A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

“I don’t think it’s nice, you laughin’. You see, my mule don’t like people laughing. He gets the crazy idea you’re laughin’ at him. Now if you apologize, like I know you’re going to, I might convince him that you really didn’t mean it.” – Joe

Number of Times Seen – 1 (2 May 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A stranger comes across a town near the Mexican border and decides to play two rival families against each other.

My Take on it – This is the film that started it all for Clint Eastwood and he is still going strong more than 50 years later.

He was somehow cast in the title role here for the first time in his career and westerns will never be the same.

The story is done well here, but it is far from perfect.

It’s a very simplistic plot that slowly unfold before us and stays effective throughout.

I liked the way that we never quite understand the main character’s motives for everything that he does and we never really know whether he is meant to be a good guy, a bad guy or perhaps just an indifferent guy trying to make some money however he can.

The storyline is filled with surprises, but unfortunately the biggest one was ruined for everyone (like me) who never saw this before by the evil Biff Tannen from 1985 while he is in the hot tub in Back to The Future Part II (1989).

Oh, well, it still works well.

Bottom Line – The western that started it all for Eastwood. Done well, but far from superb. The storyline is simple yet effective as we watch things unfold. Liked the ambiguity of whether the main character is good or bad or perhaps just indifferent. Some great surprises that are ruined by Biff Tannen in Back to The Future Part II (1989) Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Originally called “The Magnificent Stranger”, the title wasn’t changed to “A Fistful of Dollars” until almost three days before the movie premiered in theaters. In fact, nobody had bothered to inform its main star, Clint Eastwood, of the change, and as a result Eastwood remained virtually unaware of the positive buzz surrounding the movie until an agent pointed it out to him in a Variety Magazine article three weeks later. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

_______________________________________

Check out my *updated* movie stats here

To see my reviews of Oscar Winning Performances check out this link

To see my reviews of all Oscar Best Picture Winners click here (now complete)

Here is a link to my movie index A-Z