Sergio Leone's FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, Sergio Leone's masterful 1964 western, has long been hailed a trendsetting film, and it created a new genre of violent and action packed westerns that took a very different(although I would argue better) approach to the genre then their American counterparts. Where in the American features there were good guys and bad guys, in the Italian so-called "spaghetti westerns," the lines were a bit less distinct.

In FISTFUL, we are first introduced to Clint Eastwood as the "Man With No Name." Why he has become known as this is unclear, since the coffin maker in this film calls him "Joe." Anyways...he is a loner who wanders around from town to town, until he stumbles into the deserted town of San Miguel.

Two warring families, the Rojo's and the Baxter's have been trying to control the town, leaving a bloody trail in their way. The families are constantly involved in gun battles, and squabbling over who gets all the guns, women, and most importantly money in the town, and no one has stood in their way. Until now.

Eastwood's character forges an uneasy, almost strained, relationship with both sides of the conflict, and does jobs and "spying" for the families. Under this guise, he is planning ways to get the two families to eliminate each other, and leave the little town of San Miguel in peace.

One deciding moment comes when Eastwood witnesses an attack by the Rojo's on a Mexican convoy carrying gold. Seeing this government money falling into the hands of the vicious Rojo's, Eastwood hatches a plan to get the Baxter's involved, ending in a well-shot and exciting shootout at a cemetery. From this point on, Eastwood is constantly playing the middleman in the whole feud, and he becomes more situated more precariously on the trust of the families.

In FISTFUL, Leone has fashioned another ultra-stylish entry in the western genre. We have a very realistic cast of characters Eastwood becomes involved with, including members of both feuding families, and a kind innkeeper who takes Eastwood in. The setting for the film is also quite striking; a deserted and decrepit looking town where the only one who has any work(besides killing) is the coffin maker. There are exquisite locations outside of town as well, full of mountains, praries, and desert. Leone has captured another unique and visually arresting view of the American west, even though the film was filmed in Europe (Spain I believe).

The action in this film is another winning element. There is a constant sense of treachery and mistrust as Eastwood manipulates the families to do his bidding. We, as the audience, know that Eastwood is working strictly for himself, a fact unknown to the families, so they continue to trust him, the question is for how long. There are quite a few gunbattles, including a very exciting climactic shootout, and lots of drama, provided by the sub-story of a woman trying to move out of the Rojo's and back to her son and his father, to fill the time in between. As if this wasn't enough, we have plenty of "cool" Eastwood moments, including the scene right in the beginning where he accuses a bunch of rough outlaws of making fun of his mule, and he insists that they appologize. Eastwood is just great in this film, another of his ultra-cool and tough western roles. Gian Maria Volante (sometimes billed as John Wels) is also quite good as Ramon Rojo, a sly villain who has his doubts about "the Americano," Eastwood.

Overall, FISTFUL is exciting, dramatic, and amazingly shot. The music score by the legendary Ennio Morricone is also very good, and provides a solid backdrop for the film. Morricone also did the music for the other entries in Leone's "Dollar" trilogy; all the music scores for the films are incredible. I would highly recommend this one to any film buff. This film is just a classic, and it began one of the most influential film trilogies in the history of motion pictures.