A Fist Full of Dollars
A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
Director: Sergio Leone (as Bob Robertson)
Full Cast & Crew
Directed by
Sergio Leone...(as Bob Robertson)
Writing Credits
Adriano Bolzoni...(story) (as A. Bonzzoni) &
Mark Lowell...(dialogue) &
Víctor Andrés Catena...(story) &
Sergio Leone...(story)
Víctor Andrés Catena...(screenplay) &
Jaime Comas Gil...(screenplay) (as Jaime Comas) &
Sergio Leone...(screenplay)
Fernando Di Leo...(screenplay) (uncredited)
Duccio Tessari...(screenplay) (uncredited)
Tonino Valerii...(screenplay) (uncredited)
Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
Clint Eastwood...Joe
Marianne Koch...Marisol
Gian Maria Volontè...Ramón Rojo (as John Wells) (as Johnny Wels)
Wolfgang Lukschy...John Baxter (as W. Lukschy)
Sieghardt Rupp...Esteban Rojo (as S. Rupp)
Joseph Egger...Piripero (as Joe Edger)
Antonio Prieto...Don Miguel Benito Rojo
José Calvo...Silvanito (as Jose Calvo)
Margarita Lozano...Consuelo Baxter (as Margherita Lozano)
Daniel Martín...Julián (as Daniel Martin)
Benito Stefanelli...Rubio (as Benny Reeves)
Mario Brega...Chico (as Richard Stuyvesant)
Bruno Carotenuto...Antonio Baxter (as Carol Brown)
A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
Director: Sergio Leone (as Bob Robertson)
Full Cast & Crew
Directed by
Sergio Leone...(as Bob Robertson)
Writing Credits
Adriano Bolzoni...(story) (as A. Bonzzoni) &
Mark Lowell...(dialogue) &
Víctor Andrés Catena...(story) &
Sergio Leone...(story)
Víctor Andrés Catena...(screenplay) &
Jaime Comas Gil...(screenplay) (as Jaime Comas) &
Sergio Leone...(screenplay)
Fernando Di Leo...(screenplay) (uncredited)
Duccio Tessari...(screenplay) (uncredited)
Tonino Valerii...(screenplay) (uncredited)
Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
Clint Eastwood...Joe
Marianne Koch...Marisol
Gian Maria Volontè...Ramón Rojo (as John Wells) (as Johnny Wels)
Wolfgang Lukschy...John Baxter (as W. Lukschy)
Sieghardt Rupp...Esteban Rojo (as S. Rupp)
Joseph Egger...Piripero (as Joe Edger)
Antonio Prieto...Don Miguel Benito Rojo
José Calvo...Silvanito (as Jose Calvo)
Margarita Lozano...Consuelo Baxter (as Margherita Lozano)
Daniel Martín...Julián (as Daniel Martin)
Benito Stefanelli...Rubio (as Benny Reeves)
Mario Brega...Chico (as Richard Stuyvesant)
Bruno Carotenuto...Antonio Baxter (as Carol Brown)
Fistful of Dollars
(1964)
Trivia
After considering Henry Fonda, director Sergio Leone offered the role of the Man With No Name to James Coburn, who proved to be too expensive. Charles Bronson then turned it down after describing it as the "worst script I have ever seen". Third choice Richard Harrison also declined the role but pointed Leone in the direction of Rawhide (1959). Leone then offered the part to "Rawhide" star Eric Fleming, who turned it down but suggested his co-star Clint Eastwood for the part. The rest, as they say, is history. Leone would eventually work with both Fonda and Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West(1968), and Coburn in Duck, You Sucker (1971).
Clint Eastwood helped in creating his character's distinctive visual style. He bought the black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat came from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm and the trademark black cigars came from a Beverly Hills store. Eastwood himself cut the cigars into three pieces to make them shorter. Eastwood himself is a non-smoker.
Clint Eastwood's trademark squint was caused by the combination of the sun and high-wattage arc lamps on the set.
When Clint Eastwood arrived on the set, he was struck by how little the Italian crew and writers knew about the American West they were filming about. For example, he had to point out that coonskin caps were worn by frontiersmen and trappers in the Davy Crockett era, circa the 1820s, not by gunfighters and townsmen in the American West and Mexico of the 1870s, as the scriptwriters had written.
Prior to this picture, in American films, whenever a person was shot, one camera was focused on the shooter, who fired his weapon, and a split second later, the director quickly cut to the victim who could be seen being hit and falling to the ground or whatever. Clint Eastwood knew this had always been the way such scenes were shot in the States, but didn't bother to tell Sergio Leone. Leone shot the first scene involving any kind of major violence in this picture with the camera shooting from over Eastwood's shoulder, as though the viewer was right there watching.
