"Actor: Margarita Lozano"

• A Fistful Of Dollars | DVD | (09/08/2005) from £8.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (128.76%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This is the movie that launched the spaghetti Western and catapulted Clint Eastwood to stardom. Before director Sergio Leone picked him out, Clint had played only a few bit parts in features plus his role as Rowdy Yates in the TV Western series Rawhide. Leone cast him for his stillness and physical presence, famously remarking that when Michelangelo was asked what he had seen in a particular block of marble, he said Moses, but that what he, Leone, saw in Eastwood was just that, a block of marble. Leone also claimed that it was he who gave the character his trademark cigar and poncho, though Eastwood has said he brought his own wardrobe to Italy. Whoever takes credit, A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari in Italian) was an extraordinary success when launched in Italy in 1964. Eastwood had to wait longer for it to be a hit in the USA. The film was based on Kurosawa's 1961 samurai picture Yojimbo, but Leone had forgotten to clear the copyright. Eventually a deal was done, but A Fistful of Dollars was not released in the USA until 1967. It scored an equally resounding success, as did its sequels in the Dollar Trilogy, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The advertising campaign promoted Eastwood's character, laconic, amoral, dangerous, as The Man with No Name (though in the film he's clearly referred to as Joe), and audiences loved the film's refreshing new take on the Western genre. Gone are the pieties about making the streets safe for women and children (women are virtually absent from the Trilogy). Instead it's every man for himself. Striking too was a new emphasis on violence, with stylised, almost balletic gunfights and baroque touches such as Eastwood's armoured breastplate. The popularity of the Dollars films had a marked influence on the Hollywood Western, for example Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, but its most enduring legacy is Clint Eastwood himself, still in action at the age of 70. --Edward Buscombe

• Jean De Florette | DVD | (27/03/2000) from £6.75   |  Saving you £13.24 (196.15%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A truly impressive French film destined to become a modern masterpiece, Jean de Florette is an evocative adaptation of the highly regarded French novel. Two 1920's farmers engage in a bitter rivalry as one tries to tend to a plot of land and the other deviously undermines his efforts in order to conceal a valuable spring. The peasant farmer (Gérard Depardieu) who comes to the countryside to tend the land he has inherited is a naive and trusting soul seeking only to provide for his wife and daughter, while his neighbour (Yves Montand) is intent on doing whatever he can to discourage and demoralise the farmer so that he can take the land for himself. This simple tale unfolds in a wrenching fashion to a tragic conclusion, bringing forth questions about human nature and the prevalence and price of greed. Along with its follow-up, Manon des Sources, this film will leave an indelible impression on anyone who sees it. --Robert Lane

• Manon Des Sources | DVD | (27/03/2000) from £7.29   |  Saving you £12.70 (174.21%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Less a sequel than a seamless continuation of its predecessor, Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources brings with it a more epic scope as it depicts the growth to womanhood of the daughter (Emmanuelle Béart) of the doomed farmer of the first film. As she discovers the truth of what happened to her father as a result of the scheming of their neighbour (Yves Montand), who took the land for himself, she vows revenge, realising that the neighbour's deeds have irrevocably shaped the course of her life. Her moves toward avenging her father's demise provide an ironic twist to this harsh and thought-provoking saga, and French director Claude Berri perfectly illustrates the lasting consequences of deceit, greed, and revenge. Manon des Sources is a very special subtitled film-choice, destined to be revered for years to come. --Robert Lane

• A Fistful of Dollars | Blu Ray | (31/05/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Pigsty | DVD | (23/07/2012) from £16.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Decades on from its release, and featuring an all-star cast that includes Jean-Pierre Laud, Anne Wiazemsky, Franco Citti, Pierre Clmenti, and Marco Ferreri, Pigsty [Porcile] remains one of Pier Paolo Pasolini's most controversial and wilfully provocative works – a deranged parody of cinema as revolutionary act. It comprises parallel stories: (1) Clmenti and Citti as cannibalistic savages who rampage a world outside of any distinct time or place, and who push against the boundaries of human morality; (2) Godard-regulars Laud and Wiazemsky as a romantically engaged couple in a contemporary Germany painted as a morass of industrialisation, fascist impulse, and bestial instincts. Special Features: New high-definition transfer in the film's original aspect ratio Original Italian theatrical trailer Newly translated optional English subtitles Illustrated booklet featuring rare archival imagery, the words of Pasolini, and more!

• Taviani Brothers Collection: Padre Padrone / Night of the Shooting Stars / Kaos | Blu Ray | (03/06/2024) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Night Of San Lorenzo | DVD | (17/04/2006) from £12.95   |  Saving you £0.04 (0.31%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The night of the shooting stars is the night when dreams come true in Italian folklore. After hearing rumours of an impending Nazi plot to blow up their town a group of Italians flee...

• FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1967) - FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1967) (1 Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (22/05/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A