Get three meatballs ready. We have here today a classic spaghetti western, and a classic spaghetti dish. Almost everyone has had spaghetti and meatballs at some point in their life, whether from a restaurant, mom, or grandma. There are an infinite amount of variations you can go through with adding and subtracting ingredients. There are different sauce recipes, and different meatball recipes. My personal favorite spaghetti and meatballs, and go-to pasta dish is my mom’s spaghetti, pork meatballs, and homemade sauce. Every week we make this marvelous sauce consisting of a large can of crushed tomatoes, a can of sauce, and a small can of tomato paste. Simmering in the sauce is Italian sausage and the meatballs. The meatballs are made from ground pork, Italian seasonings, chopped onions, and minced garlic. Cook the meatballs in a pan and then simmer them in the sauce. I have been eating this meal nearly every week since I can remember. I love it, my family loves it, and it isn’t too difficult to make.
A Fistful of Dollars was released in 1964 starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone. It is the first movie out of three about The Man with No Name, the most famous of the three being The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. In a Fistful of Dollars, The Man with No Name rides into a town torn apart by two rival families, the Rojos and the Baxters. The Rojos are led by a man named Ramon Rojo, an outlaw and a great shot. The Baxters are led by the town Sheriff, John Baxter. We are first introduced to Ramon Rojo when he guns down over thirty soldiers from a covered wagon. Meanwhile, The Man with No Name is staying with the barkeep, and trying to play both families at the same time to make some money. In a famous scene, The Man with No Name shoots and kills three four Baxter men. He then goes to the Rojos to collect his money, and thus begins his adventures. The Man with No Name escapes the Rojos after being captured for snooping for their gold. He escapes to a cave where he trains himself and prepares for the final duel against Ramon Rojo.
A Fistful of Dollars is my favorite movie. I love everything about it from the costumes to the action. It is a beautiful movie with a relatively simple yet intriguing plot. The acting is great from the minor characters like the barkeep to the main villain Ramon. Ramon’s actor returns to play a different villain in the next movie. The movie’s fights are all amazingly choreographed and acted, each one different from the last. I have seen this movie 3 times, one of those times being in a theater, which was a fun new way to experience my favorite movie. Possibly my favorite part about this movie is its score. The score, written by Ennio Morricone, blends brass and strings like nothing I have ever heard. I can listen to just the score alone for hours. This movie and this pasta dish both have a special place in my heart, and it would take a lot to replace either of them. My mistake, four meatballs.
Final Rating 9.5/10
Spaghetti [&] Westerns 