959) Rio Bravo (1959) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) Ride the High Country (1962) Django (1966) The Wild Bunch (1967) The Great Silence (1968) Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
As for non Clint westerns I would say: Shane, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, The Magnificent Seven, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 3:10 to Yuma (the 1957 version)
The first of Clint's "spaghetti westerns", followed by "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". I saw TGTBTU walking into a theater with some friends, with no idea what movie I was about to see. Wow.
Stumbled upon you guys due to this film, which is among my favorite westerns. I grew up on this genre, & remember so many growing up. Glas y'all liked this, & hope you do rest of the trilogy. IMO, Ennis Morricone plays the greatest part in what makes these movies so memorable. On this journey, if I may suggest a few that are key to "the Westerns": "Rio Lobo", "The Wild Bunch", "Three Godfathers", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "The Sons of Katie Elder", "Once Upon a Time in the West" (top 5 of mine), "Unforgiven", "A Fistful of Dynamite"...ok, I'll stop lol. Think I'll keep looking at your channel, I like your commentary.
22:53 - 'The Man with No Name' 'A Fistful Of Dollars' is often regarded as the first of a trilogy, along with 'For A Few Dollars More' and 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly'. However, the proper term should be trio not trilogy because these three movies are entirely separate stories with no continuity between them. Confusion often arises when viewing these movies because the director, Sergio Leone, would use the same actors across multiple films in different roles. Case in point, Lee Van Cleef is in both the second and third movie (of the trio) as different characters. The actor who plays Ramon is in both the first and second movie as different characters. And there's also an ensemble of actors who span all three movies. From 1972, a handful of authors contributed to the 'Man with No Name' series of books based upon the character played by Clint Eastwood in the movies, which further adds to the confusion. Here are the remaining titles of the book series... BOOK 4 - A Coffin Full of Dollars BOOK 5 - A Dollar to Die For BOOK 6 - The Devil's Dollar Sign BOOK 7 - The Million-Dollar Bloodhunt BOOK 8 - Blood For a Dirty Dollar If you both, or any viewers, are keen to watch more spaghetti westerns, here are a few recommendations... Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards. (Each character has own musical theme.) Django (1966) Lead actor, Franco Nero has a cameo appearance in Django Unchained (also a main role in Die Hard 2.) Death Rides a Horse (1967) - Lee Van Cleef My Name is Nobody (1973) - Terence Hill The Five Man Army (1969) - Peter Graves (Played Ethan Hunt in original 'Mission:Impossible' series) They Call Me Trinity (1970) - Terence Hill, Bud Spencer [Spag-West-Com] Trinity Is Still My Name (1971) - Terence Hill, Bud Spencer [Spag-West-Com] Duck, You Sucker! (1971) aka 'A Fistful of Dynamite' - Rod Steiger [In The Heat of The Night] James Coburn [The Magnificent Seven]
The Script Girl is the Script Supervisor, who ensures the continuity of takes by taking photos & tracking every scene, making sure there’s no inconsistencies like wardrobe, etc.
The Golden Age of Westerns was in the 30s and 40s. After WW2 they became a little darker and were sometimes called psychological westerns. Sergio Leone breathed a lot of life into the genre into the 60s. John Ford was a great director, you could try Stagecoach or The Searchers. My own favourite is The Tall Men. The Big Country is an epic and introduces its hero to the west so that could be good to try. Finally Clint directs himself in The Outlaw Josey Wales.
"The Big Country" (1958) has big scenery, a big score, larger than life characters, a cast full of big names, and a fairly long run time. It's one of my favorite Westerns.
I mean, more that a great director, I would say that John Ford is a valid candidate, among others, to greatest director of all time. Funnily enough, he was/is the favourite director of both Hayao Miyazaki and Akira Kurosawa, probably the most mainstream known Japanese directors outside of Asia. Go figure. Leone did breath life into the genre, but so did Peckinpah, another giant, and Ford was at his most self-reflective. That the old dog could churn out almost meta pieces like Liberty Valance and proto feminist cinema like Seven Women at his age and stage of career is rather impressive.
@@Dacre1000 Proto feminist? How about "Westward the Women" (1951), directed by the once pretty famous William Wellman? Although the truth is that movie women in general from the 30s through the 50s were a lot more feisty than feminist mythology would have us believe... 🤫
Eastwood's western characters often come from nowhere and freak the hell out of the bad guys. I would recommend: Hang Em High, Pale Rider, Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Outlaw Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter Unforgiven,. Also the ones that follow on from Fistful of Dollars: For a Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Loved your reaction. Westerns overall vary; some have more humour than others
I was around 10 the first time I saw this film and it caught me off guard and blew me away. I had only watched the tv show “Gunsmoke” which was fun and corny. “Fistful” was cool, Clint was cold yet warm, and Leone’s directing/cinematography with Morricone’s music cemented my love of Westerns. Now I live in New Mexico where a lot of actual Old West history took place, and the land looks very much like the scenery in this film. Glad you all liked this film, great reaction!
If you do all three movies, I highly recommend following them with Once Upon a Time in The West. It doesn’t have Clint Eastwood, but in my opinion, it goes extremely well right alongside these three. It technically still has the Man With no name character, obviously played by a different actor.
This movie is a remake of a Japanese samurai movie called Yojimbo directed by Akira Kurosawa. It would be well worth your while to watch some Kurosawa movies, as he is considered by many to be one of the greatest movie directors of all time (not to dismiss the greatness of Sergio Leone and this movie).
Lovely reaction to a great movie may I say though in my opinion one of the best westerns ever made was"ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST" starring Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda and the music is sublime by the great Ennio Moriccone.👍
This film is the first in a trilogy..”For a few dollars more” and “The good, the bad and the ugly”. Each film gets better and better. Also Ennio Morricone does the score for all of them and the music is the best for any film…period.
In First Blood, Rambo just wanted something to eat. In Fistful of Dollars, Eastwood just wanted to get some water. In both cases, all hell broke loose. 😅
Ok, so this one is great. No doubt about it. But PLEASE do yourself a really big favor and watch Mr. Leone's masterpiece, "Once Upon A Time In The West". Don't put it off, watch it as soon as you can. You won't be disappointed, I promise you. Sergio brought it all together in this one. It stars Henry Fonda as a truly evil villain. And the score will blow your mind. Very emotional music. Regards from Illinois!!! 🤘😎
I hope you will eventually watch Akira Kurasawa's Yojimbo, which Fistful is a remake of. Other quality westerns - Quick and the Dead, directed by Sam Raimi The Frisco Kid, with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, with Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck
Was checking to see if the Kurosawa point had already been raised. Yojimbo is one of my favorite movies of all time (Seven Samurai is #1) with the pairing of Kurosawa's legendary direction and Toshiro Mifune's on-screen presence! Eastwood is right up there with his portrayal of "Blondie" in the Dollars Trilogy.
I grew up on Westerns and WWII movies, but the Western I'll always remember the most is "How The West was Won" mainly because my parents took two carloads of neighborhood kids in two station wagons to the century theater in Denver. The theater had a huge 180-degree screen. I also came down with measles during the movie as did all the other kids but that was the way of it for immunity back then we did not try to avoid it.
"How long is the 'western' period?" The 'wild west' is the common name to the period following the Civil War (1860-65) to about 1895, but some push the period to the start of WW1. For such a relatively short time period, it has so much lore and history attached.
