Stars: Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, John Wels, W. Lukschy, S. Rupp, Joe Edger

Director: Sergio Leone

Summary: The first true Spaghetti Western follows the exploits of a nameless drifter (Clint Eastwood) who wanders into a town torn apart by greed, corruption, and revenge. The clever, tough-talking gunslinger then plays the town's two feuding families off each other for his benefit. As members of each family are planted in the ground, the gold in his pockets gets heavier and heavier. This violent remake of Akira Kurosawa's YOJIMBO made Eastwood a star, and sparked two sequels--FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY--to form what is now referred to as the Man with No Name trilogy. All three films starred Eastwood, featured Ennio Morricone's distinctive musical compositions, and were directed--in a wonderfully gritty style--by Sergio Leone. Although the film was not released in the United States until 1967, it was produced and released internationally in 1964.

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Reviewed by: davybozal24-7
Posted on May 17, 2006 8:36 PM

The first of the ' spaghetti westerns ' , A Fistful Of Dollars became an instant cult hit . It also launched the film careers of Italian Writer -
Director Sergio Leone , and a little known American television actor
named Clint Eastwood . As the lean , cold - eyed cobra - quick
gunfighter - Clint became the first of the ' anti - heroes ' . The cynical,
enigmatic loner with a clouded past is the same character Eastwood fans have been savouring ever since . A Fistful Of Dollars
is the western taken to the extreme - with unremitting violence , gritty
realism and tongue - in - cheek humour . Ennio Morricone's haunting
score is unforgettable!

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This is the movie that launched the spaghetti Western and catapulted Clint Eastwood to stardom. Before director Sergio Leone picked him out, Clint had played only a few bit parts in features plus his role as Rowdy Yates in the TV Western series Rawhide. Leone cast him for his stillness and physical presence, famously remarking that when Michelangelo was asked what he had seen in a particular block of marble, he said Moses, but that what he, Leone, saw in Eastwood was just that, a block of marble. Leone also claimed that it was he who gave the character his trademark cigar and poncho, though Eastwood has said he brought his own wardrobe to Italy. Whoever takes credit, A Fistful of Dollars(Per un pugno di dollariin Italian) was an extraordinary success when launched in Italy in 1964. Eastwood had to wait longer for it to be a hit in the USA.

The film was based on Kurosawa's 1961 samurai picture Yojimbo, but Leone had forgotten to clear the copyright. Eventually a deal was done, but A Fistful of Dollarswas not released in the USA until 1967. It scored an equally resounding success, as did its sequels in the DollarTrilogy, For a Few Dollars Moreand The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The advertising campaign promoted Eastwood's character, laconic, amoral, dangerous, as The Man with No Name (though in the film he's clearly referred to as Joe), and audiences loved the film's refreshing new take on the Western genre. Gone are the pieties about making the streets safe for women and children (women are virtually absent from the Trilogy). Instead it's every man for himself. Striking too was a new emphasis on violence, with stylised, almost balletic gunfights and baroque touches such as Eastwood's armoured breastplate. The popularity of the Dollarsfilms had a marked influence on the Hollywood Western, for example Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, but its most enduring legacy is Clint Eastwood himself, still in action at the age of 70. --Edward Buscombe

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentary By Christopher Frayling, A New Kind Of Hero Documentary, Cinque Voci Documentary, The Network Prologue Additional Scene, Not Ready For Primetime Featurette, Restoration Italian Style Featurette, Location Comparisons, 10 Radio Spots, Collectors Gallery,
Subtitles:	Croatian, Czech, Hebrew, Greek, Portuguese, Slovenian, Turkish
Year:	1964
Release Date:	April 18, 2005
Runtime:	96 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	10005396
Keywords:	Special, Edition, Dollars, Fistful, Westerns
Genre:	Westerns