For a Few Dollars More

Going in to the film being a western virgin, excluding those that I watched when I was 5, I decided by the end of the film that I am going to buy and see all the westerns that are worth watching. I can only speak about the film with the impressions I got and cannot pretend to be an expert.

It is sad that the western genre has all but disappeared. It is a world so deeply ingrained in the public's consciousness, I felt seeing one for the first time a rich sense of tradition and unbreakable convention. I have however seen a lot of samurai films so I am familiar with this sort of thing. The duel is a perfect example, It seems obvious that one could easily cheat or unfairly win one by drawing the gun first or moving. Even when nobody is around the two duellers will see it fairly through to the end. This sense of honour and tradition is apparent throughout not only in fighting but the portrayal of the wild west itself.

This power of having a pre-made world given to the director for them to play with is enormous. Playing with expectations is a huge part of film but the western genre allows this without having to conform to said formula. And the world is not a boring one at that. I quickly got used to the fact that it is one ruled by avarice and greed where death is literally an inch away as shown by the quote 'Life has no value, but death sometimes has a price'. The protagonist is no exception, the man with no name is a lone gunslinger who kills people for money.

Sergio Leone's film is made purely for entertainment and that it is. It unleashed my inner 10 year old who wanted to play with guns and kill bandits (more so than any video game.) The characters are flat out cool. It's sweaty and fun. Maybe my experience with westerns will only get worse.