This is tricky to use as an entry point into viewing how westerns developed, because the Dollars Trilogy (and the "spaghetti westerns" in general) was a massive paradigm shift in the western genre itself. Prior to this, US-made westerns were very generally more straight-forward "virtuous good guy VS despicable bad guy" tales, made in a very workman-like fashion. Leone brought in awe-inspiring cinematography (that revolutionised cinema as a whole), epic scores and stories and characters absolutely drenched in gray instead of black and white. There was a lot of resentment towards these films on release because of their moral ambiguity - John Wayne infamously despised them. But then, John Wayne can sit the fuck down and shut the f**k up. For the record? This is, by far, the lesser of the three films. For A Few Dollars More is outstanding, and The G/B/U is one of the greatest films of all time, western or otherwise.
You are talking about John Ford´s Stagecoach. That movie revolutionized cinema with its use of cinematography (Welles admits that it was his greatest inspiration in making Kane) and added complexity to the genre, getting rid of black hats and white hats. Howard Hawks, Sturges, Boetticher, Raoul Walsh, Anthony Mann, Andre de Toth, Nicholas Ray, William Wellman and a lot of etceteras were the extreme opposite of workman like directors and simplistic black and white content. Generally speaking, the genre was already far away from all that by the time Leone was shooting Rhodas. Leone brought an italian mix of realistic and mythical sense of filmmaking to a more poetic and folkloric traditional style, with cynicism and moral humanity that, alongside people like Peckinpah, would usher both what its called the revisionist western (a more historically accurate depiction of the times and its people in opposition to the classic western´s more symbolic one) and the twilight western (a lament of the loss and a contradiction of the beautiful ideals that the traditional western used to represent by way of showing a more realistic one). Both fit like a glove during the turbulent Kennedy assassination, Vietnam war and civil rights movements of the 60s and the post Watergate disillusioned America of the 70s.
I saw "A Fistful of Dollars" at a movie theater and what puzzled me was the lack of "Story by" information. Later on, a Samurai movie fan mentioned "Yojimbo" (1961), and Kurosawa's suit against Sergio Leone confirmed that fact. 3:38 That's a Serape, NOT a poncho.
Glad to see you guys back in style. Three great reactions back to back! If you guys want to see the evolution of Westerns before Sergio Leone/Eastwood breathed new life into this genre John Wayne was the face of it, The Searchers I believe is the one most people recommend although I have never seen it. It is interesting seeing how the cultural zeitgeist changed with the different styles of Westerns. Before there was always the good guys and the bad guys or white hats and black hats coming from the black and white days of film where the hero always wore a white hat and the bad guys wore black. It eventually grew stagnant but then came Sergio Leone, an Italian hence Spaghetti Western, who breathed new life by making among other things the protagonist morally ambiguous, at least moreso than in the past. The use of violence was also a thing that differentiate past Westerns by showing people being gunned down in the same shot whereas before there was a cut between gunfire and a person being killed.
"the hero always wore a white hat and the bad guys wore black" Famous black-wearing cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy and Richard Boone's morally ambiguous gunslinger Paladin would like to have a word with you... 😁 and what about Mr Brown Hat here? ---> 🤠
This trilogy was disrespected in the 1960’s by critics mainly bc of the violence. However in the 21st century nearly everyone understands these are among the greatest Westerns ever produced. Kudos to the art work of Sergio Leone (note how beautiful is the prisoner swap scene,) the writing and especially the incredible score via Ennio Morricone. (Remember I’m speaking of the trilogy) 🎉. Ps: Sarah is correct: $500 is a ton in the late 19th century 😊. Trivia: this called “the man w no name,” but that’s incorrect: Clint’s name here is Joe; part 2 is Manco; pt 3 Blondie. All the non-English speakers for the trilogy had their voices dubbed
Lovely to have you back. Enjoyed First Blood. For A Few Dollars More is my favourite in the trilogy. If you do The Good, The Bad and The Ugly you might consider breaking it up into 2 or 3 parts. Such a lovely couple seriously x
My favorite scene is the exchange - the old man brings out his shotgun - the guy is like pfft....then Clint stands up and suddenly he has an itch on his shoulder. Crisis averted - then Clint takes change for both the dad/kid and the mom
Tombstone is one of the best western imo. It is one of the more historical accurate movies of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. Val kilmer got nominated for an osca as Doc.
1. The General (1926) by Buster Keaton 2. Once Upon a Time in The West (1968) by Sergio Leone. Siergio Leone has music by Ennio Morricone. Most famous piece of western film music is The Good The Bed and The Ugly (1966).
The American Wild West period typically dates from 1843 with the Oregon Trail's first wagon train, and saw it's last wagons in the 1880's, primarily due to railroad domination. California was the focus of westward expansion beginning in 1849 when the Gold Rush started. The end of the Wild West period was roughly 1900, as the contiguous western territories became states and admitted into the Union - the last being Arizona and New Mexico in 1912. The first forty or fifty years of the 1800s was the Mountain Man and Fur Trapper era in the American West. Prior to that, the 'frontier' had been further East.
It has been noted in the comments that this is a remake of Yojimbo Other Kurosawa films worth watching are Seven Samurai ( remade in 1960 as The Magnificent Seven) Sanjuro, Stray Dog, Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress ( on which Star Wars was based,) and my personal favourite Ikiru ( with a stupendous performance by Takashi Shimura)
Sergio’s Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America are great, with In the West classic. Spielberg, Lucas, and Scorsese would tell you to start with John Ford. Go way back and watch Stagecoach. This 1939 film is one of the templates of western cinema.
So, as with any genre, westerns aren't about the west. They are human drama, good and evil, relationships, bravery, cowardice and every kind of drama, power struggle and romantic intrigue of the human condition. They are merely set in a western milieu. I loved your perceptions and take on this (not early) older example. Great job.
Great reaction guys!! Glad you enjoyed this movie and you will definitely enjoy the next 2 in the trilogy. My favorite of his Westerns is The Outlaw Josey Wales from 1976. Fantastic movie where he is just a badass with numerous pistols on him. Once A Upon A Time in the West is another classic Western you have to see with some huge stars in it.
These spaghetti westerns were made by Italian filmmakers and i think shot in Spain. The actors often spoke their own languages thus the dubbing. I think i recognize a voice or two from the Speed Racer anime from the 70s. These voice actors were prolific. However Clint always used his voice.
Well, guys! This is the first of a trilogy. The next is "For a few dollars more" then "The good, the bad and the ugly". The next two are much better than this one. As for the music, it is by the great "Ennio Morricone"(RIP). As for the director, Sergio Leone, he has been an inspiration for Tarantino. These were called Spaghetti westerns as they were made by italian directors with a very small budget. The best western ever was also a Sergio Leone movie from 1968 : "Once upon a time in the west", featuring Claudia Cardinale, Henry Ford, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards. Ennio Morricone's music was epic: still is.
