A Fistful of Dollars

1964 Italian western

Rating: 16/20 (Abbey: 20/20)

Plot: The Man with No Name (named Joe) rides into a dusty town with bloodstained streets. He plays two feuding gangs against each other in an effort to fill the pockets of his goofy vest thing with cash. The rest of the plot is unfortunately plagiarized from Back to the Future III as Joe and his trusty hoverboard work with his pal Doc Brown to try to get that train up to 88 miles per hour so that they can return to 1985, find Huey Lewis, and stop his career before he exposes himself (Oh, snap!) in Shortcuts.

Nope. Not as good as Yojimbo. It is interesting to note, however, that Kurosawa said he made more money from A Fistful of Dollars than he did Yojimbo. I don't know what to do now. It's obvious that Abbey likes these movies for the Eastwood, so I guess it's High Plains Drifter or Josey Wales or Pale Rider next rather than Once Upon a Time in the West. I think I'll try to get her to watch Duck, You Sucker with me.

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2008 at 4:07 PM

    As I've said before, I love this movie and prefer it to "Yojimbo". It has two things that kick "Yojimbo" ass... an awesome Morricone score and a superior Clint squint. The scene where emerges from the smoke is better than anything Kurosawa ever did. Well maybe that's a slight exaggeration. A 19!

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  2. ShaneSeptember 13, 2008 at 4:49 PM

    Ok. That's just blasphemous. I'm not even joking. I generally allow other people to have their own opinions about things, but when those people go around saying things like, "____ is better than anything Kurosawa ever did," it crosses a line. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up in some kind of cinema hell because of comments like this, a hell where you have to spend eternity watching 'Clifford' with Martin Short and Charles Groden over and over again.

    The scene with the smoke is so good, but overall, the film just isn't TGTBaTU, 'For a Few Dollars More,' 'Once Upon a Time," or (definitely) 'Yojimbo'. In fact, I'd say the opening scene of 'Yojimbo' with the dog is better than anything in 'Fistful'...I probably could go as high as a 16 on this though.

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