Many
popular filmmakers today consider classic western’s to be an influence on them.
Such filmmakers include Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, George Lucas, and
the Coen Brothers. I personally don’t understand the fascination with them; I
prefer the modern westerns over the classic ones but that isn't to say I haven’t
enjoyed some oldies myself. Arguably the most famous movies of the genre are
the Sergio Leone directed “Dollars” films also known as the “Man with No Name
Trilogy”, the big joke being that they are not actually connected to each other
even though it might seem like it.
The
first one in the “trilogy” is “A Fistful of dollars”. I believe that in a
review critics have an obligation to give as little information about a film as
they can while still peaking interest in it(or not), and since telling you
anything about the plot would ruin the movie I am going to focus on the most
important stuff. Clint Eastwood is the “Man with No Name” (Actually he has a
name and it is Joe). His clothing consists primarily of boots a hat and a
poncho. That imagery is perhaps the main reason why people consider the three
films a trilogy because Eastwood wears the same clothes in all of them. After
the clothes, the music is also interesting. It has the type of quality you can
expect from Ennio Moricone, and after all a western isn’t a western without its
cheesy music.
This
style is what makes Sergio Leone the King of Spaghetti westerns. His vision is
truly unique and is perfect for the genre. Unfortunately the vision could not
get past the film’s poor execution. The confusing narrative, the bad
cinematography, and the disappointing acting, all make this film quite boring.
A lot of it has to do, I’m afraid, with the low budget the film had, a shame considering the next two films had the same style but were much better. It just
goes to show that a lot of the times if someone has a vision, people have to
back it up. Take the movies of James Cameron for example: They keep giving him
astronomical budgets and he keeps making excellent movies. Luckily the budget’s
tripled for the “sequel” and went even higher for the third film.
6/10
But what about you? What is your favorite of the “Man with
No Name Trilogy”? Click here to cast your vote.
No comments:
Post a Comment