Like you I grew up in a time when the Western was in a state of decline (1980s) and mostly dismissed it as boring or irrelevant. When I tried watching the older movies, what amazed me was how diverse they are. There are Western comedies, Western romances, Western legal dramas, Western historical epics, horror Westerns, Canadian and Australian Westerns, Westerns from the Native perspective, Western crime sagas, Western family movies...there really is something for everyone. Eastwood made UNFORGIVEN in 1992 which people sometimes call "the last Western" in terms of story, but the genre is still chugging along today. A decent number of them are made every year, with a few even getting theatrical releases, and the "neo-Western" (Western style stories set in modern day) is thriving with shows like YELLOWSTONE. Glad to see you guys back, enjoyed this reaction, thanks.
I have always loved westerns, especially "spaghetti" westerns. This series is one of my all-time favorites. I suppose the most important thing about "A Fistful of Dollars" is that it is almost a frame-by-frame copy of "Yojimbo" by Akira Kurosawa. "Yojimbo" makes my personal short list for best movies of any genre ever made. But copy-catting notwithstanding, "A Fistful of Dollars" is still a great movie, and the next two in the series are even better (if such were possible). You are in for a treat!
You guys may want to check out another Leone western comedy with Henry Fonda and Terrence Hill. Same spaghetti western genre with Morricone's music but more lighthearted I loved it as a kid (edit derp: movie is My Name is Nobody)
He is known as the Man with No Name. In the 3rd movie he was called Blondie. These movies were filmed in Italy. While on active duty, my ship was stationed in Naples, Italy harbor. We were always called "Joe"
The spaghetti westerns were good, but you'll want to try other westerns too. Of course, you'll want to try some John Wayne movies. I like Sons of Katie Elder, Big Jake, Rio Bravo/El Dorado, etc. Tombstone is an amazing movie, and Silverado is also worth a watch. And, eventually, you must watch Unforgiven. For Clint Eastwood, I'd recommend The Outlaw Josey Wales, Hang Em High, Pale Rider, and Two Mules for Sister Sara on top of the Dollars Trilogy.
The Wild Bunch is a movie to watch. So ahead of its time in terms of the action and violence levels. My all time favourite Western movie, with a great director.
Good ups. Now if you haven't done any yet, your first Japanese/Samurai film can be Yojimbo (1963). A Fistful of Dollars is a rewrite of Yojimbo. Western and Samurai genres are very similar, and not just limited to trading a sword duel for a gun duel.
Spaghetti Westerns are the true golden era of the genre. They created everything that comes to your head at the instant you think of the wild west: The type of music (like you said at the very beginning), the antihero tough guy protagonist, etc
You have to remember through the 50's and 60's westerns were like superhero movies today. They absolutely dominated film and tv. Like any popular genre there's a lot of good and bad but the western genre is full of absolute classics from the days of black and white really into current times every once in awhile. While not a western, you might want to check out a loose remake of this story called Last Man Standing from 1996. It's set in the prohibition era with Bruce Willis in the same basic role as Eastwood here.
For earlier important westerns: High Noon; Shane; The Searchers; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, this last one, just two years earlier than FF of D, but with the old guard cast. I enjoyed this reaction. Much love.
As others have said, watch the very loosely connected Dollar Trilogy on the order they were made. You get to see a directors growth in skill and budget. Something else to consider it that this movie is an adaption of an Akira Kurosawa samurai movie titled 'Yojimbo' (1961). 'Fistful' is one of the best adaptions out there. The director kept what worked and changed what was necessary to make it work in a western.
Clint plays the part “the man with no name”. So…..no name! Enjoy the trilogy. First two are great, the third is FANTASTIC! In my opinion of course. Cheers from one who watched these for the first time at the drive-in movies in the 60’s…..
Growing up, what I saw the most were Western network TV shows, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman etc. I'm sure others will disagree but those can be pretty dull. It wasn't until I started watching Western movies that it got fun. The network shows just had too many restrictions. They had to be family friendly, very limited violence. Every episode had to teach positive moral values.
A Fistful Of Dollars is a classic and one I have to enjoy as gotten older as more into The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and For A Few Dollars More. I just watched The Good The Bad and The Ugly the other night on Sundance Channel. I grew up watching Clint Eastwood with my dad and 36 years old now . I have seen each western many times and been a Clint Eastwood since I was about 8 years old.
Western can be a pretty difficult genre to pin down. Some are pretty strict and want to define the genre as these lone rugged hero in the desert films such as this one, RDR1 style if you will, which is definitely how the genre is stereotypically known. Most would however include everything set in the old west, which would include stuff like RDR2. I do have a recommendation for something that is more on the RDR2 style of western since I know you loved that game a lot, and that’s the long titled “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”.
I was 11 when that movie came out. 20 cents for the bus trips, 50 cents to get into the show, 20 cents for popcorn and 10 cents for a pop. One dollar in total. It took a few weeks to set aside the buck. A really fun afternoon for an 11 year old to be sure. Just be home for dinner. lol
There was a time in cinema that westerns had violence but no blood, no super dark themes, just big rancher taking the lands of local farmers and were more commonly referred to as "Cowboy Movies". The movies made a move to darker subjects starting with a movie called "Shane" starring Alan Ladd. You should watch this movie, you will see the one that transformed the old style western to the modern style that all others copied
For Eastwood westerns I would watch - For a few dollars more, The Good bad and ugly, Hang em high, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider, and then finish with Unforgiven. Thanks for the reaction!
The classic setting for westerns is after the Civil War, 1865, and ending with Arizona's admission into the United States,1912. Think of the western as a form, like a sonnet. it is very rigid in its form, 14 lines, an octet and a sestet. Within that form, a sonnet can be about anything in the world. The western has strict limits on dress, architecture, characters, weapons, time period and the like. But withing that framework it can be about revenge, coming-of-age, romance, comedy, destiny, buddies, whatever. Recommendations: McCabe and Mrs. Miller, set in a dreary pacific northwest logging town. The music by Leonard Cohen is perfect mood-setting. Hannie Caulder, Raquel Welch set out to find the three men who done her wrong. The Magnificent Seven. Good guy gunfighters coming to the aid of besieged poor villagers. watch the original, Steve McQueen version, not the remake. Once upon a time in the West. may be the best western ever made. About the only time Henry Fonda played a bad guy. He saved it all up for this role. High Noon. Gary Cooper as the sheriff, alone when three men he put away come back to town. Widely recognized as an allegory of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Blazing Saddles. Comedy, satirized the form so well it almost killed the genre. The first director to show the results of cowboys sitting around eating beans. My name is Nobody. Comedy and also hero worship
It's funny. 'Western' is a genre, but there are very different westerns out there. I mean if you compare the spaghetti westerns to, like Rio Bravo and there are definitely differences in feel ... If I was looking for one typical western I'm not sure where I would look.
Old westerns, as many have said The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The outlaw Josie Wales, The Magnificent Seven, True Grit or almost any John Wayne western. Modern westerns, while no where near as numerous have had some great ones. Tombstone, Dances with Wolves, The Quick and the Dead, Unforgiven, Silverado. Young Guns.
Hey there! Great to see you delving into westerns and Clint Eastwood to boot.😃 Westerns have been around since the beginning of Hollywood. John Wayne was probably one of the biggest early western heroes although he did do other genres throughout his career. Clint Eastwood was kind of Wayne's heir apparent but more in an anti hero way. Anyway, hope you enjoy your journey through the western genre.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but this movie is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo starring Toshiro Mifune. Do that one for comparison. Remade later with Bruce Willis.
Leone, Eastwood, and Morricone. Three masters at work.
