40 Films in Robotech: A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Prior to this year, my blog Digging Star Wars has already covered For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966). It’s about time we covered the film that kicked off this iconic spaghetti western trilogy…
ROBOTECH MENTION:
In Robotech TV episode 81 Hired Gun, our group hears of a vigilante called Dusty Ayres who is killing soldiers in a certain western town. While on a nearby
patrol, Rand and Rook encounter a wounded motorcycle rider with major cowboy vibes.
The rider never reveals his name to Rand or Rook. In Jack McKinney’s
novelization of the beginning of the episode, McKinney talks of the encounter
from Rand’s point-of-view, which is very interesting since he’s jealous of the
attention Rook is giving this mysterious stranger. Of course, Rand, being a film
lover, quickly applied Clint Eastwood’s iconic “man with no name” character
(which premiered in A Fistful of
Dollars) to the stranger. Here's the book excerpt with Rand referring to Dusty as "the man with no name."
 |
| Excerpt from page 103 of Jack McKinney’s 1987 book Robotech: Symphony of Light. |
Not only does the stranger refuse to identify himself to Rook and Rand, but his entire attire looks remarkably similar to Eastwood’s character down to the hat, poncho, slim cigar, looks -- the works.
Here is the entire Hired Gun episode, free to view on YouTube:
SYNOPSIS:
In his #classicfilmreading book Reel Spirituality – Theology and Film in Dialogue (2006), Robert K. Johnston points out: “The evolution of the Western on the screen provides a clear illustration of a genre’s ability to shed light on the culture in which it was created….In the 1960s, American culture changed again, becoming more corporate and professional in nature. Thus it should come as no surprise that the typical Western plot changed with it. Now, the hero…often works for money...” (p. 189). Enter “the man with no name” played by Clint Eastwood. He’s a hired gun seeking an opportunity to make as much money as he can but also bring some justice to the downtrodden. In this effort, he is a hired gun for two warring factions in a border town and is often referred to as “that Americano.”
A Fistful of Dollars won the Silver Ribbon for Best Score of 1965 (by composer Ennio Morricone) from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists. This film was also mentioned in TCM’s 2016 book The Essentials – 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter by Jeremy Arnold.
This is the film within the film Back to the Future II (1989). In BTTF2, villain Biff Tannen watches A Fistful of Dollars in his hot tub as Marty McFly confronts him. The Man With No Name’s “trick” in A Fistful of Dollars is later incorporated by Marty McFly in Back to the Future III (1990) against Mad Dog Tannen.
ROBOTECH REASON:
If you need a quick cowboy badass, you got straight to Eastwood. This is the reason why Marty McFly adopts the name “Clint Eastwood” when he is thrown back in the Old West in Back to the Future III (1990) – and for some other significant plot reasons, too. Dusty Ayres had to be ruthless and intimidating – and he is. He also works for both sides – killing Robotech soldiers so often that the Invid pull back and observe any skirmish of his. In short, letting him do their dirty work. He redeems himself in this episode by defending our favorite Robotech rebels while taking on an Invid Shock Trooper at point-blank range. Like the man with no name in A Fistful of Dollars, Ayres isn’t afraid to live his life as he sees it and dishing out justice as needed.
To read my ⭐⭐ ⭐ (out of a possible 5 stars) rating of A Fistful of Dollars (1967) on Letterboxd, click here.
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