#clint fan

[invisiblekatanaartwork]

Artist’s Blog #142 - A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

A Fistful of Dollars, Hands Down, A Classic Western

Hands down, A Fistful of Dollars is a classic Western movie – one of the greatest of all time. I once painted Clint’s character from A Fistful of Dollars on a trashed paint can lid and I have pencil sketched his as well. The pencil sketch was a gift to a friend, and I sold the painting to a fellow in Pendleton, SC. To bleed this right on into the next paragraph, I have to say that I think for me, Tombstone is my favorite western movie. I feel like, though, in the western movie fandom that Tombstone may not be considered a Western. Am I wrong, someone please enlighten me. The “Spaghetti Westerns” with Clint Eastwood are my favorite of what I consider to be real westerns though. I feel some philosophy stewing. Hop on your mule or horse, and let’s hit the blog trail.  

A Fistful of Dollars Raises Discussion Points for Me

I really want to get a discussion started around this because I don’t know. There are 2 questions I have. First, I remember my grandfather watching Westerns on TV. I’m from SC and he was too. Why are Westerns so popular amongst old fellows? Culturally, why does this seem to be the case? Second, and this is the real question, who made the best Western / Cowboy movies? Was it John Wayne, Eastwood, or another? I’m not qualified to have a serious opinion because I know so little about the genre. Please someone that knows more than me chime in on this and enlighten me. I am forever a student, and I have these as serious questions.

A Fistful of Dollars Reflects the Untamed Wild West

I feel like, based on what I’ve read, this is a somewhat accurate portrayal of the wild west. With so few lawmen, towns spread miles apart with only horse as transportation, and no internet (say what?), there’s any amount of craziness that could have taken place. If you rob a bank or shoot a cop today, your picture, name, family history, friends, vehicle, etc. can literally be across the entire globe in seconds. It’s not often that you see someone successfully murder someone or rob a bank anymore. It happens, but it’s rarer than ever. I feel that it really would have been a no one is coming to save you, and you must be bad enough to take care of yourself environment. Otherwise, you would be prey. Clint’s character is certainly this type and fits well in the culture.

Eastwood’s Ninja-Like Behaviors in A Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars is a ninja movie without the black suit, weapons, and Taijutsu. If you’ve been reading my blogs, you’ll know that ninja movies from the 80s are some of my favorites. You can read one on Revenge of the Ninja here and another on Ninja III here. I am a product of the ‘80s ninja craze in America, so I have studied about the art. Eastwood’s character is what a ninja would have really been like in feudal Japan. Ninja rarely wore black but rather were the “gray man” and fit in with their surroundings. Trickery and psychological manipulation were huge and lesser-known skills of the shinobi. Eastwood’s character uses these beautifully. Firefights and fighting are not too heavily used though which gives the film a nice feel and it keeps the focus on the character’s wit.

Artistic Brilliance in A Fistful of Dollars’ Color Palette

From an artist’s perspective, this movie is fascinating for one main reason, color usage. This one thing may have been my favorite thing about A Fistful of Dollars. I think it was my blog on Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, which you can read here, that I talked about how loud colors contrast so well against a dull desert landscape. In A Fistful of Dollars, they just have everything dull, and the matching pallet is perfect. The whiskey is a dull brown, the walls are more pale than white, Eastwood’s mule is a gray, and his poncho is a perfect olive green. A Fistful of Dollars is a fantastic story and full of action but, its pace is consistent and so are the colors. The only thing bright was the Hammer film style blood that looked more like bright red melted wax than anything else.

English Class Analytics Paper, Get Film in the Hat

I imagine that English class is still like it was in the late ‘90s and students write papers providing an analysis of a topic. Teachers probably still try to make this fun by giving students the opportunity to vote on a movie to watch and then write about. You likely still have 98% of the class choosing Blade Runner and the cool 2% choosing A Clockwork Orange like in the case of the class of 2001. Just a joke, we would have never been allowed to watch A Clockwork Orange in school but, Blade Runner was the class choice. I hate it to this day. There will not be a blog on this movie – thank you Mr. whatever your name was. Sorry, back on the mule, I’m still frustrated about having to write an analysis paper on Blade Runner. I remember the other option being my choice.