Originally called "The Magnificent Stranger", the title wasn't changed to "A Fistful of Dollars" until almost three days before the movie premiered in theaters. In fact, nobody had bothered to inform its main star, Clint Eastwood, of the change, and as a result Eastwood remained virtually unaware of the positive buzz surrounding the movie until an agent pointed it out to him in a Variety Magazine article three weeks later.
This has been described as the first "spaghetti western", but when this film was made, there had already been about 25 such westerns produced in Italy. This was, however, the first to receive a major international release.
Because this was an Italian/West German/Spanish co-production, there was a significant language barrier on the set. Clint Eastwood communicated with Sergio Leone and the Italian crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production.
Clint Eastwood's contract for Rawhide (1959) prohibited him from making movies in the United States while on break from the series. However, the contract did allow him to accept movie assignments in Europe.
According to "Once Upon a Time in the Italian West" by Howard Hughes, Sergio Leonespotted a tree, while on location, that he thought would be perfect for the hanging tree at the beginning of the film, so the tree was dug up and relocated.
Since all footage was filmed silent, Clint Eastwood did not add his voice to the soundtrack until 1967, when the movie was prepared for U.S. release.
A remake of Yojimbo (1961), which itself was based on the as yet unadapted 1929 novel "Red Harvest" by Dashiell Hammett. In fact, the film's US release was delayed when "Yojimbo" screenwriters Akira Kurosawa and Ryûzô Kikushima sued the filmmakers for breach of copyright. Kurosawa and Kikushima won, and as a result received 15% of the film's worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Kurosawa said later he made more money off of this project than he did on Yojimbo (1961).
This was the first time that Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone worked together. Initially Leone was not keen on using Morricone for this film. Lacerenza's initial trumpet performance of the score made Leone quickly set aside any reservations. Leone and Morricone, who had known each other since 3rd grade, would develop a close working relationship that would last through all of Leone's future films.
The Man With No Name is actually called Joe in the film's dialog (by the undertaker) and in the closing credits.
When the film made its U.S. network television debut on "The ABC Sunday Night Movie" in February 1975, a new prologue was added in which an unidentified lawman or politician (played by Harry Dean Stanton) orders "Joe" to get rid of the gangs of San Miguel in return for a pardon. Neither Eastwood nor Leone were involved in the shooting of this additional footage. A double with his face hidden and stock footage of Eastwood were used. Monte Hellman directed the new footage. This prologue is now available on the Special Edition released in 2005.
Clint Eastwood wore the same boots that he did in Rawhide (1959).
Clint Eastwood recalled, "I've never been to Italy. I've never been to Spain. I've never been to Germany. I've never been to any of the countries (coproducing) this film. The worst I can come out of this is a nice little trip. I'll go over there and learn some stuff. I'll see how other people make films in other countries."
At first, Clint Eastwood had some major disagreements with Sergio Leone, particularly over the script which he found too verbose, but after convincing the director to cut his dialogue to a minimum, the two men began to collaborate more productively.
Gian Maria Volontè reportedly did not get along with Sergio Leone, who found Volonté's theatrical acting style and arrogant on-set manner tiresome. Volonté tried to become friendly with Clint Eastwood, but the language barrier and political differences (Eastwood was a conservative Republican, while Volonté was a committed leftist) prevented their striking up a rapport.
Besides Clint Eastwood of course, actors Mario Brega, Benito Stefanelli, Aldo Sambrell, and Antonio Molino Rojo are the only actors to appear in all 3 of the "Dollars Trilogy" movies.
Clint Eastwood's involvement in the film was purely a stroke of luck. He was bored with his role as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide (1959), and was looking for other acting opportunities. When his agent informed him that a film company in Italy was interested in him he dismissed it at first but then reconsidered.
Clint Eastwood's asking price to appear in the film was just $15,000.
During its 1969 American re-release, it was double-billed with For a Few Dollars More(1965).
The theme song was originally composed by Ennio Morricone as a lullaby. Sergio Leoneinsisted that he wanted the "deguello" trumpet dirge - played by Mexican troops before a battle to signify to the enemy that there will be no quarter given - that was used in Rio Bravo (1959), believing it was a "public domain" piece. Finally, he settled for a "Mexican trumpet" arrangement of the original Morricone piece.
