Behind-the-scenes production of a lot of dollars

This film is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Heart Stick in 196 1.

Henry fonda and Charles Bronson are both candidates to play Joe.

The release of the film in the United States was delayed because Akira Kurosawa and screenwriter Ryosuke Kikujima accused the filmmakers of infringement. Later, they won the case and got 15% of the global box office profit and the distribution rights of Japan, Taiwan Province Province and South Korea. Kurosawa said that the profit he got from this film exceeded his own income.

In American trailers and promotional materials, the title of this film is a handful of dollars, but when it was released, it was called a handful of dollars.

Director Sergio Leon didn't want ennio morricone to play the soundtrack at first, because although they were classmates in childhood, he was not impressed by Moriquand's past works. After hearing Moriquand's original music for this film, Leon quickly put other people's works aside. Since then, all the soundtracks of the Lion King movies have come from Moriquand.

Although this film was described as the first Italian westerns, by the time the film was finished, there were already 25 Italian westerns. To be exact, this film should be the first Italian western released internationally.

Steve Reeves once refused to appear in this film.

Clint Eastwood bought her own clothes in the movie, black jeans from the sporting goods store on Hollywood Boulevard, a hat from the Santa Monica Clothing Company and a black cigar from the Beverly Hills store.

Because this film was jointly produced by Italy, Germany and Spain, the language barrier on the set is very serious. Among them, Clint Eastwood's communication with the director Sergio Leon and the Italian crew was completed through the translation of Benito Stefanelli, the stuntman.

The film was shot in 1964, but it was not released in the United States until 1967.

James coburn is also expected to star in this movie, but his salary is too high. In the first gun battle scene of the film, Joe managed to kill three opponents, but the gun was not aimed at them.

After the first shooting scene of the film, the posture of the "corpse" on the far right changed several times.

When Clint was preparing his bulletproof vest, he was banging on the metal plate, but the voice in the film didn't match his movements.

Clint walked into a small room. There are five opponents in the room. Four shots were fired, and all five people were shot dead.

Clint rode a brown horse when he went to rescue his mother, and a chestnut horse when he left. During the day, horses turn red.

When Clint showed his marksmanship at the reception, we could see that several holes were dug in the armor in advance.

When Clint entered the town, he rode a mule-according to the hotel owner, it was a mule. It's actually a horse.

In a panoramic shooting, the photographer captured the remains of the tower Bernas Castle, which shows that the film was shot in Andalusia, Spain, rather than the US-Mexico border described in the film.

In the scene of attacking soldiers, all the soldiers were "killed" twice, but from different angles.

A machine gun that can fire bullets continuously needs a bullet conveyor belt, but this prop does not appear in the film. Alternate: Clint Eastwood.

This movie introduced the world to three people. One is the film director Sergio Leon, who later became a master of Italian westerns. One is Clint Eastwood, who later became the most famous cowboy and the most qualified old director in Hollywood. The other is ennio morricone, the film soundtrack, who later became the most prolific and famous film soundtrack master. However, when Lionel found Eastwood to play Joe in the film, it was completely accidental-more helpless.

At that time, Clint Eastwood was just an unknown walk-on actor, and he was not on Sergio's shortlist. At that time, Sergio insisted that henry fonda play the lone ranger Joe, but the film production company could not pay henry fonda, who was already famous in Hollywood at that time, so Sergio had to give up. His second choice was Charles Bronson, who appeared in business cards such as The Great Escape and The Brave Seven Dragons, but Bronson turned down Sergio's invitation after reading the script. His reason is simple and clear: "The script sucks." Perhaps the success of the film after its release stimulated the two Hollywood giants, who both starred in Sergio's Once upon a Time in the West. Next, Ty Hardin and James Cobain both turned down the role. Then, Sergio invited Richard Harrison, a tough guy who starred in "Gunfight in Red Sand", and declined his invitation after getting to know Sergio. The reason is: "I don't like this director's work. His previous works are meaningless."

