A Fistful of Drama: Musical Form in the Dollars Trilogy
A FISTFUL OF DRAMA: MUSICAL FORM IN THE DOLLARS TRILOGY Emily Anne Kausalik A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTERS OF MUSIC August 2008 Committee: Per F. Broman, Advisor Nora A. Engebretsen © 2008 Emily Anne Kausalik All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Per F. Broman, Advisor In 1964, Italian film director Sergio Leone forever influenced the western genre with his landmark film Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars). With its stylized violence, barren landscapes, endless deserts, crafty villains, and rogue hero with no name, this film established a new kind of western: austere, stylish, cynical, and violent. Complementing this new style was an eclectic and abrasive music track by composer Ennio Morricone. His unique orchestration, timbres, and pacing defined a style of film composition that would influence innumerable films to come. A Fistful of Dollars grossed over $4.3 million in its domestic run, and acted as the launching point for two more immensely successful spaghetti Westerns, Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More, 1965), and Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 1966). These films also featured scores by Morricone, and all three together are frequently referred to as the Dollars trilogy. In his Dollars trilogy, Leone emphasizes dramatic episodes through careful musical placement. The cues created by Morricone and utilized by Leone help accentuate the plot line of each film by using material developed in the main title theme throughout the movie.
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