Cannes to pay tribute to 50th anniversary of 'spaghetti western'

[May 14, 2014]  CANNES France (Reuters) — A restored print of the pioneering 1964 Italian-made spaghetti western "A Fistful of Dollars" will be screened on the closing day of the Cannes Film Festival with director Quentin Tarantino as host, the festival announced on its website.

"To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Spaghetti Western in 1964, the Festival de Cannes will be showing 'A Fistful of Dollars' directed by Sergio Leone that same year and starring Clint Eastwood and Gian Maria Volonte," the posting said.

"The event will be hosted by Quentin Tarantino, a great admirer of Sergio Leone, who has always been open about how much his own film making owes to the influence of the Western’s great Italian masters," the statement posted late on Tuesday said.

The print to be screened after the prizes are awarded on May 24 has been restored by making a digital version of the original Techniscope color negative with an original Technicolor print used as a reference, the posting said.

The sound also has been restored, the statement said.

The Cannes Film Festival, which opens its 67th edition on Wednesday, has a history of presenting restored versions of classic films. One of the other restorations to be shown during the 12-day long festival is the classic cult horror film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

(Reporting by Michael Roddy; Editing by Paul Tait)

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