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Unforgiven Fistful of Dollars

The direction and production of A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone created a new style of western at first derogatorily labeled the “spaghetti western”. The film was labeled a “spaghetti western” due to its largely Italian backing and production. However, various elements of the film’s style reworked the mythos of the typical Hollywood western of the time, including a laconic hero with dubious morals, the use of music in place of dialogue to carry a scene, gritty, realistic close-ups, and graphically brutal violence. The tale of a gunfighter who overcomes two warring families in a Mexican town solely in pursuit of economic gain, A Fistful of Dollars was cheaply produced ($200,000), starred an American TV actor (Clint Eastwood), and was generally panned by critics (Nudge 1). Audiences and legions of future filmmakers who incorporated its style into their own disagreed. As John Nudge (3) explains of the film’s unique style and its impact on fans and filmmakers alike:

This violent, cynical and visually stunning film introduced The Man With No Name, the anti-heroic gunslinger for whom money is the only motivation and the villains are merely obstacles to be removed. Many later films followed this formula of the lone gunman in pursuit of money to the exclusion of all else. Leon’s unique style, artistic camera angles, extension of time and raw, explosive violence presented a skewed view of the West, making his film different from any Western that had come before. Critics panned it for its brutal depiction of an unromantic West, but audiences loved it, and the Spaghetti Western took off like a bullet from a Colt .45.

A Fistful of Dollars was followed by two companion pieces also staring Clint Eastwood as the laconic hero, three films that made Eastwood an international star of cinema and helped shaped the style and image of the persona he would evolve on screen. That hero, whether he is Joe (the man with no name)...

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Unforgiven Fistful of Dollars. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:26, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686538.html