MovieChat Forums > Last Man Standing (1996) Discussion > Similarities: A Fistful of Dollars

Similarities: A Fistful of Dollars

posted 20 years ago by graabein
13 replies | jump to latest

Anyone else noticed how this film is similar in plot to A Fistful of Dollars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058461/) by Sergio Leone?

You have the lone gunman entering the small town ruled by two gangs, and who ends up working for both of them in turn...

Which leads to the inevitable question: Which is the most convincing (anti-) hero, Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis?

Even though the story is very similar, the style and tone of the two films is very different, and so is the acting of the two leading men.

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] blkguyazngirllove 20 years ago

Fistful of Dollars was based on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo....as was this film...

Leone and Kurosawa's films are better than this remake...of course...

[–] Fedorevsky 16 years ago

"Fistful of Dollars was based on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo....as was this film...

Leone and Kurosawa's films are better than this remake...of course... "
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They were actually all based on a book including Yojimbo. It's called The Red Harvest.

One should judge a man mainly from his depravities.Virtues can be faked.Depravities are real.Kinski

[–] blkguyazngirllove 16 years ago

Interesting...

"What the deuce?!" Stewie Gilligan Griffin, Family Guy

[–] taranis2099 20 years ago

actually there were a couple classic westerns from that time were remakes/inspired by Akira Kurosawa's movies....Fist Full of Dollars/Yojimbo (which is the best of the three versions by far) and Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai were two that I can think of off the top of my head. Of course Kurosawa did a remake of a William Shakespear work...He remade King Lear into Ran. I STRONGLY STRONGLY STRONGLY reccomend watching any three of these Kurosawa movies as they are just incredible and some of the best cinematography and stories ever made...

[–] ekob 20 years ago

Basicly it was Akira Kurosawa wrote a script and made an great samoria film (Yojimbo) out of it. And a prety good sequel wich is maby even beter namely Sanjuro.

Sergio Leonie used the same script and made an pretty good western (A fist full of Dollars) with two great sequeles of wom one turned out to be the best westerns ever made: "The good, the bad and the Ugly"

Bruce Willis thought hey i can do that to. But apparently he was wrong. To bad.

[–] topshelfla 18 years ago

I don't know why everyone stops at Yojimbo when tracing the history of this story- Kurosawa based Yojimbo on Dashiell Hammet's short story "Red Harvest".
Maybe nobody reads anymore.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] marshall_law 19 years ago

Don´t get me wrong, Last Man Standing is a good movie, with some memorable dialogues, great music, a fine performance by Bruce Willis, beautiful production, nice choreographed gunfights...

But the main problem, in my opinion, is the script, way too convoluted, and the awful editing.

Fistful of Dollars is funnier, with a more basic plot (less is more, less is more !). And at last, but not least, with all due respect, Walter Hill is no Sergio Leone.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] TheHypnotron 18 years ago

Just look at the writing credits. Kurosawa is credited for the screenplay for both Last Man Standing and Fistful of Dollars.

There's nothing wrong with remakes when credit is given. They clearly did not try to steal this story which is what you seemed to be implying given the tone of your post.

In contrast, Roberto Bennini's (sp?) film The Tiger and the Snow seems a rip off of Chaplin's City Lights but Chaplin is not credited in that case. I suppose there's enough different to make the case that a complete reworking is not the same as a remake, but even so I think I consider it a dervivate work in the same way that A Bugs Life is derivative of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai but Kurosawa is not credited there either.

[–] good_b_johnny 18 years ago

Maybe it was too intelligent for you? Less is not more. Maybe you should stick to Van Damme films?

[–] edestci 9 years ago

Here also appears a undertaker's man, or was in "For a Few Dollars More "...😱