Finally, the helpless producer brought a list of unknown second-tier actors in Hollywood. The producer asked Harrison to recommend someone. Harrison casually pointed to and clicked on Clint Eastwood's name. So the crew followed his instructions and found Eastwood. Years later, Harrison said, "Perhaps my greatest contribution to this film is that I didn't star in A handful of dollars, but gave this opportunity to Clint Eastwood." .

New movies, new music

A handful of dollars is usually regarded as the first Italian western film, and the director who defined this film type was Sergio Leon. However, the genre of westerns has existed for a long time, with many big-name stars, big-name directors and classic business cards. Why did Sergio Leon "invent" this new film type?

In this regard, Sergio himself said: "Since the mid-1950s, American westerns have come to a dead end. Not only have they not developed, but they are full of nonsense, which is unbearable. Because of this, Hollywood gradually stopped shooting westerns. But I know that in European countries, westerns are still very marketable, and as long as there are new things, the audience will still buy them. " At that time, a great revolution was brewing in the film industry, and Sergio stood at the forefront. He believes: "Western directors in Hollywood have become a spent force. They no longer have new ways to make movies, but I just have fresh ideas. Italian audiences are tired of Hollywood storytelling mode and Italian directors' poor imitation of Hollywood. I should make a different new movie. "Driven by this concept, Sergio innovated the film language and made an unprecedented film. After making a lot of money, he made two films, Twilight and The Golden Escort. Together, these three films are called "Escort Trilogy".

Apart from the new protagonist and the new film language, the soundtrack of the film is completely new. At the beginning of the film, the first thing I heard was a rough whistle, and then the sound element of flogging was added. As the whistle and flogging became stronger and stronger, Morrigan added a quick and short hoofbeat. The combination of these three strange sounds fully embodies the wild and uninhibited characteristics of the West. On the soundtrack of the film, the individual music of the characters is the golden signboard in Moriquand (represented by 1900 Legend). He wrote his own music for all three main characters in the film, which is unforgettable. The whistling and whipping sound he used also appeared in the film soundtrack for the first time. Sergio Leon had a pleasant cooperation with Morrigan, and he has been working with the master of music since then until his last film. In fact, "A handful of dollars" is not a movie born out of thin air, and Sergio Leon did not imagine such a classic movie out of thin air. Before this film, he borrowed many other films and learned many directors' shooting techniques. But when these things are put together and performed by Clint Eastwood, it is still amazing.

Sergio Leon said: "My directing skills mainly come from two masters-one is john ford, from whom I learned the landscape and scenery; There is also Kurosawa, and I learned the rendering of atmosphere and personality in his movies. " In the film, Sergio Leon uses a lot of close-ups to cut into the character's heart as accurately as a scalpel. Coupled with the lighting of the painter's imitation oil painting, the film looks beautiful and elegant.

However, after the film was released, it still attracted Kurosawa's dissatisfaction, because the whole film was almost a replica of Heartbeat. Although Sergio Leon admitted that he studied under Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese director refused to stop there. He brought a lawsuit to the court to protect his copyright. He wrote to Leon and said, "This (a handful of dollars) is a good movie. This is my movie." . The dean of the Royal Academy of Art also judged the source of a large amount of dollars. He said: "There are three main sources of movies, one is Kurosawa's Heart Stick, and the other is Dutch hammett's novel The Red Harvest, but the most important source is the Italian playwright Carlo Gordoni in 65433.

Kurosawa finally won the lawsuit against Sergio Leong, and he and Ryosuke Kikujima, the screenwriter of Heartbeat, will get 15% of the film's global box office revenue, as well as the exclusive agency rights of the film in Japan, Taiwan Province Province and South Korea. Afterwards, Akira Kurosawa did not forget to thank Liang Jiajie for "remaking" Heartbeat, because the money he got from this movie far exceeded the box office he earned by shooting Heartbeat himself.