The Shop Around the Corner (1940): James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan

     Based on Miklos Laszlo's 1937 Hungarian play "Parfumerie", The Shop Around the Corner (1940) was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, as has been proven to have a lasting influence... including numerous Musical-version remakes, Broadway treatments and television shows inspired by the characters. The Shop Around the Corner also provided the plot-inspiration for You've Got Mail (1998), starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. A great example of an unwitting love story, The Shop Around the Corner is an undeniable Classic. The cast is superb and unforgettable, including James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Felix Bressart and William Tracy. 

     Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) both work at a store in Budapest, Hungary owned by Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan)... 

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940: James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan

     Alfred and Klara don't get along... 

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940: James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan

     and sometimes, they find themselves feuding... 

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940: James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan

     Which is all the more ironic, because each has been unknowingly corresponding with the other via love letters, arranged through a personal ad in the newspaper... 

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940: James Stewart

     They are falling in love with one another through the correspondence, without knowing that each is the other person behind the letters... 

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940: James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan

     which makes it all the more awkward and surprising... 

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940: James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan

     when they arrange a first date on Christmas Eve...

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940: James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan

For a Few Dollars More (1965): Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef

     After completing principle production on A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Italian director Sergio Leone was eager to start filming a follow-up to kickstart his new stylized brand of Western films (now commonly referred to as "Spaghetti Westerns"). He wanted Clint Eastwood to return for the next film, as he was very happy with Eastwood's performance in the first. Eastwood would not immediately consent to a second role, however, as he had yet to see a rough cut of his work in the first film. Leone sent him an Italian language print (the English version had not been made yet, as Leone's films were shot silent, then recorded dialogue was added later) and Eastwood was so elated, even without understanding the words, that he agreed to work for Leone again. Eastwood required a heftier than usual salary, though, which cut into Leone's limited budget. Thankfully veteran Western villain actor, Lee Van Cleef signed on for a modest sum. The resulting film, For a Few Dollars More (1965) expanded on Eastwood's "Man with No Name" character and proved to be a defining film, the second in a trilogy. 

     The "Man with No Name" (Clint Eastwood) is back, now working as a bounty hunter, prowling the West and killing crooks (never taking them alive), and collecting reward money... 

For a Few Dollars More. 1965: Clint Eastwood

     He is not the sole practitioner of this profession in the Territory, however. Colonel Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) makes his living tracking down and killing bad guys as well... 

For a Few Dollars More. 1965

     When they find themselves in pursuit of the same outlaw, El Indio (Gian Maria Volonte), they are placed at an impasse and decide to join forces... 

For a Few Dollars More. 1965: Clint Eastwood

     Killing El Indio and his 14 cohorts must become a team effort... 

For a Few Dollars More. 1965: Clint Eastwood

     Their prospective financial prize changes, however, when El Indio and his gang rob a bank in El Paso...

For a Few Dollars More. 1965: Clint Eastwood

     But one of the bounty hunters may have ulterior motives, beyond reward money, is desiring El Indio dead...

For a Few Dollars More. 1965: Clint Eastwood

A Fistful of Dollars (1964): Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood

     By the early 1960's, the American Western film genre had pretty much run it's course. Italian director Sergio Leone, a fan of the genre, still saw tons of potential in marketing Westerns to European audiences though. He devised to come up with a Western in his own style, a grittier panorama more focused on realism and atmosphere. With a limited budget and minimal salary to offer, Leone's top picks (Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, James Coburn) all turned down the role... but Clint Eastwood, a TV actor in the Rawhide series, was more than happy to accept. The resulting film, A Fistful of Dollars (1964), was shot in Spain but made to resemble the American West. It became the first "Spaghetti Western" and the first in Leone's "The Man with No Name" series. With the addition of a great musical score by Ennio Morricone, Leone invented a whole new genre of film making. One with it's own technical and visual characteristics that have now become Iconic.

     An unnamed man (Clint Eastwood), quiet but skilled with a gun, rides into a Western town...

A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood

     He makes it clear from the start that he won't be pushed around...

A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood

     The town is divided between two warring factions: The Baxters and the Rojos...

A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood

     The man with no name intelligently concocts a plan to play one side against the other, all the while collecting wages for himself from both sides for his services...

A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood

     This scheme is not without it's difficulties...

A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood

A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood