Cory Massimino

Short Review: A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

September 17, 2020 by Cory

★★★★

A Fistful of Dollars oozes charisma and mystique in every one of its facets. Its directing is as wild as the west Leone crisply depicts, its score stirring and violent, its script witty, its close-ups jarring and kinetic, its portrait shots raw and detailed, its costuming and production design restrained but gritty, and its acting intense, subdued, or melodramatic — whatever the tone of the scene may call for. Eastwood was obviously born for the role of the wry, resourceful, stone-faced, quick-shooting, anti-hero stranger who exhibits a timely streak of genuine empathy in the movie’s climax. And quite the climax! Leone’s action is never overbearing or overlong. Each action sequence slowly builds in stakes and intensity rather than scale or size. By the end, we’re left with a small-scale, relatively quick shoot out but it’s a masterful pay-off to all the story’s major conflicts and relationships. With the town and the story no longer in need of him, the stranger soberly rides off with his head held high.

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