This has been the month of westerns for MGM Home Video. They released the Magnificent Seven and The Return of the Magnificent Seven on Blu-ray. Now we get the Clint Eastwood Classics, A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More on Blu-ray. These four westerns defined the genre for the next few decades. The Magnificent Seven was originally released at a time when the western was dying its surprise success was followed by A Fistful of Dollars. These two franchised revived the genre. It’s appropriate that their Blu-ray release mirrors their theatrical impact.
Video, Audio Presentation
A Fistful of Dollars launched the spaghetti Western and catapulted Clint Eastwood to stardom. Based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1961 samurai picture Yojimbo, it scored a resounding success (in Italy in 1964 and the U.S. in 1967), as did its sequels, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The advertising campaign promoted Eastwood’s character–laconic, amoral, dangerous–as the Man with No Name (though in the film he’s clearly referred to as Joe), and audiences loved the movie’s refreshing new take on the Western genre.
Gone are the pieties about making the streets safe for women and children. Instead it’s every man for himself. Striking, too, was a new emphasis on violence, with stylized, almost balletic gunfights and baroque touches such as Eastwood’s armored breastplate. The Dollars films had a marked influence on the Hollywood Western–for example, Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch–but their most enduring legacy is Clint Eastwood himself. (TPS from Amazon)
Audio on this Blu-ray includes a 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, English Mono 2.0, Spanish Mono 2.0 and French Mono 2.0 tracks. Ennio Morricone’s score sounds fantastic in full 5.1 DTS. While the sound design is crystal clear, there is something weirdly off putting about speaking parts – it sounds really “reedy” and “high pitched.” The voice dubbing is a bit distracting at first.
The picture transfer is nice, but there are some moments of minor grain and the colors look a bit muted. The Magnificent Seven had a better transfer because it was just shot better.
All the extras are included in a standard single disk package with the majority of them in Standard Definition format. At first the menu navigation seemed clean and simple until you see the horrible brownish, cursive font style that made it very difficult to make out the text on my 55 – inch television.
Features
- Commentary with Film Historian Sir Christopher Frayling
- The Christopher Frayling Archives: Fistfull of Dollars (18 Mins, SD) – Frayling wrote an autobiography on Director Sergio Leon, he walks us through his collection of memorabilia.
- A New Kind of Hero (22 Mins. SD) – Frayling talks about the history of the western and Fistful of Dollars. Lots of good tidbits – did you know it was based on a Japanese Samurai movie called Ajimbo? Leon’s first choice was Henry Fonda or James Coburn and the budget was only $15,000 (although Eastwood said it was $200,000 in another interview) – regardless it was cheap.
- A Few Weeks in Spain: Clint Eastwood on The Experience of Making The Film (8 Mins.) This interview was filmed in 2003.
- Tre Vogi: Fistful of Dollars (11 Mins, SD)- Three Friends (Producer Alberto Grimaldi, Screenwriter Sergio Donati, and American actor Mickey Knox) remember Sergio Leone
- Not Ready for Primetime, Filmmaker Monte Hellman Discusses the Television Broadcast of A Fistful of Dollars (6 Mins, SD) – He shot the prologue that was used on the TV Broadcast. The networks demanded this prologue to give Eastwood’s character a moral center.
- The Network Prologue With Harry Dean Stanton (7 Mins, SD) – The quality of this extremely rare footage is terrible, but it is still neat to see something that was only aired one time.
- Location Comparisons Then and Now (5 Mins, SD) – A look at Almeria, Spain 1964 – 2004
- Double Bill Trailer for A Fistful of Dollars and a Few Dollars More – Quality of the Trailer is terrible.
- Fistful of Dollars Trailer (HD)
Conclusion
I’m mixed on this Blu-ray. I’ve never been a huge fan of Eastwood Westerns, but I do have an appreciation for the impact A Fistful of Dollars had on the genre. This western somehow feels more old school than The Magnificent Seven did. The picture transfer is decent but doesn’t make me go wow, the movie is good but I don’t think its “great,” and not something I would watch again and again. Fans of this film should not be disappointed with this release. A Fistful of Dollars is now available on Blu-ray from MGM Home Video.
Grades
- Movie – B
- Audio, Video and Presentation – B
- Extras – B
Final Overall Grade – B
EM Review
By Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 9/18/2011