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. --Edward Buscombe
Notes on purchasing tickets to Cinema Italian Style at the Fort Mason Flix:
- Purchase tickets per car, not per person in the the car. One ticket needed per car.
- This is not a double feature. A separate ticket is required for each film.
Special meal deal! Montesacro Pinseria Romana has created a special Spaghetti Western Drive-In Dinner. Click
here to place a dinner order. Order by noon on the day of the event, and present the receipt at check-in to ensure your meal gets dropped off to your vehicle.