Tripwire Reviews Arrow’s A Fistful Of Dollars 4K Edition

Sergio And The Magnificent Stranger

Tripwire’s senior editor Andrew Colman reviews Arrow’s A Fistful Of Dollars 4K Edition…

A Fistful Of Dollars
Director: Sergio Leone
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonte, Marianne Koch

Arrow Video’s release of the Spaghetti Western classic can never be described as anything other than exhaustive – a restored 4K version with a definitive collection of extras, documentaries, interviews, outtakes, featurettes, commentaries and so much more. What is clear from this product and the thought that went into it is how this movie deserves to be taken seriously, and how it was a pivotal moment in cinema history. And finally, it’s been given the edition aimed at diehard fans, with the two other “Dollars” films, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, about to receive the same treatment.

Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name is, for want of a less overused word, iconic – his transformation from the wholesome, innocent and old-school Rowdy Yates of Rawhide fame into the anti-heroic, amoral force of nature in this film being a fortuitous accident, with director Sergio Leone and the actor forging a new kind screen presence that was a huge diversion from the faltering and passé Hollywood westerns that preceded it. As film historian Christopher Frayling, who inevitably features heavily in this project averred, Eastwood was the first rock ‘n’ roll leading man, an entity whose understated mystery and machismo appealed to cinemagoers both in Europe and America. Leone’s direction borrowed from Kurosawa and Ford, but had a style all its own, with pop art credits and camera angles, the use of close-ups for lyrical effect rather than drama, and atmospherics created by a music score that was as important to the project as anything visual. For such an ostensibly cheap and exploitative work, it resonated both within the western genre (notably influencing late 60s American westerns whose tone and focus shifted to the old West’s demise) and on a much broader level in the 1970s. Effectively this was the movie that transformed a little known subgenre into a major industry in Italy, while making a star of Eastwood, whose archetype would be the template for countless action heroes that came after him.

The restoration certainly makes for a superior, sharper and more filmic experience, adding a level of grandeur to the townscapes and prairie vistas, along with the night time conflagrations, which needed to be pin sharp for the sake of clarity. On a 50 or 60-inch TV screen it certainly looks the business. And then there’s the array of bonus materials, with contributions from filmmakers, biographers and historians, who all bring a new angle, anecdote or perspective to the film. Alessandro de Rosa’s Wind and Fire segment is an entertaining dissection of the movie, along with musician and fan Lovely Jon’s The Day the Soundtrack Changed, which discusses the importance of Ennio Morricone’s fabled score and how it added to the rhythm and overall feel of the movie, while bringing the guitar and bass to the forefront of the music. He also mentions one of the unsung heroes of the film, Alessandro Alessandroni, the guitarist and whistler, who, along with his choir, brought so much identity to the proceedings.

There’s also a brief yet entertaining Eastwood interview, along with a fascinating outsider’s take of the production by German actress Marianne Koch, who played Marisol – her stories about working with Leone, Eastwood and Gian Maria Volonte, three men she had never heard of prior to her arrival in Almeria for the shoot, are very informative, while despite being highly apprehensive about taking the role, her fondness for Leone and the crew shows what a positive experience it was for all concerned. Her insight into the highly politicised Volonte’s big acting (a counterpoint to Eastwood’s minimalist efforts) is well-observed, the Italian actor (who would reprise his villain role in the follow up, For A Few Dollars More) an intense character.  Plus, there’s two Frayling pieces, one about his time accumulating memorabilia of all the Leone westerns (before the now burgeoning market for them existed) while working in Italy, the other his critique of the movie, its culture and its vast influence – Frayling to his credit is sharp, balanced and honest in his assessment, prepared to mention his issues with some of the movie’s shortfalls (such as its total lack of developed female roles, which didn’t change at all in the other Leone oaters). There are also some curios and oddities that are worth investigating – such as a short scene from the mid-70s starring Harry Dean Stanton that preceded the film when it was first broadcast on U.S. network TV (in order to add some kind of moral component, as NBC considered Fistful to be too graphically violent and lacking any semblance of heroism).

Indeed, A Fistful of Dollars has always been repeat viewing for this fan, and an excuse to switch off and engage with the escapism and James Bond-like tropes of what is now a feted piece of art. The Arrow edition has given myself and other film buffs an opportunity to revisit it on a higher quality format, with enough commentaries and sideshows to add context and pique further interest. Very much looking forward to May and June’s follow up releases.

A Fistful Of Dollars 4K Restoration is out from Arrow Video now