| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A+ |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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| Visuals: |
A+ |
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For A Fistful of Yen...
by Vlad (movies profile)
Aug 16, 2006
When Kurasawa wrote this samurai flick, he intended it to be the answer to the Western. Little did he know he would be the Godfather of the Spaghetti Western. Yes, Clint Eastwood's career owes much to Sergio Leone's frequent "homage" to Kurasawa by stealing his plots.
But "Fistful of Dollars" loses something in the translation. Swords vs. 6-shooters is so much cooler than 6-shooters vs. rifles. And even Ennio Morricone can't beat the Yojimbo soundtrack for weirdness. Third, Japanese is a cool language for a tough guy. You hear him saying something vicious and it translates as, "What gentle faces!" Too funny! Fourth, the battered samurai crawling under the floorboards was almost made for a transformation to under a westrern sidewalk, but Leone eschewed stealing that scene wholesale. Fifth, our hero sits in an abandoned temple pinning swirling leaves to the floor with a throwing knife, then sets out with onthing but this dagger to take on the horde of bad guys in the town.
Make sure you see this movie with subtitles in a widescreen format. The cinematography is brilliant and the composition depends on seeing the whole picture. |
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