Sergio Leone

 Sergio Leone



A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

For a Few Dollars More (1965)



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2. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)


What would happen if you took Akira Kurosawa's 1961 masterpiece "Yojimbo," used it to satirize the American Western genre through the lens of 1960s post-modernism, used an Italian director to turn it into an Italian opera epic, and placed an American television star front and center? Well...the result is 1964's "A Fistful of Dollars." Leone takes the classic Hollywood Western film tropes and heightens them to the levels of metatextuality. In doing this, Leone invigorates the Western genre and creates a new territory for it to explore. At a time when the Western genre had reached its cultural zenith, it felt like there was no other places it could go. Thanks to the nifty French New Wave movement, post-modernist cinema was taking hold of the 1960s. It was only a matter of time until a film like "A Fistful of Dollars" came along and utilize these film lenses. On top of this, it ushered in a new era of the Western, as well as ushering in a new visual style in Leone, who would go on to make several modern masterpieces.




1. For a Few Dollars More (1965)


After the wildly popular success of Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" in 1964, him and his team rushed to make a follow-up a year later with "For a Few Dollars More." What its predecessor was able to do, this film upped the ante even more. With a far more complex narrative, a less mockish storyline (not borrowing from Kurosawa), a larger length, and more complex and interesting characters, "For a Few Dollars More" goes miles above. This notion was even present in the film's success, as it gained far more box office income over its former and was even the best selling film in Italy in 1967. It is safe to say that this ultra pulpy, post-modern Western landscape would be Leone's giddy playground for the next decade, much to everyone's great pleasure.

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