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‘A Fistful of Dollars’ vs. ‘Yojimbo’ is one BADASS Supercut!

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Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964) was a western remake of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai classic Yojimbo from 1961. When the Italian director first saw Kurosawa’s tale of a rōnin (Toshiro Mifune) arriving in a small Japanese town where two rival gangs fight for supremacy sometime back in 1963, he was so impressed he thought it would translate into a good cowboy film. Unfortunately, Leone failed to secure the movie’s remake rights which led to his company being sued by Toho Productions. This delayed the American release of A Fistful of Dollars for three years. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum
 

 
But Yojimbo was not a truly original story, either. Kurosawa later admitted his movie had been loosely based on the film version of Dashiell Hammett’s crime novel The Glass Key from 1942. More recently, some film writers have pointed out Yojimbo bears an even greater similarity to another of Hammett’s books The Red Harvest—the story of his anonymous Continental Op. working in a town controlled by one kingpin who is battling many other smaller gangs.

Leone used many of Kurosawa’s plot devices in A Fistful of Dollars, with an unnamed anti hero (Clint Eastwood) arriving in a small desert town where two rival gangs fight for its control.

In Kurosawa’s film the town is split between two corrupt families vying for control—three brothers versus a husband and wife. Kurosawa also has other characters and background stories with the gangs hiring loutish mercenaries to do their bidding.

In A Fistful of Dollars the gangs are identified as two families—the Baxters who deal in guns and the Rojos who smuggle liquor. Apart form these two groups, the town appears to be almost deserted with few people other than an undertaker and a barman.

Kurosawa offered a comedy on social manners and the hierarchy of class in Yojimbo. This is not present in A Fistful of Dollars. Leone turned everything up to eleven making the film operatic in its style yet at the same time incredibly austere.

In Yojimbo the lead villain has a pistol. In A Fistful of Dollars he has a Winchester rifle—used to kill any enemies with a bullet to the heart. This leads to a key scene at the film’s denouement.
 
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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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02.08.2016
02:25 pm
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‘Out of the West’: Excellent documentary on the early career of Clint Eastwood

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The issue was money. Sergio Leone originally wanted Henry Fonda to star as the “Man With No Name,” in his film A Fistful of Dollars (1964). But the production company could not afford such a famous Hollywood actor. The role was then offered to Charles Bronson, who turned it down, because he thought the script “bad.”

Then came the list of those who could have been and the one who eventually became the “Man With No Name:” Henry Silva, Rory Calhoun, Steve Reeves, Ty Hardin, James Coburn and Clint Eastwood.

Leone wanted Coburn, but at $25,000, he was too expensive. The role, therefore, went to Eastwood, who was $10,000 cheaper.

Having finished working on the long-running cowboy TV series Rawhide, Eastwood was not keen on making another western. But encouraged by his agent, he read the script. Eastwood recognized the screenplay as a direct lift from Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. Intrigued, he took the part.

What Leone liked about Eastwood was that he moved like a cat—quietly assured, self-confident. It was a quality other actors and directors would notice. Richard Burton, who co-starred with Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare, compared him to Robert Mitchum, as having a “dynamic lethargy.” Director Don Siegel said Eastwood did nothing, and made those around him appear to be acting.

A Fistful of Dollars nearly collapsed during filming as a copyright license had not been agreed upon with Kurosawa. This meant the film was only given a European mainland release, and was banned from being shown in the U.S.A. and Britain. However the film made sufficient profit to fund Leone and Eastwood in making a sequel, the aptly titled For A Few Dollars More (1965), and then a third the following year, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966).

By 1967, all license agreements had been cleared and Leone’s trilogy was released in America. The critics hated it, and damned all 3 films outright. Yet, the public rightly adored the series, and the films became Classic Westerns.

This is “Out of the West” which formed the first of a 2-part documentary on Clint Eastwood. This section looks at Eastwood’s early life (from childhood to drifter, to Army) and on to his first acting roles, success in Rawhide and working with Sergio Leone. The documentary concludes with Eastwood setting-up his own company Malpaso, and his collaborating with Don Siegel on Coogan’s Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Beguiled and Dirty Harry.

If you have an interest in film, this is definitely one to watch before it disappears.
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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06.05.2013
10:37 am
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