A Fistful of Dollars - An old spaghetti western that is still awesome.
A Fistful of Dollars is a classic spaghetti western, made in 1967 and stars Clint Eastwood. Like most spaghetti westerns there really isn’t much to the story. It’s made by dudes and is made for dudes. Therefore, there is very little character development or even anything that resembles a character arch.
It begins with a mysterious figure, played by Clint Eastwood – of course, who rides through a God forsaken town in the middle of nowhere…This guy’s so mysterious he doesn’t have a name…He’s called Joe, but that’s just what they call him…which is pretty cool.
We soon find out that the town is basically run by two families…one is running guns and the other is running booze. As soon Joe enters the town he’s told to leave if he wants to live because only those that are good at killing survive in this town…We soon find out that Joe is good killin’ in fact, he is so good at killin’ that he has a stand-off shoot out with four other guys. He is so freakin’ good at killin’ he shoots all four of them before they get a shoot off…and he doesn’t even have to raise his gun above his waist or aim.
Basically the whole movie revolves around Joe pitting the two families against each and making some money in the process…in between all the killin’ and schemin’ Joe even finds time to rescue a damsel in distress, that had been taken captive by one of the families…well, specifically by the main bad-guy…his name is Ramon but nobody cares…he is just the main bad-guy, and you know the whole movie is just building up to a shootout between these two.
So Ramon finds out that Joe let the girl go, and has his men beat Joe within an inch of his life. Does this stop Joe…hell no, he is Clint Eastwood – he still manages to best a couple generic bad- guys and get out of town before Ramon goes on a killing spree. Joe hides out in a cave until he gets his strength back and then it’s on like Donkey Kong – he blows some stuff up just outside of town, just so he can walk into town through smoke, which is freakin’ – AWESOME and should be on every man’s bucket list of things to do – blow stuff and walk through the smoke like a Boss.
He then kills some generic bad-guys and then kills Ramon, and leaves town – end of movie…BOOM…because he is Clint Eastwood…I mean Joe.
Man Test
Does this film pass the man test? What I mean by that is, can I tell other men that I watched this film and not feel moderately gay? This question almost doesn’t even to be asked. It’s a spaghetti western, starring Clint Eastwood and there are several classic western shoot-out duels, and he rescues a captive woman. This movie checks almost every man-box there is…
Christian Worldview
What about Christian worldview? Is there anything that resembles a Christian worldview in this film? No, not really, but kinda, maybe, sorta…Joe is a classic anti-hero, which means he’s not really a good guy, but he is not as bad as the bad guys, and he is only bad to the bad guys. He exists in a world where evil is real, where injustice is real and there is no one to do anything about it. Should we take justice into our hands? No, but what do you do when no one does?
Like the old saying goes, “the only thing needed for evil to grow is for good men to do nothing.” I’m not advocating for vengeance, or for self-justice, but I would say that there is a reason why these types of films resonate with men, and it also brings up an interesting question as to whether or not an avenger of blood is ever acceptable…I know, I know we have the civil magistrate for a reason, but what do you do if there is no magistrate, or when the magistrate is worse than everyone else, or has been purchased by the bad-guys?
This film wasn’t made to wrestle through those questions, nor does Joe seem to be governed by justice, although when he is rescuing generic damsel in distress she asks him why he is doing it. He replies, “I knew someone like you once and there was no one there to help.” Joe certainly has a moral code”. And just when you think he is only motivated by money, he tells one the generic bad-guys he can keep his money because he “didn’t feel right taking money he didn’t earn.
Joe is one of the good-guys, but not in the classical modern sense – which is probably good because he is not totally gay, nor is there the modern bad-ass female heroine that’s better than him at everything, telling him what to do through the whole movie.
You get the idea that Joe brings a sense of justice in an unjust world with him wherever he goes…but given that he doesn’t fit the mold of being the nicest person in the room, speaking favorably of Joe would make many evangelicals nervous – this too is wonderful…Let’s not forget that David, a man after God’s own heart – went and killed two hundred Philistines just so he could cut their foreskins off and bring them to Saul as a bridal price for his daughter.
Am I saying we should do that? NOT AT ALL. I’m simply pointing out that the world wasn’t put together with 2x4’s and that Christians can be just as guilty at creating categories and whitewashing history as any social justice warrior…minus the riots, the statue toppling and the murders and stuff.
What is underlining this film is man’s deep desire for justice and deliverance which only
happens when evil doers are punished, and of course, that is great theme in Scripture: Kill the Dragon and get the girl.
Overall I give this film a B. For everything it lacks and for how dated it is how, it makes up for in being generally awesome, and because Clint Eastwood, and because the older I get the more Clint Eastwoody I get.
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