A few years back I watched Sergio Leone's masterpiece The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I have been meaning to watch the rest of the Dollar trilogy, so last night I rented A Fistful of Dollars from the iTunes movie store. Twenty minutes in iTunes crashed and took my movie rental with it. iTunes only has email support, so I have to wait at least 24 hours before the Apple pixies can restore my download. The poor iTunes support is jarring considering Apple's support is usually excellent. It is only fitting as iTunes has become the one application I now dread opening.
Twenty minutes into the movie and I was shocked at how closely it followed Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece Yojimbo. The plot is identical; even the individual shot are framed in the same way. A quick trip to Wikipedia confirmed that Leone indeed ripped off remade Yojimbo.
I am looking forward to finishing A Fistful of Dollars when Apple lets me. I already know how it ends, but it is a story worth sitting through again. And Ennio Morricone's iconic score is alone worth the price of admission.
UPDATE: Apple has refunded my rental. I am going to try to download the movie again.