Having finished viewing Mel Gibson's Filmography in order, I'm now working my way through the legend that is Clint Eastwood's Filmography starting with A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)
Plot In A Paragraph: A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into a town torn by war between two factions, the Baxters and the Rojo's. He schemes to play the two sides off each other, getting rich in the bargain.
It's impossible to talk about Leone's spaghetti westerns without heading Ennino Morricone's superb score, so I'll start by saying he sets the tone with what is to come right from the opening credits. It's fantastic and he can be simple or inventive either way it's first class.
In 1964 Clint was an established TV star, thanks to his role as Rowdy Yates on TV's Rawhide, a role he had played for 5 years and 7 seasons, so to say Clint was already at home playing a cowboy would be an understatement. Needless to say, we are a long way from Rawhide here.
Considering what a risk (shooting a low budget Western in Italy and Spain, with a director nobody had heard of, with only one directing credit to his name, who didn't even speak English) this was at the time for Eastwood, he looks great in his now iconic outfit and very confident, We see Clint honing his trademark expressions!! The snarl, the squint and the famous grin!! We also see a rare occasion. Clint take a great deal of punishment in this movie, maybe the most vicious punishment he receives in his entire career.
Grossing $14 million A Fistful Of Dollars was the sixth highest grossing movie and 1964. A Massive success given its $200,000 budget.
Plot In A Paragraph: A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into a town torn by war between two factions, the Baxters and the Rojo's. He schemes to play the two sides off each other, getting rich in the bargain.
It's impossible to talk about Leone's spaghetti westerns without heading Ennino Morricone's superb score, so I'll start by saying he sets the tone with what is to come right from the opening credits. It's fantastic and he can be simple or inventive either way it's first class.
In 1964 Clint was an established TV star, thanks to his role as Rowdy Yates on TV's Rawhide, a role he had played for 5 years and 7 seasons, so to say Clint was already at home playing a cowboy would be an understatement. Needless to say, we are a long way from Rawhide here.
Considering what a risk (shooting a low budget Western in Italy and Spain, with a director nobody had heard of, with only one directing credit to his name, who didn't even speak English) this was at the time for Eastwood, he looks great in his now iconic outfit and very confident, We see Clint honing his trademark expressions!! The snarl, the squint and the famous grin!! We also see a rare occasion. Clint take a great deal of punishment in this movie, maybe the most vicious punishment he receives in his entire career.
Grossing $14 million A Fistful Of Dollars was the sixth highest grossing movie and 1964. A Massive success given its $200,000 budget.