If I were an English professor, I’d let my class analyze A Fistful of Dollars. It’s funny, here I am 20 years after graduating doing this very thing for fun. I have some deeper questions about this western. Feel free, reader(s), to chime in because I’d love to read your thoughts. Why did the undertaker look away in the closing scene? Digging graves by hand at 70 years old in the desert couldn’t be fun but why? Was the knight armor foreshadowing? Not in that Ramone would shoot for the heart but that Eastwood was a “knight in shining armor” to the imprisoned family. The main question for me though – why did he ride a mule and not a horse? I liked how Eastwood’s character had no back story. He just showed up on a mule, handled business, and bounced but, why a mule?

A Fistful of Dollars Delivers Timeless Entertainment

In closing, I am a fan of A Fistful of Dollars and of Eastwood. As usual, I question the unlimited ammo in addition to another unrealistic situation. If I shot a fellow in the heart and it didn’t kill him, his dome would be a canoe quickly. I guess, picking up my #2 pencil for English paper again, that Ramone in his arrogance had to fulfill the proverb of a rifle beating a 45 and stay consistent with his heart shot reputation. In the end, the pace changes from consistent and attention holding to quick, and action packed. Finally slowing down as Eastwood rides out of town on his slow trotting mule in the same way he came in. This worked well. A Fistful of Dollars is a great movie, a guaranteed rewatch for me, and a must see for fans of this genre or just great movies.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this artist’s thoughts on A Fistful of Dollars. I invite you to follow my art journey on social media, visit my website, and consider supporting and buying my work here. If you liked this blog or the movie, please share. Also, feel free to comment, especially if you are A Fistful of Dollars fan. Weigh in on the questions I presented. Peace. 

[vilochkaaa]

I wanna see Clint in your style plsplsplsplspls

>^__^<

[incorectquoteswlw]

Clint: Kate cut her hair

Nat: I feel like we've been through this

Clint: Pretty sure we have, how's Yelena taking it?

Nat: Not well

Nat: (reads from her phone in a monotonous voice) Kate Bishop had done the unspeakable and cut her hair. How dare she, was this a plan? A distraction? How can I focus on anything when she looks like this?

Clint: How are they both this bad at dating?

Nat: It gets better.

Nat: (reading again) I have never been so attracted to hair before, is it the hair or her? It is obviously her, what am I meant to do? Oh she sent another selfie.

Nat: (laughing) We're entering capslock now

Clint: She knows where the capslock is?

Nat: (reading) IT IS A SHOWER SELFIE. WETT HAIR? HOW AM I MEANT TO??? NATASHA HELP ME.

Clint: Kate just texted

Nat: What happened?

Clint: (reading) I think Yelena hates my hair?? She's mumbling in Russian and hasn't blinked in 3 minutes can Natasha come and help?

Nat: Oh no, she's too horny to function

Clint: Please can we go see her to bully her about it later

Nat: (standing up) what else were we gonna do?

[dilemmadraws]

THE ADVENTURE ZONE VS DRACULA

I’m really enjoying the new series of The Adventure Zone it’s 100% my shit as I love dracula and the mcelroys! I particularly love Lady Godwin because let’s be honest i love a barbarian. Justin’s lady Godwin voice is also just so funny to me! It’s honestly such a fun show and the mad character concepts really pushed my character designs to be more silly and expressive!

Made some slight edits to brother phileaux from my wip because I thought it’d be cute if he was wearing his cowl in his puppet form.

[gunsnarrows]

good vibes 😎

[joezy27]

HAWKEYE - "Sleepy Train"

Art by Erin Hoover

[in-this-crystal-kingdom]

EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LOOK AT THE TAZ EARRINGS MY BOYFRIEND MADE ME FOR CHRISTMAS

[ketzpart]

“Catch Me Now, I’m Falling” ( A 5 Times +1 Comic)

1. Mandatory Team Trust Fall

2. Cracks in the Sidewalk

3. Stakeout Psych-Out

4. Lucky Might Be the Best Wingman

5. Hazards of the Job

+1. A Real Trust Fall

[pickleberrysundae]

barbie meme but with bucky and clint. who knows what they did but lets be honest it was probably clints fault

[drgrlfriend]

@brilcrist created this lovely art depicting a scene from my fic! My Heart Will Be Your Home by dr_girlfriend

Excerpt:

That is … definitely a guy fighting with a bow and arrow.  He’s tall and blond — could probably pass for Steve at a distance, but maybe even a touch taller and built a bit leaner — wearing jeans and a t-shirt, a fancy-looking recurve bow in his hand and a quiver strapped slantways across his back.  He’s got his back to a giant maple tree, and is firing arrows in a blur of motion while ducking lasers from the bots.  These ones look a little like the Daleks from that show Tony and Bruce love — vaguely conical and stumpy, with what seems to be a single laser on each.  

