Who doesn’t love a good western movie? —An adventure of gunslingers, cowboys, outlaws, trains, horses, and endless desert, all set in the Wild West. As a movie enthusiast and someone who comes from the American West, Westerns have always been a huge part of my identity. This week I’d like to recommend The Dollars Trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966).
Directed by Italian film director, Sergio Leone, Dollars jumpstarted the trend of “spaghetti westerns” — films about the wild west produced and directed by Italian filmmakers. Dollars remains an important touchstone for the Western genre, inspiring films like The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Tombstone (1993), and even Rango (2011). The franchise also made its leading man, the now-legendary Clint Eastwood, a national celebrity. Without Dollars, Westerns and film in general would be very different.
In addition to being a trilogy, Dollars is also an anthology. The story and supporting characters change from film to film. The only recurring character is Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name”. You don’t have to see A Fistful of Dollars to understand For a Few Dollars More, or The Good the Bad and the Ugly; Even so, my dad recommended that I start with the first film in the series.
The first time I watched A Fistful of Dollars, I was in awe: from the relationships between the characters, to the music (composed by Ennio Morricone), and the epic final duel between Eastwood and the Rojo brothers, I couldn’t shut up about it until I watched the next two films a few days later. I won’t spoil the films for you, but suffice it to say that my love of Westerns and Dollars has only grown since then.I highly encourage anyone who wants to get into “the classics” to give the Dollars trilogy a watch. No matter how many movies I watch, they’ll always have a special place in my heart as a westerner and a cinephile. They’re fun, they’re cultural, and they’re an integral part of film history. So give them a try!