loading...
A Fistful Of Dollars
1964
By the time Sergio Leone made this film, Italians had already produced about 20 films ironically labelled spaghetti westerns. Leone approached the genre with great love and humor. Although the plot was admittedly borrowed from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), Leone managed to create a work of his own that would serve as a model .. Read more
| Starring | Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, John Wels, W. Lukschy |
|---|---|
| Director | Sergio Leone |
| Genres | Action/Adventure |
loading...
A Fistful Of Dollars
By the time Sergio Leone made this film, Italians had already produced about 20 films ironically labelled spaghetti westerns. Leone approached the genre with great love and humor. Although the plot was admittedly borrowed from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), Leone managed to create a work of his own that would serve as a model for many films to come. Clint Eastwood plays a cynical gunfighter who comes to a small border town and offers his services to two rivaling gangs. Neither gang is aware of his double play, and each thinks it is using him, but the stranger will outwit them both. The picture was the first installment in a cycle commonly known as the Dollars trilogy. Later, United Artists, who distributed it in the U.S., coined another term for it: the Man With No Name trilogy. While not as impressive as its follow-ups For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), A Fistful of Dollars contains all of Leone's eventual trademarks: taciturn characters, precise framing, extreme close-ups, and the haunting music of Ennio Morricone. Not released in the U.S. until 1967 due to copyright problems, the film was decisive in both Clint Eastwood's career and the recognition of the Italian western.~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
| Starring | Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, John Wels, W. Lukschy |
|---|---|
| Director | Sergio Leone |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 38 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Wild Westerns |
| Genres | Action/Adventure |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 07 Feb 2000 Production year: 1964 |
| Format | DVD |
A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)
Or you can rent each disc individually:
-
Critics' reviews (3)
View all -
Based on Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai classic Yojimbo, this was the first “spaghetti” western to find a worldwide audience. Director Sergio Leone's daringly brilliant use of extreme close-up and compensational depth, and his unflinching depiction of violence, gave the western a new lease of life. Clint Eastwood (whose career to this point had been in American TV, most notably in the western series Rawhide) became an international superstar for his portrayal of the Man with No Name, insisting that much of his dialogue was cut to increase the drifter's air of mystery. Gian Maria Volonte (billed here as John Wels) lends excellent support as the snarling Ramon and Ennio Morricone's minimalist score is a gem.
-
A film with much to answer for: it began the craze for 'spaghetti Westerns', took its director to Hollywood, and made a TV cowboy into a world star. It turned the Western into a brutal baroque opera, a violent clash between individuals.
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
8 out of 9 people found this review helpful
The meaning of Cool
Eastwood has to be one of the coolest heroes in this sixties icon of the screen. We know nothing about him except that he's the good guy. Dialogue is fine but the dubbed soundtrack is difficult to make out at times - and oddly enough this just adds to the sense of otherness the film provides. If you only watch one western - this could be it.
-
Most recent members' review
View all -
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
spaghetti brilliant
A classic spaghetti western, comprising the usual sprinklings – a terrific Western – Italian music fusion soundtrack, awful voice dubbing, beautiful scenery and a lively mix of good/bad characters.
Two gangs, located at opposite ends of a Mexican border town, quarrel over ownership and right slap bang in the middle is Joe (aka Clint Eastwood) who plays one family off with another for financial and not a little moralistic gain.
Great fight scenes, amazing gun shooting from Clint, lots of sun, lots of dust and plenty of shaven and unshaven goodies and baddies killing each other - not to be missed. -
News and features
View all
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
- 28 Jul 2009
Game: Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Formats: PC, PS3, 360 Publisher: Ubisoft In our collective conscious the rolling ball of tumbleweed is inextricably linked with the cowboy genre, and yet it is such a misplaced cliché. While that aimlessly wandering flora suggests monotony and boredom, something very different is happening in the long silences that define spaghetti westerns. When Clint Eastwood’s trigger finger hovers, the air hangs thick with testosterone, tension, and the acrid... Read more
-
More like this
View allShowing 1 to 4 of 20
Related user collection
Great Westerns (30)
Showing 1 to 3 of 30
Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop
-
-
-
A Fistful Of Dollars
By the time Sergio Leone made this film, Italians had already produced about 20 films ironically labelled spaghetti westerns. Leone approached the genre with great love and humor. Although the plot was admittedly borrowed from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), Leone managed to create a work of his ...
-