“Why ain’t he gettin’ up in that tree?” Bucky wonders aloud, revving through the preserve.  “It’s a better tactical position.”  He’s starting to see scattered bots now, and he slaloms a course through them, swinging his metal arm and sending them flying as he zooms by.

“Not everyone has sniper training,” Sam suggests.  “He’s probably just some archery hobbyist, or something.  Probably doesn’t know the first damn thing about fighting.”

A bot has gotten close up on the guy’s flank, and he seems to realize just in time.  He somersaults sideways, coming up with an arrow in his hand and jamming it directly into the bot’s side just as a shot from Redwing finishes it off.  

“I don’t know about that,” Steve says dryly.  “Seems to be doing pretty good to me.  Either way, we’re almost on him; Bucky, I’ll take the right side, you take the left.”

“Copy.”  There’s a line of bots advancing on the guy and Bucky pulls up with a sharp twist, planting his left foot and letting the rear of the bike skid sideways so that the back wheel takes out the bots like a row of dominoes.

Out of the corner of his eye Bucky sees Steve hurtle over the handlebars of his own motorcycle and yeet the whole damn thing at a cluster of bots.  No finesse, that guy.

Bucky jumps off his bike, swinging at the bots closest to him.  He’s just about dealt with that cluster and is only a few paces away from the archer when the guy’s eyes widen.  He lunges toward Bucky, pushing him aside just as one of the bots on the ground fires.

The man yelps and staggers, pressing a hand to his side.

“What kind of idiot are you?” Bucky growls, pulling the man back and putting his own body between him and the bot.  “Let me take the hits!” 

A furrow appears between the man’s brows, his mouth gaping for a moment, and then he seems to shake it off, nocking another arrow and loosing it.  It skims so close to Bucky’s face that it stirs his hair, and Bucky whirls to see another bot was sneaking up on him.

“Jesus, these things are everywhere,” Bucky complains, drawing his Glock and firing, taking out the laser of the one on the ground.  

“There’s a weak spot in the armor plating on the left side,” the man yells.  

Time seems to stop for a moment, Bucky’s heart stuttering and then kicking into overdrive.  The air around him suddenly seems crystal clear — Bucky can see every individual leaf on every tree, can hear the sighing of the wind and the rustle of the leaves, the whirring of the bots and the heartbeat and panting breaths of the guy as he ducks another laser.

“Bucky, did he —” Steve starts over the comm.

“Not now, Stevie,” Bucky manages.  He shakes off his shock and forcibly shoves the revelation to the back of his mind in order to focus on the task at hand.  Time seems to lurch back into a normal speed and Bucky concentrates on blocking the man from the line of fire of the largest cluster of approaching bots.

“I’ll make an opening, you run for it,” he shouts.

“I’m not leaving,” the man shouts back.  Jesus christ, another vigilante-wannabe.  They’re coming out of the woodwork these days.  Was this guy even in the park when all this started, or did he come looking for a fight?

“Watch your back,” Bucky instructs with a mental shrug, and then there’s no more time for words, the two of them fighting fiercely against the oncoming wave of bots.  

[grabyoursaintsandpray]

Wait... What?!

Unexpected news of the day, Hawkeye season 2 is now heavily rumoured to be getting the greenlight!

🎯 Most underrated Marvel show out there that deserves the love.

[mamaspidershit]

Peter: Shockingly, Clint isn’t the problem this time. Natasha: When are you gonna get it? Clint is ALWAYS the problem.

[gunsnarrows]

a couple of master assassins 💘

[joezy27]

HAWKEYE - "Hawkeye family"

Art by Vlad Zdor

[den-ai-d]

Don't think I've mentioned this before but I'm throwing in early access for my stardew valley portrait pack on the p-site as bonus for subbing, like Clint here!

I'm still gonna be releasing them in batches of 5 publicly so everyone will eventually get them😊

[3twindragons]

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