Neste momento, Eastwood ainda não era mestre, e sim aprendiz. E como ator ainda teria muito a aprender.
So yeah, this is part of a loosely connected trilogy of movies, where Clint Eastwood plays the same character, "The Man With No Name" or "Blondie". Would highly recommend both of the other ones if you two enjoyed this one. (the others being of course, the follow up to this film, For A Few Dollars More and the epic, critically acclaimed The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.. which is actually a prequel to the Dollars movies.. probably one of the first Prequels to ever be made)
I always thought it was a prequel too, as the Good the Bad and the Ugly is set earlier during the civil war. But how the hell did Blondie blow 100,000 dollars (half for Tuco) by the time he reached San Miguel. There is also a veiled reference to The Man With No Name it Clint's later movie Joe Kidd when Mr Harlan remarks that Joe once hunted men.
It isn't the same character.
@@paintedjaguar How do you know?
@@joehart7260 Well for one thing, it kind of gives the game away when Leone re-uses other actors like Gian Maria Volontè and Lee Van Cleef to play different characters in more than one of these movies. Clint isn't playing the same character either... but he might as well be, for all the difference it makes.
@@paintedjaguar Yeah, Chico the fat bearded guy in Fistful becomes Nino in FAFDM and the union soldier thrown off the train by Tuco in TGTBATU. Not sure about Clint though. He was called Joe after all in Fistful and he's Joe Kidd in Clint's later movie. It was Clint's movie, so maybe he just wanted to acknowledge the character.
Italian director Sergio Leone loved traditional American westerns, especially those by the great director John Ford, and his "spaghetti westerns" are a stylized, exaggerated amalgamation of his favorite elements from those westerns. For his masterpiece "Once Upon A Time In The West", Leone even traveled all the way to Arizona's Monument Valley, a favorite location of Ford's, to shoot two sequences.
Yes, "Once Upon A Time In The West" is often forgotten when it comes to Leone, cause it's not part of the famous Dollar-trilogy. But it is truly his masterpiece - and in general a masterpiece of the Western genre.
Actually this is a direct ripoff of Akira Kurosawa's "yojimbo" , as was "magnificent seven " a copy of his "seven samurai". Believe Kurosawa even sued and won
He surpassed John Ford by a country mile. Most of Ford's westerns insult your intelligence.
@@mrtveye6682 I never loved "Once Upon a Time" but man that opening scene at the train station is one for the ages.
@@t0dd000 I can imagine it's not for everyone. Esp. it's very slow paced, the more by todays standards. I personally love it and think it's a masterpiece. So many iconic scenes. And yes, the one at the beginning is definitely one of them.
There was a local cinema that did reruns of it every few month back in the 80s when I was a teen, and my friends and me always went there. We new nearly all of the dialogs by heart. One of my friends always started saying the Charles Bronson lines when he was drunk at the most unfitting locations, like to the bouncer when we wanted to get into a club. It's a miracle he never got a good beating for that... :D
Yesss! I hope you will do all of this legendary trilogy. spaghetti westerns will never get old to me I love them so much.
Yes. And after that they are ready for Sergio Leones absolute masterpiece "Once Upon A Time In The West". Even though it lacks Clint Eastwood, it has a great cast and lifted the Western Genre - that he as one of the inventors and the forefront of Italo-Westerns already redefined - to a whole new level.
It's not a trilogy...
@@Blutteufel Yes. But still it's the established term for those 3 movies and is even marketed as such. And even if it was not planed as and is not a 3-part continuous story, the 3 movies share enough thematic and other commons, that the term trilogy fits in retrospective.
This movie was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's classic samurai movies, particularly Yojimbo (which has essentially the same plot), and it revolutionized the Western genre. It introduced the infallible protagonist that was copied by many in later years. For a different take on the genre at the time, I recommend Shane, The Big Country, and High Noon. All three are classics from that era. The modern classics like Tombstone and Unforgiven stylistically have a lot in common with High Noon and Shane.
It wasn't inspired by Yojimbo, it IS Yojimbo, almost scene by scene, just in a different setting. Kurosawa sued Leone for plagiarism and the court ruled that he had to be paid part of the film's revenue. Kurosawa later jokingly said that "For a Fistful of Dollars" was "his" most profitable film.
Kurosawa sent a letter to Leone, "I’ve seen your movie. It’s a very good movie. Unfortunately, it’s my movie."
This was technically a foreign film from Italy which is why it’s called a Spaghetti Western. This was a re-imagining of the genre.A lot of American westerns were pretty formulated for their time. This caused the studios to get lazy in making movies. This also happened with gangster movies, war movies and a lot of movies up to the 60’s. But there’s still some good American westerns. There’s some good John Wayne movies that were made with John Ford .
Your right A Fistful of Dollars along with 2 other Westerns in the Dollars Trilogy For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly were filmed Italy and Spain. When The Good, The Bad The Ugly was released in 1966 along with other films Internationally finally in US in 1967 the films made Clint Eastwood an international star. They were called Spaghetti Westerns in which numerous stars appeared in including Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson in Once A Upon A Time In The West. Lee Van Cleef appeared in several spaghetti westerns in 1960s and 1970s and James Coburn. There are plenty of good Clint Eastwood westerns released in US but High noon is a classic to along with Shane. John Wayne had numerous classics and liked some of westerns more from 1950s into 1960s like True Grit and even his final film released in 1976 The Shootist.
Sergio Leone is a very special filmmaker. The budgets got bigger after each installment in the Dollars Trilogy, and it shows. The middle film, Few Dollars More is probably the tightest and best of the three, just because Good Bad & Ugly - although many people's favourite - is a bit too long, but it does have great music and an iconic ending.
His masterpiece is Once Upon A Time In The West - the greatest western ever made, and possibly the greatest movie in any genre.
I would put Once upon a Time in America as his best film, every inch as great as The Godfather's first two movies; and as for greatest western ever made, while West is one of them, there is just no movie that could ever be made that will ever surpass several of those that John Ford or Howard Hawks did. There are plenty of western classics that are equal to West. At its peak, there were just too many masterpieces in the genre. Today it might be a forgotten genre, but when it was on, it produced some towering cinema... as long as black and white and Technicolor don't scare you, that is.
I agree, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is the greatest Spaghetti Western ever made - hell, the first 13 minutes with Jack Elam, Woody Stroud and Charles Bronson is worth the price of the ticket!
@@jollyrodgers7272 I have to disagree. "Once upon a time in the West" is not really a Spaghetti Western anymore, since it was produced in the US, with mainly american actors and crew. Therefore, the best "true" italian Western is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". It is no accident that Leone's last three films (of only 7 he ever created as a director, not counting his last unfinished movie about the siege of Leningrad) are called the "America Trilogy", even though they are not really a trilogy. But each of them takes a look at a specific american (continent) myth: The Wild West (and its end), the Mexican Revolution and the Mobsters of the early 20th century. The "Dollar Trilogy" is completely different, even though it also takes place in the Wild West.
@@panther7748Discordo porque o capital majoritário foi italiano, a equipe técnica foi toda italiana, portanto a concepção foi de um diretor e técnicos italianos; e também teve participação de muitos atores italianos.
