Yet another Leone film staring Clint Eastwood as the quite hero of the west. After watching Yojimbo then this movie i can clearly see how Kurosawa had a huge influence on Leone. The movie is almost an exact replica of Yojimbo in almost every way. For one both of the movies have two rival families that have a large control over the small town. Also both of the movies show the theme of a hero in a hellish world with Eastwood in one and Sanjuro in the other. Both of the heroes are out to get as much money from the rival families as they can, and both show compassion for the family that was torn apart, by reuniting them. Since this was the first of the no name man series of Leone, several of his techniques are still being tweaked. One thing that is very similar is how he executes his shoot out scenes. With a combination of close ups, ground level shots, and suspenseful music to create an intense shoot out scene. Another thing i noticed about Leone's films in general is his inventive gun fights. In A Fist Full of Dollars Clint Eastwood character creates the bullet proof vest which is unbelieveable to the other men. In For a Few Dollars More one of the characters has a gun that pops out of his sleeve.
Final Duel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiQntJC-Efw
6 comments:
Yea that is really weird how both were exactly the same. Akuro Kurosowa actually got sued im pretty sure for some copyright uses. But Leones gunfights are very indential. You could almsot plan out what will happen next. What i love the most about those special scenes are the ire music that send chills down my spine. You never know who is going to die and who will make it out alive.
One similarity that I saw in all of Leone's films was the classic western hero. All three movies had Clint Eastwood as the protagonist and his character stayed fairly constant throughout the three films. Clint Easteood always played the mysterious silent hero that may look like the bad greedy guy in the beggining but rectifies himself in the closing scenes with a act of compassion.
( By the way Kanne, I know this is a blog but it would help if you looked over your posts before you submitted them. At times it is almost impossible to tell what you are trying to say.)
I would also like to note that Kurosawa sued Leone and not the other way around. (if that is in fact true because I haven't checked my facts)
*Note* In the post above i said classic western hero but i meant to say revised western hero.
Yea i did switch those around so thanks for clarifying that. I think it is very rare to find directors willing to keep their main actors and design movies around them. Both Leone and Kurosowa are both examples of this. In all of Leone's westurns are very similar. I think one main resaon is because Clint is used in all the movies. He just looks like a man with few words but can back up what he says. Leone is a diector well known for his speech less sequences and in every movie, we have experienced these scenes and Clint is usually a mian contributer. This could be one resaon why Leone is so attached to Clint.
Well I would reply to your comment but yet again I can't understand a single thought you are trying to get across. So instead I am going to do a list of "Leoneisms" or whatever you want to call it.
1) Revised hero that is hard to tell apart from the villain, in that their morals aren't complete opposites.
2)Different (dirtier) vision of the west.
3)Extreme close-up
4)Flashy display of gun skills.
5)Long moments of silence and staring at each other followed by sudden and fast gun shots.
6)original music scores (that everyone today associates with the western genre)
7)Inventive gun fights
8)Three man stand off
9)Extreme long shots used mainly at begging and end.
10)Money plays a key role
Post a Comment