'Spaghetti Westerns' screened at Bentara Budaya

JAKARTA (JP): Before he rode off to become a big time Hollywood star, Clint Eastwood put on his poncho and got down and dirty with director Sergio Leone in several Westerns which were filmed in, of all places, Italy.

Low budget they may have been, but the so-called "spaghetti Westerns" were a success with fans.

A trilogy of Eastwood westerns will be shown at Bentara Budaya Jakarta, Jl. Palmerah 17, Central Jakarta, opposite the Kompas/Gramedia building, from Jan. 16 to Jan. 17. The showings are open to the public at no charge.

Jan. 16

A Fistful of Dollars (1964/100 mins). Starring Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonte, Marianne Koch, Pepe Calvo. Directed by Leone.

Based on Kurosawa's Yojimbo, it tells of a deadly feud between two gangs, with Eastwood as the arch manipulator. Britain's Time Out film guide said "all the classic Leone ingredients were there -- the atonal score, the graphic violence, the horrendous dubbing -- and the film's Stateside success changed the face of a genre". (4 p.m.)

For a Few Dollars More (1965/130 mins). Starring Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonte, Klaus Kinski, Maria Krup, Aldo Sambrell, Mario Brega. Directed by Leone.

Eastwood and Van Cleef come together to fight a bandit with crazy plans on his crazed mind. Time Out called it "not as stylish as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, but a significant step forward from A Fistful of Dollars". (7 p.m.)

Jan. 17

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966/180 mins). Starring Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffre, Mario Brega. Directed by Leone.

The last in the trilogy of Westerns, and probably the most famous (partly because of that distinctive title). "Hard to tell who's good, bad or ugly in this bitterly cynical portrait of America during the Civil War, with the three leads indulging in ruthless violence and self help as they search for a fortune," Time Out said. (4 p.m.)

A Fistful of Dollars. 7 p.m.

Jan. 18

For a Few Dollars More. 4 p.m.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. 7 p.m. (brc)