Proof for "The Dollar Trilogy" being a real trilogy?

[MadMike]

Hey boys and girls,
I am currently writing my Bachelor-Thesis about similarities between an medieval novel (where Parzival, one of Arthur's knights, tries to find the Holy Grail) and the Dollar Trilogy with focus on Clint Eastwood's character throughout the three movies.

My question to all of you out there is this: is there any real "proof" that "A Fistful of Dollars", "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" are really a triology?
I mean of course, you can look at the characters, how they behave, what they are wearing and so on and say "yeah, that is the first part, that is the second part, etc", but...do you know what I mean? Perhaps an interview with Sergio Leone or Eastwood in which he says "yeah, these three movies form a trilogy"?

There are some websites on which you can find this information (for example Wikipedia with an own article on the Trilogy), but I guess I need something more...quotable, as it will appear in an academic paper (and Wikipedia never looks good in these )

Thank you in advance, and...oh, yeah. I wasn't really sure on where to put this, here in Entertainment and Movie Talk or better in Off-Topic. If putting it here was the wrong decision, please feel free to move.

 

[aeonpulse]

Huh, I always assumed the films being a trilogy was known and accepted, never considered it would be something that could be debated.

This is the set I recently purchased...

Amazon.com: The Man with No Name Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More / The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly) [Blu-ray]: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonté, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Pe

That's confirmation enough for me!

 

[augofett]

Well, as far as I´ve learned (including the comentaries on the bluray) the movies were not concieved as a trilogy. The "Man With No Name" was a publicity slogan made for the USA release. Clint Eastwood´s character is called Joe, Manco/Monco, and Blondie, not meaning to be the same person.

 

[Solo4114]

They're loosely connected. At the end of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Blondie picks up the outfit he'll end up wearing for the rest of the "Dollars" trilogy. It's what he wears in A Fistfull of Dollars, and then again in For a Few Dollars More, where he modifies the outfit somewhat by adding a cobra to the butt of his gun, and wearing a leather bracer on his wrist. Outside of that, though, there's no explicit connection between the characters. The Mariachi trilogy has a tighter connection between characters, even though they changed actors after the first film.

 

[dbuck]

It can get even better. Initially Leone wanted Clint back for Once Upon A Time In The West, but Clint decided against it. Then he asked if Clint, Van Cleef, and Wallach would be the characters Bronson kills at the beginning of the movie at the train station but that didn't go over too well.

I don't have a problem with them as a trilogy. No one really knows his name, and/or he uses aliases, and once put into chronological order his money has a bad tendency to slip through his fingers. He works cheaper later on, if you think about it.
Notice that he did not have a Confederate Soldier's name when in the prison camp. Wallach was Bill Carson, but they never showed Clint responding to a name, just to stay with the program established in the other (and later chronologically) movies.

 

[Mola Rob]

I have never felt they were anything more than three standalone movies but I suppose they could be considered a trilogy. I don't think there is any evidence to the contrary just as there is no hard evidence that they are connected.

 

[Solo4114]

They're more of a thematic or stylistic trilogy than a true story arc or even a story about necessarily THE same character.

 

[simiouno]

They're loosely connected. At the end of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Blondie picks up the outfit he'll end up wearing for the rest of the "Dollars" trilogy. It's what he wears in A Fistfull of Dollars, and then again in For a Few Dollars More, where he modifies the outfit somewhat by adding a cobra to the butt of his gun, and wearing a leather bracer on his wrist. Outside of that, though, there's no explicit connection between the characters. The Mariachi trilogy has a tighter connection between characters, even though they changed actors after the first film.

He has Rattlesnake grips in all three movies..his gun in G B & U is a civil war era 51 Navy but cartridge converted ..he only has hand brace after fist full, when the bad guys smash his hand .. in few dollars more he has it at the start and only uses his right for shooting, so in crono order - Gun grips ,gets poncho 1860s gets hand smashed 1870s teams up with Mortimer still 70s but later with damaged hand .. I'll admit that at the end of G B & U he splits 200 grand with Tuco , so by the time of fist full he's only got a Mule ..he sure goes through the money..could have a bad gambling problem who knows..but definitely a trilogy ! !

 

[simiouno]

Oh, and don't forget the JOE MILLARD books that continue the Clint characters adventures ..

 

[Solo4114]

 

[d_jedi1]

Heck, I include "Unforgiven" as one of the films (in my head-canon)

 

[simiouno]

In GBU, he's Blondie due to his light hair & only Tuco calls him that.., in FFOD, he's called Joe by an old codger just like you may say hey , buddy or Mac, in FAFDM he's Manco ( one armed ) in Spanish because they damaged his hand in the first movie..also all the following books ..he IS the same character in all the movies..don't know where the notion came from that he's not..

 

[simiouno]

On the subject of proof..where is the evidence that's it's not a trilogy ? Anyhow, great movies, and can be enjoyed by all no matter what your view is ..

 

[dbuck]

Leone offered the role of ‘harmonica’ to Eastwood. Had he made this fourth film THEN it’s possible that that OUATITW might not fit the previous three. It’s also possible that the harmonica might not have been instrumental, it may have been something else.

He then asked Eastwood, Van Cleef, and Wallach to be in the opening scene at the train station where they get gunned down by Bronson.
Surprise, surprise, they said ‘no thanks’.

The opening of ‘Any Gun Can Play’ features three fellows, one in a familiar poncho, meeting their end.

 

[simiouno]

Still a trilogy despite all the what if's .. Yes he did offer the classic 3 to be in ONCE UPON, but they didn't take it ...lots of spaghetti western where off brand versions of Leone movies..glad to see you folks are still in to western ..