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December 1994, Week 2

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Subject:
From:
"Richard J. Leskosky" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 8 Dec 1994 16:39:06 -0600
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>From: Tony Williams
>English
>SIUC
> Leone once claimed that an Italian comedy, "Harlequin - The Servant of Two
>Masters" was the real inspiration behind A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.
===========================
"The Servant of Two Masters," if I recall correctly, is a commedia
dell'arte play about a servant trying to survive while satisfying the
demands of two masters.  The Man with No Name is out to destroy both sides
in the conflict by playing one against the other over his services as well
as over other issues of power and profit.  "Servant" may have had some
initial small influence on Leone's thinking, but there are so very many
point-by-point correspondences between YOJIMBO and A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS
that Leone's debt to Kurosawa is unquestionable.  It's also greater than
Kurosawa's debt to Hammett.
P.S. See THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS for a sci-fi/fantasy remake of the
same plot.
--Richard Leskosky

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