The trilogy is fabulous ,especially "the good, the bad and the ugly". The masterpiece is still "Once upon a time in the west". It s not only the best western, but , like many others think, i think it s still the best movie ever made. Every shot in this movie is like a painting, the music, the frame , the light, dialogs etc ...perfect .
@@rollotomassi6232 they're two sides of the same coin. Which one is the #1 film of all time, for me, depends on which day you ask.
@@rollotomassi6232 of that, there is no dispute. 😀
Totally. Once Upon A Time is the one where Leone brought all the elements together into one definitive masterpiece. Eric and Sarah need to watch it ASAP. If they put it off, I guarantee they'll be like, "SHIT, we should have watched this one sooner!" 👍
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, is the far superior film - it’s the best western ever made in my judgment.
Sou brasileiro e estou totalmente de acordo. Mas Il Buono, il bruto, il cattivo também é uma obra-prima. São dois filmes geniais no mesmo patamar, apenas diferem no ritmo. Sergio Leone criou um estilo único, imbatível, inigualado ainda. Parecia um verdadeiro artista do renascimento.
One of the VERY few western's to win the Oscar for best picture, the film "Unforgiven", from 1992. It too stars Clint Eastwood. Another iconic western, and the only Oscar won by John Wayne, is "True Grit" from 1969. My Grandpa would take me to Shines Cinema movie theater when I was very young. I would have been 5 when I saw this. Western's ruled the movies from the first film until about the 80's. The first "motion picture" is of a horse from the side. I think the first actual movie was "Nations Pride". Anyway, please don't give up on the genre until you've seen what's out there.
Personally, this is my favorite Clint Eastwood Western. It has a very simple linear plot, but it's also groundbreaking in ushering in a new era of how to make Westerns: shady protagonist, character closeups, graphic and bloody violence, tense music, witty dialogue. There are a lot of shots in this movie that I've seen copied in later films and not just Westerns.
gotta say, i'm *thrilled* that you're posting reactions so frequently. we're all glad you're back so don't get burned out, keep it fun, etc etc.
that said, *thrilled*
_and_ all great choices too.
We have the time at the moment so we're gonna make the most of it! Thank you so much 😊
Some westerns worth a watch: Stagecoach (1939), The Oxbow Incident (1942), High Noon (1952), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962),The Shootist (1976), and Unforgiven (1992).
Another classic Clint Eastwood western is High Plains Drifter, it has a very unique concept.
Another great western is The Magnificent Seven. A group of Mexicans hire gunmen from Texas to defend their town from bandits. The lead gunman holds auditions for potential hires. This movie has been accused of plagiarism because there was a Japanese movie called Seven Samurai with a similar plot. These samurais are actually ronins because they don't work for a lord.
It's not as well known but after the Eastwood trilogy Leone made the best western of all time, Once Upon a Time in the West. Hope you guys can check it out.
The next one and direct Sequel to this on in the Dollar's trilogy or Man with no name trilogy is For a Few Dollars More. Which is also fantastic. Then to round out the trilogy it's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which isn't only a great Western but a must watch on anyone's Film list.
They are not real sequels though. More like three different scenarios involving the same character.
Great start to the trilogy. They just get better and better. You should definitely watch “Once Upon a Time in the West” one of the greatest westerns ever put to film.
For many, myself included, Once Upon A Time In The West is the greatest western ever made. It’s one of my all time favorite movies ever. Sergio and Ennio were geniuses.
"For a Few Dollars More" is my favourite in that trilogy.
Before I became a cinephile I didn't watch Westerns either. More because I thought they mythologized the Western era. Especially as an Indian (not Native American), I always sympathized with the Native Americans. And there is a lot of that, but if you watch a lot of them you'll realize what a flexible genre it can be.
This movie was an unofficial remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo which was itself a loose adaptation of the pulp classic Red Harvest. Westerns had a huge impact on Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai which ended up influencing a lot of directors of Westerns.
I know a lot of comments will tell you to watch the rest of the trilogy, and you should, but I've always preferred Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West.
If I were to put together a short list of important westerns it would go something like this:
Fort Apache (1948)
Red River (1948)
Winchester '73 (1950)
The Searchers (1956) [Not one of my favorites, but it was hugely influential on the genre]
Seven Men from Now (1956)
The Tall T (1957)
Man of the West (1958)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Rio Bravo (1959)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Ride the High Country (1962)
Django (1966)
The Wild Bunch (1967)
The Great Silence (1968)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
I think Vera Cruz is worth a look as well. It feels like an antecedent to the spaghetti westerns in some ways.
As for non Clint westerns I would say: Shane, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, The Magnificent Seven, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 3:10 to Yuma (the 1957 version)
Another western that I strongly recommended is 'Tombstone' about the legendary Wyatt Earp. That is the film that got me interested in westerns. 🤠
The first of Clint's "spaghetti westerns", followed by "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". I saw TGTBTU walking into a theater with some friends, with no idea what movie I was about to see. Wow.
Stumbled upon you guys due to this film, which is among my favorite westerns. I grew up on this genre, & remember so many growing up. Glas y'all liked this, & hope you do rest of the trilogy. IMO, Ennis Morricone plays the greatest part in what makes these movies so memorable. On this journey, if I may suggest a few that are key to "the Westerns": "Rio Lobo", "The Wild Bunch", "Three Godfathers", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "The Sons of Katie Elder", "Once Upon a Time in the West" (top 5 of mine), "Unforgiven", "A Fistful of Dynamite"...ok, I'll stop lol. Think I'll keep looking at your channel, I like your commentary.
Thank you so much! Hope we see you around (and thanks for the recommendations too 😊)
22:53 - 'The Man with No Name'
'A Fistful Of Dollars' is often regarded as the first of a trilogy, along with 'For A Few Dollars More' and 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly'. However, the proper term should be trio not trilogy because these three movies are entirely separate stories with no continuity between them.
Confusion often arises when viewing these movies because the director, Sergio Leone, would use the same actors across multiple films in different roles. Case in point, Lee Van Cleef is in both the second and third movie (of the trio) as different characters. The actor who plays Ramon is in both the first and second movie as different characters. And there's also an ensemble of actors who span all three movies.
From 1972, a handful of authors contributed to the 'Man with No Name' series of books based upon the character played by Clint Eastwood in the movies, which further adds to the confusion.
Here are the remaining titles of the book series...
BOOK 4 - A Coffin Full of Dollars
BOOK 5 - A Dollar to Die For
BOOK 6 - The Devil's Dollar Sign
BOOK 7 - The Million-Dollar Bloodhunt
BOOK 8 - Blood For a Dirty Dollar
If you both, or any viewers, are keen to watch more spaghetti westerns, here are a few recommendations...
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards. (Each character has own musical theme.)
Django (1966) Lead actor, Franco Nero has a cameo appearance in Django Unchained (also a main role in Die Hard 2.)
Death Rides a Horse (1967) - Lee Van Cleef
My Name is Nobody (1973) - Terence Hill
The Five Man Army (1969) - Peter Graves (Played Ethan Hunt in original 'Mission:Impossible' series)
They Call Me Trinity (1970) - Terence Hill, Bud Spencer [Spag-West-Com]
Trinity Is Still My Name (1971) - Terence Hill, Bud Spencer [Spag-West-Com]
Duck, You Sucker! (1971) aka 'A Fistful of Dynamite' - Rod Steiger [In The Heat of The Night] James Coburn [The Magnificent Seven]
The Script Girl is the Script Supervisor, who ensures the continuity of takes by taking photos & tracking every scene, making sure there’s no inconsistencies like wardrobe, etc.
