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Fistful of Dollars Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars at 50: The Impact of Spaghetti Westerns

Fistful of DollarsThe western film has been a part of Hollywood history since the silent era. But the release of A Fistful of Dollars (1964) changed the way people thought of the western and the American west. No longer were the good guys good and the bad guys bad. No longer did the movies uphold the fantasy and high ideals of western lore. A Fistful of Dollars depicted a harsher environment populated by morally ambiguous characters. The concept of hero was replaced by a ruthless, opportunistic "anti-hero".

Join us on Friday, April 17 at 7:00 pm, in Marvin Auditorium 101 BC to celebrate this landmark film and the genre that it spawned. Local film historian Bill Shaffer will revisit the origins of this film and it's legacy.

Directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, A Fistful of Dollars starred an international cast and filmed mostly in Spain. Little-known actor Clint Eastwood starred as "The Man with No Name", a mysterious stranger who gets between warring families over control of a Mexican border town.

The success of this film led to a wave of European films set in the American West, many with dark themes and heightened violence. Director Leone continued his Dollars Trilogy with For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966).

Dubbed "Spaghetti Westerns", similar films filled the local cinemas. Death Rides a Horse (1967), They Call Me Trinity (1970), and Return of Sabata (1971) soon followed. Sergio Leone returned to the genre with Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck, You Sucker (1971).

Soon the Spaghetti Western began to fade (as did the mainstream western film). Many later directors adapted the style to there own films, including Quentin Tarentino and Clint Eastwood, the original "Man with No Name".

 
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