Editor’s note: Howard’s being a little stingy here. I would give Fistful of Dollars at least another star!
![Fistful of Dollars [Blu-ray] (1964)](/wp_content/uploads/2011/09/1_150x150.jpg "Fistful of Dollars [Blu-ray] (1964)")
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964, Blu-ray released August 2, 2011 – MSRP $16.99)
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![For a Few Dollars More [Blu-ray] (1965)](/wp_content/uploads/2011/09/2_150x150.jpg "For a Few Dollars More [Blu-ray] (1965)")
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965, Blu-ray released August 2, 2011 – MSRP $16.99)
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Dripping with style and sweat. Immediately memorable soundtracks. Faces in extreme close-up. Horses ridden hard. Tough guys in dusty boots with guns blazing. Sergio Leone breathed new life into the Western genre with the films of the iconic Man with No Name. Clint Eastwood played the “title” character three separate times in what is referred to as The Man with No Name Trilogy.
Last year the three films were released on Blu-ray as a box set and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly a couple of years ago on its own. Now, the first two films, A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, are available separately on Blu. These are the identical discs from the set released a year ago.
All of the same features and extras are there, like the insightful and detailed commentary and featurettes by film historian, Sir Christopher Frayling, trailers, location studies and Eastwood, in his own words discussing the experience of filming Westerns in Europe with a different kind of filmmaking master.
It’s the same increasingly improving transfers from Fistful… to …A Few Dollars More. Fistful… certainly lacks in sharpness and color vibrancy, but by A Few Dollars More, the presentation gets vastly better. Contrast is well defined, the colors brighter—all in all, a much nicer transfer.
Restoration on a slightly sub-standard scale may be an issue for some films, but that isn’t a reason to shy away from purchasing these discs. Still by far the best versions of these films I’ve seen; nonetheless, that is not the only reason to pick them up. They are pieces of film history. These films aren’t cherished so much for their stories as their marvelous settings, myriad of facial types and more style than you can shake a stick at. They possess a well-deserved place in cinematic history.
They solidified Eastwood’s gruff, action man-of-few-words personae, gave us a glimpse at the buddy-cop genre to come and revitalized the Western genre. Just the manner in which the films were shot and the sound recorded was astonishing. All of this information and more is available on these discs.
Mostly for the collector on your list, but still fascinating treats for anyone.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
A Fistful Of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari)
- Commentary by Film Historian Christopher Frayling
- The Christopher Frayling Archives: A Fistful of Dollars
- A New Kind of Hero
- A Few Weeks in Spain: Clint Eastwood on the Experience of Making the Film
- Tre Voci: A Fistful of Dollars
- Not Ready for Primetime: Renowned Filmmaker Monte Hellman discusses the Television Broadcast of A Fistful of Dollars
- The Network Prologue with actor Harry Dean Stanton
- Location Comparisons: Then to Now
- 10 Radio spots
- Double bill trailer
- Theatrical trailer
For a Few Dollars More (Per qualche dollaro in più)
- Commentary by film historian Christopher Frayling
- The Christopher Frayling Archives: For A Few Dollars More
- A New Standard: Frayling on For A Few Dollars More
- Back for More: Clint Eastwood Remembers For A Few Dollars More
- Tre Voci: For A Few Dollars More
- For A Few Dollars More: The Original American Release Version
- Location comparisons
- 12 radio spots
- Two theatrical trailers
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