The Golden Age of Westerns was in the 30s and 40s. After WW2 they became a little darker and were sometimes called psychological westerns. Sergio Leone breathed a lot of life into the genre into the 60s. John Ford was a great director, you could try Stagecoach or The Searchers. My own favourite is The Tall Men. The Big Country is an epic and introduces its hero to the west so that could be good to try. Finally Clint directs himself in The Outlaw Josey Wales.
"The Big Country" (1958) has big scenery, a big score, larger than life characters, a cast full of big names, and a fairly long run time. It's one of my favorite Westerns.
I mean, more that a great director, I would say that John Ford is a valid candidate, among others, to greatest director of all time. Funnily enough, he was/is the favourite director of both Hayao Miyazaki and Akira Kurosawa, probably the most mainstream known Japanese directors outside of Asia. Go figure. Leone did breath life into the genre, but so did Peckinpah, another giant, and Ford was at his most self-reflective. That the old dog could churn out almost meta pieces like Liberty Valance and proto feminist cinema like Seven Women at his age and stage of career is rather impressive.
@@Dacre1000 Proto feminist? How about "Westward the Women" (1951), directed by the once pretty famous William Wellman? Although the truth is that movie women in general from the 30s through the 50s were a lot more feisty than feminist mythology would have us believe... 🤫
Eastwood's western characters often come from nowhere and freak the hell out of the bad guys. I would recommend: Hang Em High, Pale Rider, Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Outlaw Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter Unforgiven,. Also the ones that follow on from Fistful of Dollars: For a Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Loved your reaction. Westerns overall vary; some have more humour than others
I was around 10 the first time I saw this film and it caught me off guard and blew me away. I had only watched the tv show “Gunsmoke” which was fun and corny. “Fistful” was cool, Clint was cold yet warm, and Leone’s directing/cinematography with Morricone’s music cemented my love of Westerns. Now I live in New Mexico where a lot of actual Old West history took place, and the land looks very much like the scenery in this film. Glad you all liked this film, great reaction!
Gunsmoke wasn't corny!!!! It was a cool series!!!!! 💨
@Veo T. lol! It was ‘cool’ before I saw _this_ film, then it was dust!
1:17 link in the description
If you do all three movies, I highly recommend following them with Once Upon a Time in The West. It doesn’t have Clint Eastwood, but in my opinion, it goes extremely well right alongside these three. It technically still has the Man With no name character, obviously played by a different actor.
This movie is a remake of a Japanese samurai movie called Yojimbo directed by Akira Kurosawa. It would be well worth your while to watch some Kurosawa movies, as he is considered by many to be one of the greatest movie directors of all time (not to dismiss the greatness of Sergio Leone and this movie).
Some suggestions for great Westerns - "The Searchers" - "Silverado" - "Once Upon A Time In The West"
Lovely reaction to a great movie may I say though in my opinion one of the best westerns ever made was"ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST" starring Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda and the music is sublime by the great Ennio Moriccone.👍
Thanks Michael!
This movie couldn’t be the same without a great actor like Gianmaria Volontè
This film is the first in a trilogy..”For a few dollars more” and “The good, the bad and the ugly”. Each film gets better and better. Also Ennio Morricone does the score for all of them and the music is the best for any film…period.
If/when you do Unforgiven, it should be after you watch many Westerns. It's definitely a statement about the genre.
In First Blood, Rambo just wanted something to eat. In Fistful of Dollars, Eastwood just wanted to get some water. In both cases, all hell broke loose. 😅
Ok, so this one is great. No doubt about it. But PLEASE do yourself a really big favor and watch Mr. Leone's masterpiece, "Once Upon A Time In The West". Don't put it off, watch it as soon as you can. You won't be disappointed, I promise you. Sergio brought it all together in this one. It stars Henry Fonda as a truly evil villain. And the score will blow your mind. Very emotional music.
Regards from Illinois!!! 🤘😎
"Unforgiven" is a must-see Western. 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Clint Eastwood).
I hope you will eventually watch Akira Kurasawa's Yojimbo, which Fistful is a remake of.
Other quality westerns - Quick and the Dead, directed by Sam Raimi
The Frisco Kid, with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, with Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck
Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis is also a genre bend of Yojimbo/Fistful.
Was checking to see if the Kurosawa point had already been raised. Yojimbo is one of my favorite movies of all time (Seven Samurai is #1) with the pairing of Kurosawa's legendary direction and Toshiro Mifune's on-screen presence!
Eastwood is right up there with his portrayal of "Blondie" in the Dollars Trilogy.
Thank you for the recommendations! :)
I grew up on Westerns and WWII movies, but the Western I'll always remember the most is "How The West was Won" mainly because my parents took two carloads of neighborhood kids in two station wagons to the century theater in Denver. The theater had a huge 180-degree screen. I also came down with measles during the movie as did all the other kids but that was the way of it for immunity back then we did not try to avoid it.
"How long is the 'western' period?"
The 'wild west' is the common name to the period following the Civil War (1860-65) to about 1895, but some push the period to the start of WW1. For such a relatively short time period, it has so much lore and history attached.
These 3 movies are epic.
Clint is such a badass
Welcome to a great rabbit hole to explore. Westerns are actually quite diverse in plots. I hope to see more.
It is a rabbit hole indeed! We're excited to dive in 🥳
This is tricky to use as an entry point into viewing how westerns developed, because the Dollars Trilogy (and the "spaghetti westerns" in general) was a massive paradigm shift in the western genre itself. Prior to this, US-made westerns were very generally more straight-forward "virtuous good guy VS despicable bad guy" tales, made in a very workman-like fashion. Leone brought in awe-inspiring cinematography (that revolutionised cinema as a whole), epic scores and stories and characters absolutely drenched in gray instead of black and white. There was a lot of resentment towards these films on release because of their moral ambiguity - John Wayne infamously despised them. But then, John Wayne can sit the fuck down and shut the f**k up.
For the record? This is, by far, the lesser of the three films. For A Few Dollars More is outstanding, and The G/B/U is one of the greatest films of all time, western or otherwise.
You are talking about John Ford´s Stagecoach. That movie revolutionized cinema with its use of cinematography (Welles admits that it was his greatest inspiration in making Kane) and added complexity to the genre, getting rid of black hats and white hats. Howard Hawks, Sturges, Boetticher, Raoul Walsh, Anthony Mann, Andre de Toth, Nicholas Ray, William Wellman and a lot of etceteras were the extreme opposite of workman like directors and simplistic black and white content. Generally speaking, the genre was already far away from all that by the time Leone was shooting Rhodas.
Leone brought an italian mix of realistic and mythical sense of filmmaking to a more poetic and folkloric traditional style, with cynicism and moral humanity that, alongside people like Peckinpah, would usher both what its called the revisionist western (a more historically accurate depiction of the times and its people in opposition to the classic western´s more symbolic one) and the twilight western (a lament of the loss and a contradiction of the beautiful ideals that the traditional western used to represent by way of showing a more realistic one). Both fit like a glove during the turbulent Kennedy assassination, Vietnam war and civil rights movements of the 60s and the post Watergate disillusioned America of the 70s.
