A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS Movie Review

An open letter to Clint Eastwood. Dear Mr. Eastwood: In 1971, you came to Detroit on a publicity tour for your first directorial effort, Play Misty for Me. At a crowded press lunch (You had a steak sandwich and a Heineken. You could have had anything you wanted.) I asked you in my geekiest “film generation” college-paper film-critic style about the genesis of a movie of yours I liked a lot, Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars. You looked right at me, narrowed those eyes, leaned forward, and quietly said: “We all know it was based on Yojimbo, son.” I didn't mess with you anymore, but in case you ever read this, Mr. Eastwood, I was sure you knew it—I was just rather awkwardly trying to talk to you about Sergio Leone. I guess since you came to town for Misty, I should have stuck to that, but I just couldn't resist. You see, as much as 1 love Yojimbo, I've always been astonished at how you and Leone rethought Mifune and Kurosawa into something that was absolutely all your own, but was nevertheless a clear spiritual descendant of Kurosawa's movie. Nope. Never thought you were trying to put one over on anybody—I just thought A Fistful of Dollars was ingenious and terrific. Thought you were terrific too. Still do. C'mon back to Detroit sometime. The steak's on me.

NEXT STOP … Yojimbo, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Unforgiven

1964 (R) 101m/C IT Clint Eastwood, Gian Marie Volonte, Marianne Koch; D: Sergio Leone; C: Massimo Dallamano, Federico G. Larraya; M: Ennio Morricone. VHS, LV, Letterbox, Closed Caption MGM, FCT, TLF