Visit the Movie Wave Store | Movie Wave Home | Reviews by Title | Reviews by Composer | Contact me A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS Morricone's moment of genius which launched his career A review by JAMES SOUTHALL Music composed by ENNIO MORRICONE Rating * * * * *

Performed by UNNAMED ORCHESTRA conducted by ENNIO MORRICONE Orchestration ENNIO MORRICONE Produced by MIKE RAGOGNA Album running time 28:51 Released by RAZOR & TIE Catalog number 7930182171-2 Album cover copyright (c) 1998 Razor & Tie Entertainment; review copyright (c) 2008 James Southall.

Seminal moments in film music history would include Max Steiner's King Kong, Alex North's A Streetcar Named Desire and then Ennio Morricone's A Fistful of Dollars, the score for a film which would launch him - along with Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood - towards fame and fortune.  It's a great film - more modest than Leone's explosive work to come, but hugely satisfying; and Eastwood is perfection itself.  It's a dark film, very cold, but stylistically it's so colourful - and Morricone's music is, of course, as much a part of it as any other element. I don't know whether it was Leone or Morricone who came up with the musical template - presumably it was some combination of the two - but there was a flash of lightning, of genius about it.  There are few film scores where one could say that the music wasn't just innovative for film, it was actually a whole new type of music - but here's the prime example.  The brilliance of the opening title theme, with Alessandro Alessandrini's whistling, his vocal group's grunting, the electric guitar, whip and drums; it's three minutes of sheer brilliance.  A flash of genius, indeed. "Almost Dead" brings in the next indelible theme - a low-end piano riff alternating with harmonica and gypsy-like violin solos - the man with no name being brilliantly accompanied by a mixture of American and European folk music.  "Square Dance" is exactly what it says, a delightful (very catchy) piece of Western dance music.  "The Chase" is a wonderful piece of action music, a frenzied combination of trumpets, percussion and choir - once again, nobody had ever heard music like this anywhere before, let alone in a film score.   More action follows in "The Result", another great piece (the folk music influence shining through more obviously this time); "Without Pity" focuses more on (melodic) suspense before exploding into an exciting action finale; and then comes what is called "Theme From A Fistful of Dollars", a breathtaking trumpet theme which I guess could be considered this score's equivalent of "Ecstasy of Gold".  On most albums (including the one I'm reviewing), this 15-minute set from the score is followed by a suite which essentially reprises all the same music, re-edited into a very good arrangement which is great to listen to; there has been a slightly expanded Italian CD release featuring more of the score, but essentially all the important stuff's here.  Legendary stuff, a genius classic. Tracks Titoli (2:57) Almost Dead (1:42) Square Dance (1:35) The Chase (2:25) The Result (2:36) Without Pity (2:09) Theme From A Fistful of Dollars (1:48) Suite (13:39)