Due to the fact that this film, for me at least, was tremendously hard to follow, I don’t have much to say about it in terms of plot other than the act that, in many ways, it was the same plot as Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, which I really enjoyed studying last year. This is a common thing with westerns taking on the same ideas almost to a fault as Jidaigeki, for example, The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, which are literally the same story in different settings. It’s really fun to watch both versions and see the cultural differences in each, although it was hard to follow the plot in both Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars. Also, while on the subject of plot, I though the ending with the bullet-proof sheet of metal was wicked cool, but also, why didn’t the bad guy just shoot him in the head? I know it would have been anticlimactic and messy, but honestly.
I also noticed how bad the dub was over the Italian-speaking characters. In this way, spaghetti westerns are truly a treasure. Truthfully though, the dub really reminded me a lot of Bruce Lee movies, which I loved before I started studying film seriously. Not only in the pretty bad dubbing, but in the film style with long, still-camera shots and long takes without music, as well as the style of the score. It just felt very reminiscent of those movies to me.
I don’t have much else to say on behalf of this film, but I did enjoy it, though it was slow at parts and extremely hard to follow all the way through. The plot was very specific and convoluted, but the awesome ending sort of made up for it. It’s one of those movies where I’m glad I saw it, but I probably won’t watch it again for another ten years or so, if ever.
Warnings for A Fistful of Dollars: lots of blood and a few gory deaths; surprisingly dark at times
Warnings for A Fistful of Dollars: lots of blood and a few gory deaths; surprisingly dark at times