This is where Marty from back to the future 3 got the idea with the chest piece
I saw "A Fistful of Dollars" at a movie theater and what puzzled me was the lack of "Story by" information. Later on, a Samurai movie fan mentioned "Yojimbo" (1961), and Kurosawa's suit against Sergio Leone confirmed that fact. 3:38 That's a Serape, NOT a poncho.
Glad to see you guys back in style. Three great reactions back to back! If you guys want to see the evolution of Westerns before Sergio Leone/Eastwood breathed new life into this genre John Wayne was the face of it, The Searchers I believe is the one most people recommend although I have never seen it.
It is interesting seeing how the cultural zeitgeist changed with the different styles of Westerns. Before there was always the good guys and the bad guys or white hats and black hats coming from the black and white days of film where the hero always wore a white hat and the bad guys wore black. It eventually grew stagnant but then came Sergio Leone, an Italian hence Spaghetti Western, who breathed new life by making among other things the protagonist morally ambiguous, at least moreso than in the past. The use of violence was also a thing that differentiate past Westerns by showing people being gunned down in the same shot whereas before there was a cut between gunfire and a person being killed.
Thank you! We've had such a great time already haha
"the hero always wore a white hat and the bad guys wore black" Famous black-wearing cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy and Richard Boone's morally ambiguous gunslinger Paladin would like to have a word with you... 😁 and what about Mr Brown Hat here? ---> 🤠
Unforgiven is the best Clint Eastwood Western in my opinion. I highly recommend Unforgiven to be the next Western you react to.
Definitely going to recommend A few Dollars more and the good, the bad and the ugly.
I highly recommend The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven. Easily 2 of Eastwood's best movies.
This trilogy was disrespected in the 1960’s by critics mainly bc of the violence. However in the 21st century nearly everyone understands these are among the greatest Westerns ever produced. Kudos to the art work of Sergio Leone (note how beautiful is the prisoner swap scene,) the writing and especially the incredible score via Ennio Morricone. (Remember I’m speaking of the trilogy) 🎉. Ps: Sarah is correct: $500 is a ton in the late 19th century 😊. Trivia: this called “the man w no name,” but that’s incorrect: Clint’s name here is Joe; part 2 is Manco; pt 3 Blondie. All the non-English speakers for the trilogy had their voices dubbed
Critics didn't like Leone adding heft to the genre. Ford's westerns had no intellectual maturity. They were all essentially YA.
My nickname is Bob. That’s also my name; in what world is this difficult?
Lovely to have you back. Enjoyed First Blood.
For A Few
Dollars More is my favourite in the trilogy.
If you do The Good, The Bad and The Ugly you might consider breaking it up into 2 or 3 parts.
Such a lovely couple seriously x
Thank you so much! It's good to see familiar faces again ☺️
This is the Dollars Trilogy:
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
My favorite scene is the exchange - the old man brings out his shotgun - the guy is like pfft....then Clint stands up and suddenly he has an itch on his shoulder. Crisis averted - then Clint takes change for both the dad/kid and the mom
Tombstone is one of the best western imo. It is one of the more historical accurate movies of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. Val kilmer got nominated for an osca as Doc.
1. The General (1926) by Buster Keaton 2. Once Upon a Time in The West (1968) by Sergio Leone.
Siergio Leone has music by Ennio Morricone. Most famous piece of western film music is The Good The Bed and The Ugly (1966).
The American Wild West period typically dates from 1843 with the Oregon Trail's first wagon train, and saw it's last wagons in the 1880's, primarily due to railroad domination. California was the focus of westward expansion beginning in 1849 when the Gold Rush started. The end of the Wild West period was roughly 1900, as the contiguous western territories became states and admitted into the Union - the last being Arizona and New Mexico in 1912. The first forty or fifty years of the 1800s was the Mountain Man and Fur Trapper era in the American West. Prior to that, the 'frontier' had been further East.
It has been noted in the comments that this is a remake of Yojimbo
Other Kurosawa films worth watching are Seven Samurai ( remade in 1960 as The Magnificent Seven) Sanjuro, Stray Dog, Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress ( on which Star Wars was based,) and my personal favourite Ikiru ( with a stupendous performance by Takashi Shimura)
Sergio’s Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America are great, with In the West classic. Spielberg, Lucas, and Scorsese would tell you to start with John Ford. Go way back and watch Stagecoach. This 1939 film is one of the templates of western cinema.
So, as with any genre, westerns aren't about the west. They are human drama, good and evil, relationships, bravery, cowardice and every kind of drama, power struggle and romantic intrigue of the human condition. They are merely set in a western milieu. I loved your perceptions and take on this (not early) older example. Great job.
Great reaction guys!! Glad you enjoyed this movie and you will definitely enjoy the next 2 in the trilogy. My favorite of his Westerns is The Outlaw Josey Wales from 1976. Fantastic movie where he is just a badass with numerous pistols on him. Once A Upon A Time in the West is another classic Western you have to see with some huge stars in it.
Jim Jarmusch's " Dead Man, " is a good western, also "Little Big Man", "The Searchers", "Goin South", and "The Outlaw Josey Wales"
These spaghetti westerns were made by Italian filmmakers and i think shot in Spain. The actors often spoke their own languages thus the dubbing. I think i recognize a voice or two from the Speed Racer anime from the 70s. These voice actors were prolific. However Clint always used his voice.
Well, guys! This is the first of a trilogy. The next is "For a few dollars more" then "The good, the bad and the ugly". The next two are much better than this one. As for the music, it is by the great "Ennio Morricone"(RIP). As for the director, Sergio Leone, he has been an inspiration for Tarantino. These were called Spaghetti westerns as they were made by italian directors with a very small budget. The best western ever was also a Sergio Leone movie from 1968 : "Once upon a time in the west", featuring Claudia Cardinale, Henry Ford, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards. Ennio Morricone's music was epic: still is.
The music alone, is a masterpiece, then cinematography. Just a revolutionary film. 🥃
Everyone is going to give the standard Clint westerns but they might forget "The Outlaw Josey Wales"
Like you I grew up in a time when the Western was in a state of decline (1980s) and mostly dismissed it as boring or irrelevant. When I tried watching the older movies, what amazed me was how diverse they are. There are Western comedies, Western romances, Western legal dramas, Western historical epics, horror Westerns, Canadian and Australian Westerns, Westerns from the Native perspective, Western crime sagas, Western family movies...there really is something for everyone.
Eastwood made UNFORGIVEN in 1992 which people sometimes call "the last Western" in terms of story, but the genre is still chugging along today. A decent number of them are made every year, with a few even getting theatrical releases, and the "neo-Western" (Western style stories set in modern day) is thriving with shows like YELLOWSTONE.
Glad to see you guys back, enjoyed this reaction, thanks.
Thanks Patrick! It feels like we've unlocked a whole new world haha 🤠
I have always loved westerns, especially "spaghetti" westerns. This series is one of my all-time favorites. I suppose the most important thing about "A Fistful of Dollars" is that it is almost a frame-by-frame copy of "Yojimbo" by Akira Kurosawa. "Yojimbo" makes my personal short list for best movies of any genre ever made. But copy-catting notwithstanding, "A Fistful of Dollars" is still a great movie, and the next two in the series are even better (if such were possible). You are in for a treat!
