A Fistful Of Dollars: An Original Soundtrack Recording [Soundtrack]

Ennio Morricone | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 11, 1998)
• Original Release Date: January 18, 1967
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Razor & Tie
• ASIN: B000009NU1
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #234,429 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Titoli [From A Fistful of Dollars]

2. Almost Dead

3. Square Dance

4. The Chase

5. The Result

6. Without Pity

7. Theme from a Fistful of Dollars

8. A Fistful of Dollars Suite

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Ennio Morricone had been writing film scores for just three years when director Sergio Leone tapped him in 1964 to score a low-budget, European-produced Western remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo starring an American TV actor named Clint Eastwood. The film's worldwide success would make all three men international stars. For his part, Morricone ratcheted his work (which until then had been largely pedestrian) up several notches, virtually inventing a new set of Western film-music clichés in the process. Though Leone's film is cold and often brutal, the coloration of Morricone's music is ironically warm and human. "Titoli" displays the whistling prowess of early Morricone collaborator Allessandro Allesandroni set against an insistent Spanish guitar riff, while other elements of what would soon become one of Morricone's many scoring formulas fall into place: oddball percussion and bells, a Ventures-esque electric guitar, and the gruff chants of the Cantori Moderni. "Theme from 'A Fistful of Dollars'" also displays Morricone's magnificent writing for trumpet, his favorite instrument. The composer has said he was trying to evoke European as well as American folk influences in this work, setting primitive flutes and drums against square-dance fiddles, stately solo oboe, and trumpet alongside a plaintive harmonica--did Morricone invent world music? Though the score proper comprises just seven cues (the film's low-budget dictum forcing the composer to opt for quality over quantity), this reissue of RCA's original vinyl soundtrack features "A Fistful of Dollars Suite," a surprisingly successful re-edit of the score's most important pieces. The phrase is overused, but this is truly a seminal film score. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

Out of print in the U.S.! Ennio Morricone's classic score to the 1967 spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood. BMG. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Spaghetti Western Soundtrack, August 10, 2001

By 

gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fistful Of Dollars: An Original Soundtrack Recording (Audio CD)

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS was the first Spaghetti Western to establish that genre in the United States. Staring Clint Eastwood, directed by Sergio Leone and scored by Ennio Morricone this initial film was crude but effective establishing from the start the essential components of what defined the look and sound of a Spaghetti Western. Probably the one key element found in almost every Spaghetti Western was the distinctive music. Ennio Morricone was probably the most prolific and successful composer setting the benchmark for all others to follow in the genre. Essential to this CD is the strong main title (Track 1: "Titoli from A Fistful of Dollars"). Most of the successful Spaghetti Westerns centered the score on the main title (THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, ADIOS SABATA, MY NAME IS NOBODY, etc). A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS soundtrack has one of the best main titles. A whistler enunciates the tune while the music builds into galloping intensity. This is truly innovative and distinctive scoring. The quality of this 1964 RCA recording is just incredible. It sounds as crisp and clear as when I first heard this on vinyl when I was very young. My other favorites on this CD are Track 2: "Almost Dead" and Track 3: "Square Dance" true examples of the European vision on the myth of the American Western. I was glad to see that the Suite from A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS was retained for the CD. I love Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western scores. Since this was the first I ever owned, it holds a special place in my collection.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent sundtrac, March 7, 2002

By 

Shahriar Tashnizi (Stockton ,Ca, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fistful Of Dollars: An Original Soundtrack Recording (Audio CD)

Now here we have a film score in a mythical porportion. Enno Morricone has opened a gate to a romantic realm and used the trumpet as an effective story teller.It is not by a mere chance that dacades after the release of this sound trac we still love to hear these tunes and still experience the same hair rising effect by the haunting sound of the trumpeter playing the main tune. The command and knowledge of music and deep love for the instrument was made it possible that the composer could beautifully conway the story to us.Enno Morricon has surely started a culture and cult that is beyond our realm.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fistful of Praise, September 1, 2001

By 

Gerald R. Boothe "Jerry" (Lakewood, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Fistful Of Dollars: An Original Soundtrack Recording (Audio CD)

The cult of the Man With No Name is still growing and this CD is what started it all. Ennio Morricone, the gifted composer-arranger responsible for the original theme and background music, delivers more than a fistful of sounds. As the linear notes on the CD says, the music matches the excitement... note for note...shot for shot.