For a Few Dollars More

Better that "Fistful" but nowhere near "High Noon". I even liked Clint alright and Van Cleef was great. It's definitely a genre issue - I'm just not that into spaghetti westerns it seems. I'll see "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" but if that doesn't change my mind I might call it on spaghettis and stick to classic westerns At least I got to see Klaus Kinski - totally bonus for me. I do love how different ways that man could play crazy. ;) 3/5

For a Few Dollars More on Netflix

A Fistful of Dollars

Sorry Jim, but this did nothing for me. Plot? Character? Motivation? Sorry, not in this film. Seriously, there were plot-holes I could drive a truck through & it wasn't nearly pretty enough to forgive all the weaknesses. 2/5

ADDED: Okay, to break this down a little more. I wanted to know something about The Stranger. I found out next to nothing. I wanted to understand the two sides of the battle. I found out next to nothing. I wanted to know what drove the characters. Naw, not that either. REALLY thin on the motivation front, which for me is always important in a film, and that was my biggest disappointment. The logic flaws really killed me. How did The Stranger know the shortcut back from The Small House when the Rohos didn't? If your enemy family was THAT easy to kill off, why hadn't they done it already, especially since not a one of the Rohos had any sort of conscience? If shooting a guy in the heart seven times isn't killing him - AND he's taunting you about it - why not try the head? I mean come on! And I'm sorry, I really did try, but the bad over-dubbing really got to me, as did Eastwood's acting. I've never been a fan of Clint's acting and I'm still not. I can't really explain it but he just rubs me the wrong way. This, sadly, was no exception.

Was it pretty? Sure. But I've seen so many better shot movies that it simply doesn't make up for everything I found lacking. Hell, I saw at least two films in the last two weeks that were shot FAR better than this was. I'm hoping that I'll have a better reaction to the next in the series but honestly I'm not holding my breath.

Oh, and Jim, for the record, I was right about the visual similarities to Herzog - they definitely shared a vision. Leone loved his deserts and Herzog adored his water. But, for my money, this was on par with Herzog's weaker works and Eastwood was never and will never be a Kinski. I'd put this up against Herzog's "Cobra Verde", which is IMO the weakest of his Kinski collaborations. Both Herzog and Kinski were well off their game and it showed, so while it was beautiful it suffered from the same logic and character flaws this film did. So, in your opinion, if this is Leone's "Cobra Verde", what's his "Fitzcarraldo"? Where does Leone shine the most and have his best collaborative work? That I'll be curious to see.

A Fistful of Dollars on Netflix

Once Upon a Time in the West

In-Progress tweet: The mustaches in Once Upon A Time In The West are...well, spectacular. HELLO I AM BAD YOU CAN TELL BY THE CAT ON MY FACE.

Actual FTRQ Review: EPIC  visual masterpiece. Could've been edited a bit. Bad men do good things for a woman. 4 stars

Follow-up: Leone, man. Leone. No one has EVER used the vastness of deserts to better effect. Ever. Every frame is a painting, every moment a composition. Today if a directors can do that, they fail at capturing people. Leone did that well too. Camera right in the face of an ugly, dirty, grubby desperado, perfectly framed with some massive, overwhelming landscape behind him. Close in on the eyes of a woman when she sees her man dead on a table. A lone figure riding out of a cloud of dust. Intimate shots of a steam engine but not the traditional wheel/piston shot. Everything was a character, from the cards on the table to the pipes that dripped water. The man knew how things should look, I tell you what.

His fatal flaw is that sometimes, when perfecting a still moment, or using time to build tension, he'd let it get away from him. If that happens once or twice, you only have an extra minute or two in your movie. 20 times and you have much, much more. Do not watch this as your first Leone movie. Work up to it. But it'll be worth it. It's deliberate, carefully paced and only occasionally does it "feel long."

Bone to pick: Not really a spaghetti western. It's really just a western.

Wish it was on Blu-ray. Still beautiful. Leone's work is like painting with moving pictures, I swear.


Once Upon a Time in the West at Netflix

For a Few Dollars More

Maybe a better film, albeit less ambitious, than Good/Bad/Ugly. Tense. Wish this one was restored too. 4 stars.

Follow-up - I saw this trilogy in pieces on TV years ago, and  now recently, but out of sequence. In a way I wish I had seen "Few Dollars" before Good/Bad/Ugly. It would have made Angel Eyes even more...sadistic? Bad? More...something. Anyway...Leone had an eye that comes only once in a generation or three, and if you hate his editing and his love of cheesy bit players and his obsession with faces...watch his movies anyway, you won't find a better example of slow, deliberate direction done well. And such majestic scenery, used to frame and in some cases tell the story. Good stuff. Rent 'em all.

For a Few Dollars More at Netflix - All Sergio Leone movies at Netflix

A Fistful of Dollars

Leone had 200k to make this (like 1.4mil today) Solid "gunfighter comes to town and cleans up" story. 3.5 stars. How does Clint Eastwood look tough wearing a Mexican rug? Not even Chuck Norris could pull that off.

A Fistful of Dollars at Netflix

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Incredible visuals. Leone could tell a story. 4.5 stars. Watch the extras! (This pertains to the reconstructed/restored version on Blu-ray. Worth buying!)

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly at Netflix