You guys may want to check out another Leone western comedy with Henry Fonda and Terrence Hill. Same spaghetti western genre with Morricone's music but more lighthearted I loved it as a kid (edit derp: movie is My Name is Nobody)
He is known as the Man with No Name. In the 3rd movie he was called Blondie. These movies were filmed in Italy. While on active duty, my ship was stationed in Naples, Italy harbor. We were always called "Joe"
The spaghetti westerns were good, but you'll want to try other westerns too. Of course, you'll want to try some John Wayne movies. I like Sons of Katie Elder, Big Jake, Rio Bravo/El Dorado, etc.
Tombstone is an amazing movie, and Silverado is also worth a watch. And, eventually, you must watch Unforgiven.
For Clint Eastwood, I'd recommend The Outlaw Josey Wales, Hang Em High, Pale Rider, and Two Mules for Sister Sara on top of the Dollars Trilogy.
The Wild Bunch is a movie to watch. So ahead of its time in terms of the action and violence levels. My all time favourite Western movie, with a great director.
Good ups.
Now if you haven't done any yet, your first Japanese/Samurai film can be Yojimbo (1963). A Fistful of Dollars is a rewrite of Yojimbo. Western and Samurai genres are very similar, and not just limited to trading a sword duel for a gun duel.
Spaghetti Westerns are the true golden era of the genre. They created everything that comes to your head at the instant you think of the wild west: The type of music (like you said at the very beginning), the antihero tough guy protagonist, etc
Pale Rider is one of my favorite Clint Eastwood westerns. Probably bc I was a kid when it came out
This is a trilogy and one of the best trilogies ever made and one of the best western trilogies ever made
4:17 "Bad news." "Ready to rumble."
Sarah was born in 1958. 😆
You have to remember through the 50's and 60's westerns were like superhero movies today. They absolutely dominated film and tv. Like any popular genre there's a lot of good and bad but the western genre is full of absolute classics from the days of black and white really into current times every once in awhile.
While not a western, you might want to check out a loose remake of this story called Last Man Standing from 1996. It's set in the prohibition era with Bruce Willis in the same basic role as Eastwood here.
For earlier important westerns: High Noon; Shane; The Searchers; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, this last one, just two years earlier than FF of D, but with the old guard cast. I enjoyed this reaction. Much love.
There are plenty of western movies which RDR2 took scenes from, and replicated them exactly as they were
As others have said, watch the very loosely connected Dollar Trilogy on the order they were made. You get to see a directors growth in skill and budget. Something else to consider it that this movie is an adaption of an Akira Kurosawa samurai movie titled 'Yojimbo' (1961). 'Fistful' is one of the best adaptions out there. The director kept what worked and changed what was necessary to make it work in a western.
Clint plays the part “the man with no name”. So…..no name! Enjoy the trilogy. First two are great, the third is FANTASTIC! In my opinion of course. Cheers from one who watched these for the first time at the drive-in movies in the 60’s…..
Growing up, what I saw the most were Western network TV shows, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman etc.
I'm sure others will disagree but those can be pretty dull. It wasn't until I started watching Western movies that it got fun. The network shows just had too many restrictions. They had to be family friendly, very limited violence. Every episode had to teach positive moral values.
Goddamn, you two were on top of this movie… it took me multiple watches to put together what you all did in your first viewing
A Fistful Of Dollars is a classic and one I have to enjoy as gotten older as more into The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and For A Few Dollars More. I just watched The Good The Bad and The Ugly the other night on Sundance Channel. I grew up watching Clint Eastwood with my dad and 36 years old now . I have seen each western many times and been a Clint Eastwood since I was about 8 years old.
Western can be a pretty difficult genre to pin down. Some are pretty strict and want to define the genre as these lone rugged hero in the desert films such as this one, RDR1 style if you will, which is definitely how the genre is stereotypically known. Most would however include everything set in the old west, which would include stuff like RDR2.
I do have a recommendation for something that is more on the RDR2 style of western since I know you loved that game a lot, and that’s the long titled “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”.
Oooo that's exciting, we'll add it to the list!
I was 11 when that movie came out. 20 cents for the bus trips, 50 cents to get into the show, 20 cents for popcorn and 10 cents for a pop. One dollar in total. It took a few weeks to set aside the buck. A really fun afternoon for an 11 year old to be sure. Just be home for dinner. lol
There was a time in cinema that westerns had violence but no blood, no super dark themes, just big rancher taking the lands of local farmers and were more commonly referred to as "Cowboy Movies". The movies made a move to darker subjects starting with a movie called "Shane" starring Alan Ladd. You should watch this movie, you will see the one that transformed the old style western to the modern style that all others copied
For Eastwood westerns I would watch - For a few dollars more, The Good bad and ugly, Hang em high, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider, and then finish with Unforgiven.
Thanks for the reaction!
Good to see you
Good to see you watch one of the best western ever made & one of my favorite movies
6:00 "How's it hanging?"
geez eric 😆
The classic setting for westerns is after the Civil War, 1865, and ending with Arizona's admission into the United States,1912. Think of the western as a form, like a sonnet. it is very rigid in its form, 14 lines, an octet and a sestet. Within that form, a sonnet can be about anything in the world. The western has strict limits on dress, architecture, characters, weapons, time period and the like. But withing that framework it can be about revenge, coming-of-age, romance, comedy, destiny, buddies, whatever.
Recommendations:
McCabe and Mrs. Miller, set in a dreary pacific northwest logging town. The music by Leonard Cohen is perfect mood-setting.
Hannie Caulder, Raquel Welch set out to find the three men who done her wrong.
The Magnificent Seven. Good guy gunfighters coming to the aid of besieged poor villagers. watch the original, Steve McQueen version, not the remake.
Once upon a time in the West. may be the best western ever made. About the only time Henry Fonda played a bad guy. He saved it all up for this role.
High Noon. Gary Cooper as the sheriff, alone when three men he put away come back to town. Widely recognized as an allegory of McCarthyism in the 1950s.
Blazing Saddles. Comedy, satirized the form so well it almost killed the genre. The first director to show the results of cowboys sitting around eating beans.
My name is Nobody. Comedy and also hero worship
The sequel to this is my favorite western of all time 👏👏👏🍿thx for the reaction!
It's funny. 'Western' is a genre, but there are very different westerns out there. I mean if you compare the spaghetti westerns to, like Rio Bravo and there are definitely differences in feel ... If I was looking for one typical western I'm not sure where I would look.
Old westerns, as many have said The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The outlaw Josie Wales, The Magnificent Seven, True Grit or almost any John Wayne western. Modern westerns, while no where near as numerous have had some great ones. Tombstone, Dances with Wolves, The Quick and the Dead, Unforgiven, Silverado. Young Guns.
Hey there! Great to see you delving into westerns and Clint Eastwood to boot.😃 Westerns have been around since the beginning of Hollywood. John Wayne was probably one of the biggest early western heroes although he did do other genres throughout his career. Clint Eastwood was kind of Wayne's heir apparent but more in an anti hero way. Anyway, hope you enjoy your journey through the western genre.
"The man with no name" is one of the most iconic characters in cinematic history.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but this movie is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo starring Toshiro Mifune. Do that one for comparison.
Remade later with Bruce Willis.