Please help me with a response to this discussion. Thanks. The movie that I watc
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Question
Please help me with a response to this discussion. Thanks.
The movie that I watched this week is actually the same movie that I am doing my first essay on. The film is A Fistful of Dollars which is directed by Sergio Leone and stars the iconic Clint Eastwood. The film was released in 1965 which makes it older than 30 years, but it is such a well done film I felt it deserved to be covered twice. The film shared a significant amount with some of the films from this week. It only drew comparisons to the westerns as A Fistful of Dollars is a western itself. This film is what people think of when they hear the term "western". Having been directed by Sergio Leone who is considered the inventor of the "spaghetti western" definitely helps. Cinematography plays a huge part in this film. Within the first few minutes alone there is a number of different shots. I found that close ups where used the most within this film. There are a few scenes where Clint Eastwood is having a high tension conversion with some desperados. Sergio Leone pans from each character, using close ups which really heightens the tension and allows you to get a good feel for what the character is thinking. The film also exhibits the use of extreme long shots. It helps pull you into the surroundings in which the characters are in. There is one moment where Clint Eastwood's character pulls up for a drink from a well on his horse and they use a long shot. It is very well done and helps display the beauty of the west and also highlights just how small and insignificant one is within that terrain. Special effects are also used in the movie. Clint Eastwood suffers a brutal beating from some rowdy individuals and the make up work that is use to show his bloody face is outstanding. I was shocked by how good it was for that era. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this film was and by how much I enjoyed. I am glad I chose to watch this film, as I think it will lead to me watching more westerns that were made during that time.
Explanation / Answer
Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.
(Answer) The first and most striking feature of the film “A Fist full of Dollars” is the score. The main theme of the film plays during the credits in the beginning and also when Clint Eastwood arrives in the new town. Needless to say, the music has a tone of being synonymous with Eastwood’s heroic nature in the film.
The score is handled beautifully and is queued at the right moments of a tussle between the lead and the goons. The second pleasing aspect of the film is the colour tones and light. Notice how sunny and bright the day is when Eastwood arrives in the town to save it from the goons that are terrorising it. The initial scene with the (kidnapped wife) has a lot of white walls, rich brown mud and Eastwood’s pleasant tones of brown clothes that give the scene its colour.
However, in scenes where the situation is dreary, the colours immediately shift to grey stained walls, grey-white backgrounds and a dull character evoked by the lighting. The cinematography genuinely gives the viewer a sense of familiarity with the town. This is similar to the “Back to the Future” films where the view becomes extremely familiar with the town square at “Hill Valley” by the end of the trilogy.
Eastwood’s character is that of a dark and mysterious stranger. The kidnapped wife is the inviolate damsel in distress, the people of the town are the helpless innocent and the goons are the source of dejection. One might notice that the costumes for each character reflect their fictional personality quite beautifully. Instead of everyone having a pointless exposition, it is their clothes and their behaviour that lets the audience make their own backstory for the characters.