A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Director: Sergio Leone

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonte

More info: IMDb

Tagline: This short cigar belongs to a man with no name. This long gun belongs to a man with no name. This poncho belongs to a man with no name. He's going to trigger a whole new style in adventure.

Plot: An anonymous, but deadly man rides into a town torn by war between two factions, the Baxters and the Rojo's. Instead of fleeing or dying, as most other would do, the man schemes to play the two sides off each other, getting rich in the bargain.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Chyeah!

#1 on A FISTFUL OF TRAILERS (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

While this isn't the first of the Spaghetti Westerns, it's the first one that became a worldwide hit and put the genre on the map. Even though Eastwood had been a familiar face on TV's RAWHIDE, it was this film that catapulted him into international stardom. Leone's camera angles, harsh landscapes and dirty, lyin', backstabbin' sons of bitches characters presented something new to American audiences, a world where (it's been said) John Wayne would've been shot in the back. He and other Italian film makers, having spent years watching American Westerns, were now making their own, through their European eyes; much like the French had done in film noir in the 50s and early 60s.


The coastal town of Almeria, Spain was ideal for many of the Euro Westerns over the next decade or so because it had a striking resemblance to the American South West and Mexican landscapes. It works beautifully. Ennio Morricone's music for spags is iconic and reached his spag zenith with the third in the Eastwood/Leone Westerns, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966). After watching any of these, you'll be hard-pressed to NOT be whistling the theme by the end of the picture.


Eastwood is fantastic as The Man with No Name and Volonte is equally so, if not better. But regardless of how good they are in this, they both top their performances in the next film, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965), which bests this one.