A Fistful of Dollars

It has become apparent to me that “The Man with No Name” must be a distant relative of Jack Bauer.

I have already talked about, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, so there is not a whole lot to add about this title, as it pretty much functions the same way.

If the point of 24 is that Jack Bauer has no limits (except his family), then the message of A Fistful of Dollars is that violence is glorified by the hero when he is as amoral as the villains. I have been doing some reading around the web, and this movie seems to have had significant influence on the way westerns were made subsequently.

At this point, I really only have one problem with Leone’s films, and that is the dubbing. It is not horrible, like Godzilla, but it is far from flawless. As it is, it kind of makes you feel like the speakers are setup incorrectly, as they are off just enough for it to not feel right.

One of the funniest moments of this film was when Eastwood steals two corpses and sets them up in such a way that he starts a shooting war between two factions. It was a hysterical watch, it was kind of unbelievable that the side would fall for the trick, but they did. Oh well, what are you going to do.

However, on a side note, this was the film that spawned the notion of the gun fight where one side wears an iron “bullet proof” vest. The funny thing about that is, that in subsequent “stealing” of that idea, the iron worn is at least mildly plausible. You see, in this film, Eastwood wears what looks like a thin piece of steal like you might have found in a suit of armor. I know the idea seemed cool at the time, but there is no way that would stop a rifle round.

And, of course, this is a recommended title.