A Fistful of Dollars Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

A Fistful of Dollars Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 16, 2018

Inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo,” Sergio Leone elected to bring his special sensibility to the western genre, with 1964’s “A Fistful of Dollars” his introductory work. Instead of creating a throwaway cowboy film, he reinvented the genre, delivering extraordinary tension and cinematographic intensity, finding special stylistic magic with his first effort in the future “Dollars Trilogy,” which turned Leone into a legend and star Clint Eastwood into an icon.

For deeper analysis and an overview of a previous “A Fistful of Dollars” release, please read Casey Broadwater's 2010 review.

A Fistful of Dollars Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

With their release of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Kino Lorber tried to dial down the broad push of yellow and teal that saturated original restoration work completed by the Italian company L'Immagine Ritrovata. For "A Fistful of Dollars," Kino Lorber has apparently decided to step away from any overt tinkering, leaving the AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation to the controversial color work, which also favors bold reds. If you find the L'Immagine Ritrovata processing upsetting, this release of "A Fistful of Dollar" isn't going to cure any longstanding film history ills, with Kino Lorber largely stepping out of the way for this round of western adventure. For those who enjoy the heightened look, the viewing experience is certainly supported with detail, offering a textured look at the meaty faces that populate the movie, while locations remain dimensional. Costuming stays fibrous. Delineation struggles at times with solidification. Grain is fine and filmic. Source is in strong shape, without any significant areas of concern. There's a brief frame shift during the opening United Artists logo at the :25 mark.

Much like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," I offer 40 screenshots for study, and, again, while they aren't the definitive tool for Blu-ray assessment, it's a simple way to see what Kino Lorber is offering.

A Fistful of Dollars Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix offers a brighter, louder listening experience for the film, and while hiss is present during the presentation, it's not a distraction. Music is a highlight, coming through with authority and precise instrumentation, locating broad horns and subtle rat-tat-tatting for percussive passages, while the general sweep of Ennio Morricone score remains evocative, giving the image some needed lift. Dialogue exchanges retain their thick dubbing, but intelligibility is never threatened, preserving all heated and mumbled exchanges. Sound effects are also blunt, but gunshots keep their snappy power.

A Fistful of Dollars Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary #1 features film historian Sir Christopher Frayling.

• Commentary #2 features film historian Tim Lucas.

• Interview (32:57, HD) with Marianne Koch discusses her casting, where the actress showed hesitation as a German woman to play a Mexican character, also unsure about the content of the film, which offered no heroes. She also shares her initial impression of co- star Clint Eastwood, at first wary of his lack of on-screen energy, only to see exactly what the actor was doing when she was invited to watch dailies. Koch examines another co-star, Gian Maria Volonte, who was a practicing Communist. The multicultural cast is explored, sharing tales of language and temperament differences, and she highlights personal time with Sergio Leone, emphasizing his big personality, which, apparently, rubbed Eastwood the wrong way on occasion. Koch describes her mixed feelings about the movie today, uneasy with its violence, and she shares her impression of Eastwood's drift into far-right politics, also detailing her reunion with Leone in the mid-1980s.

• "The Christopher Frayling Archives" (18:40, HD) reunites with Leone's biographer, who describes his mission to collect information and artifacts from the director's work. Frayling gives a personal tour of his archives, showing off international posters, lobby cards, soundtrack records, and the original script, describing deleted scenes and excised characters.

• "A New Kind of Hero" (22:53, SD) is a 2005 featurette that tracks the development of "A Fistful of Dollars" from idea to execution, using an interview with Frayling to sort through the mounds of trivia from the movie. Casting is inspected, highlighting Eastwood's interest in cutting his lines to create a proper mystique, and technical achievements are identified, including scoring, cinematography, and the sound department. Frayling also shares his thoughts on the film's themes and its questionable "sexual politics."

• "A Few Weeks in Spain" (8:32, SD) is a 2003 conversation with Clint Eastwood, who sits down to describe his experience on "A Fistful of Dollars," initially accepting the gig as free trip to Italy and Spain, comfortable with his participation in a low-budget western. Eastwood details his efforts to secure costuming and communicate with Leone and the crew, also discussing unexpected challenges, including the dubbing of an entire performance years after he delivered it.

• "Tre Voci: Three Friends Remember Sergio Leone" (11:13, SD) collects interviews with producer Alberto Grimaldi, screenwriter Sergio Donati, and actor Mickey Knox. The men offer anecdotes about the director and personal history, emphasizing Leone's special ways.

• "Not Ready for Primetime" (6:18, SD) returns to the 1977 television premiere of "A Fistful of Dollars," with Monty Hellman in charge of a creating a prologue that justified the Man with No Name's killing spree. Clips from the prologue are offered, with starred a double for Eastwood and Harry Dean Stanton as a new character.

• "The Network Prologue" (7:03, SD) is the aforementioned clip in its entirety. An introduction is provided by Leone fan Howard Fridkin, who took out a bank loan to purchase a Betamax machine just so he could tape the broadcast premiere of "A Fistful of Dollars."

• Location Comparisons (5:21, SD) return to Almeria, Spain to check out how the playground of "A Fistful of Dollars" has aged.

• "Trailers from Hell" (3:58, HD) offers thoughts and commentary on "A Fistful of Dollars" from director John Badham.

• Original Outtakes (2:41, HD) shares daily business from Leone's cast and crew, who enjoy a little horseplay and giggle fits between shots, also working through multiple takes to get things right.

• "A Fistful in Pictures" (14:51) is an animated image gallery showcasing publicity stills and production photographs.

• "Promoting 'A Fistful of Dollars'" (15:47) pages through numerous international posters and assorted marketing materials for the film.

• "On the Set" (3:56) collect BTS snaps from the production.

• 10 Radio Spots (6:03) are offered.

• And a Double Bill Trailer (2:06, SD) and Theatrical Trailer (2:32, HD) are included.

A Fistful of Dollars Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This release from Kino Lorber is another "your mileage may vary" Leone release, delivering a wealth of extras that should delight fans of "A Fistful of Dollars," collecting older featurettes and contributing new ones. There's a massive amount of information presented on the movie, making it worth a recommendation just for the supplements alone. However, image quality will be problematic for some. The picture remains an engaging western teeming with leathery people and bad decisions, showcasing the early stages of Leone's transformation into a master of the genre. The disc is packed with production knowledge and legendary artistic strength, but it leaves the primary question: how comfortable are you with yellow and teal?