Review: A Fistful of Dollars 4K UHD
4K UHD Blu-ray: A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
When a handsome, sunburnt, nameless stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into the Mexican border town of San Miguel and quickly finds himself in the middle of a battle for power between the two rival families of the Baxter’s and the Rojos film, particularly the western genre, went through a change, and that change reverberated towards a small house in a tiny hamlet in Wales.
My Dad, a lover of westerns, had his mind blown. I’ve often spoken in film reviews of my dad’s love of the western genre, and how his love in turn, echoed on in me. So reviewing this new 4K restoration from the original 2-perf Techniscope negative by Arrow is more than a pleasure.
As Mark Kermode bangs on about The Exorcist, so I bang on about this trilogy of films starring Clint Eastwood, with a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, and directed by Sergio Leone as my favourite – yes, more than the Godfather, Star Wars, Batman and The Lord of the Rings. To me they are perfection. Timeless, compact, brutal and … yes, even though Leone copied Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, they still remain the very best. All three films are being released over the summer in newly restored 4K UHD.
Instead of discussing the film itself – if you want to read about it, nip down to the local library and lend any of Christopher Frayling’s wonderful books on Leone and westerns (all now out of print and way too expensive to buy on Ebay). Frayling features heavily in the extras and along with the very welcome addition of film historian and critic Fabio Melelli – who so brilliantly talks about the Italian western’s in other Arrow releases, such as their excellent ‘Savage Guns’ box set, you have a not only comprehensive, but really genuinely entertaining history of how, when, where and who of A Fistful of Dollars.
With a mixture of old and new extras, this has to be one of the most amazing releases Arrow have produced, but then, I AM biased. Now I’m not a techy expert and can’t really talk about the picture or sound quality in a geeky way, all I can say is the picture is incredible, I have seen things normally hidden by shadow or grain that I’ve never seen before, and the sound, which is a newly remixed lossless English and Italian DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, is crystal.
Never has Ramón (Gian Maria Volonté) looked so swoony.
Absolute must buy.
4K ULTRA-HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
- Perfect bound collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Henry Blyth, Bilge Ebiri, Pasquale Iannone and Eloise Ross
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
DISC 1 – FEATURE (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- New 4K restoration from the original 2-perf Techniscope negative
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original English and Italian front and end titles
- Newly restored original lossless English and Italian mono audio
- Optional newly remixed lossless English and Italian DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Audio commentary by film historian and Leone biographer Sir Christopher Frayling
- Audio commentary by film historian and critic Tim Lucas
- Trailers, TV spots and radio spots
DISC 2 – EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)
- When It All Started, a newly filmed interview with film historian and critic Fabio Melelli
- Four Fingers Four Picks, a newly filmed interview with guitarist Bruno Battisti D’Amario
- Wind & Fire, a newly filmed interview with Morricone biographer Alessandro de Rosa
- A Night at the Movies, a newly filmed interview with filmmaker Paolo Bianchini
- A Fistful of Outtakes, highlights from the original rushes
- The Day the Soundtrack Changed, a new visual essay by musician and disc collector Lovely Jon exploring the film’s iconic score
- Marisol: Leone’s Madonna of the West, an archival interview with co-star Marianne Koch
- The Frayling Archives and A New Kind of Hero, two archival interviews with Sir Christopher Frayling
- A Few Weeks in Spain, an archival interview with Clint Eastwood
- Tre Voci, an archival featurette with Leone collaborators Mickey Knox, Sergio Donati and Alberto Grimaldi
- Opening scene with Harry Dean Stanton filmed for the film’s US TV debut in 1975, plus an archival interview with the prologue’s director Monte Hellman
- Restoration Italian Style, an archival featurette on the film’s remastering for DVD
- Location Comparisons 1964-2004, an archival featurette
- Alternate credits sequences
- Three comprehensive image galleries: A Fistful of Pictures, On the Set and Promoting ‘A Fistful of Dollars’
COMING IN MAY 2025… FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE!
COMING IN JUNE 2025… THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY!
Review by Tina from discs kindly supplied by Arrow Films. *We have also bought the retail release too*