The film was at first intended by Sergio Leone to reinvent the western genre in Italy. In his opinion, the American westerns of the mid- to late-1950s had become stagnant, overly preachy and not believable. Despite the fact that even Hollywood began to gear down production of such films, Leone knew that there was still a significant market in Europe for westerns. He observed that Italian audiences laughed at the stock conventions of both American westerns and the pastiche work of Italian directors working behind pseudonyms. His approach was to take the grammar of Italian film and to transpose it into a western setting.
Filmed in 1964, but not released in the US until 1967.
The film was shot in eight weeks.
For one scene, Sergio Leone needed a tree for a hanging sequence and confiscated one from a local farmer by pretending to be a highway official who was in charge of removing dangerous trees.
Sergio Leone warmed to Clint Eastwood very quickly and joked that he had only two expressions: with hat or without hat.
Sergio Leone was so enraptured with Ennio Morricone's score that he would frequently let scenes run longer than they should just so the music could play out fully.
Most of the extras and bit players were recruited from the local Gypsy population.
Clint Eastwood's first leading role.
Clint Eastwood described the set, "We had no electricity; we didn't have a trailer with a toilet. We just went out behind rocks."
As there were no replacement props, Clint Eastwood made a point of taking his costume home with him every night.
There were times when the production was almost shut down due to cash shortages but Sergio Leone prevailed, shooting multiple takes on each camera setup in case the Italian film labs damaged the footage and improvising when necessary.
When it was released in its home country, Fistful of Dollars (1964) grossed more than any other Italian film before it.
Marianne Koch was a huge star in her native Germany so it was somewhat of a surprise when she agreed to appear in the film in what is essentially a non-speaking role. (She has one line of dialogue in the film.)
For the Italian version of the film, Clint Eastwood was dubbed by stage and screen actor Enrico Maria Salerno, whose 'sinister' rendition of the Man With No Name's voice contrasted with Eastwood's cocksure and darkly humorous interpretation.
According to Mickey Knox, Sergio Leone ran Yojimbo (1961) in a Moviola while constructing the script and blocking the action.
Producer Alberto Grimaldi realized that shooting a Western in Spain was an absolute no-brainer as it was 25% cheaper than filming in Italy.
In a rather unusual move, a lot of Ennio Morricone's score was composed before the film was shot.
One of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films.
The film had its North American premiere at the Carlton Theatre in Toronto, beginning its run on December 23, 1966.
Having played a do-good hero in Rawhide (1959) for several years, Clint Eastwoodjumped at the opportunity to play an anti-hero.
Most of the first European posters didn't show Clint Eastwood at all.
The trailers and promo material in the United States list the title of this film as "A Fistful of Dollars". The on-screen title on the film itself gives the title as simply "Fistful of Dollars".
Gian Maria Volontè didn't speak English at all so was dubbed in this film. However, he was contractually obligated to speak English for the sequel, For a Few Dollars More (1965), so he had to learn the language specially.
Entertainment Weekly ranked this Number Four on their "Guilty Pleasures: Testosterone Edition" list in their March 30, 2007 issue.
Clint Eastwood is a non-smoker but found that the foul taste of the cigars put him in the right, surly frame of mind to play The Man with No Name.
The bartender's laugh (around 32:00) can be heard in the beginning of Ministry's song "You Know What You Are".
Although made in 1964, this had to wait three years before its US release.
Lee Marvin, Frank Wolff, Tony Kendall, Cliff Robertson, Steve Reeves, Horst BuchholzHenry Silva, Rory Calhoun, Tony Russel and Ty Hardin were considered to star as The Man With No Name.
The firearm used by Ramón in is a Winchester Model 94. It has the serial number of: 2826062 1383, in .30-30 Winchester caliber, using a .30-30 Winchester. blank ammunition Courtesy, Giovanni Corridori, as revealed at the Sergio Leone exhibit, Summer, 2005, at the Gene Autry Museum, Los Angeles, California.
Sergio Leone's first choice to play Ramon Rojo was his friend Mimmo Palmara. Palmara passed on the role to appear in Mario Caiano's Bullets Don't Argue (1964). Gian Maria Volontè was then cast as Ramon. Leone never cast Palmara in another film.
The year of the setting is never specifically stated, but the date on a gravestone in the cemetery scene has the year as 1873.
Spoilers
Mario Brega appears in all 3 of the Dollars Trilogy movies, and in all 3 movies, his character meets an unfortunate demise. In this movie, his character of Chico is crushed by a runaway large barrel pushed by Joe (Clint Eastwood). This is the only movie in the Dollars Trilogy where Eastwood's character was directly involved with Brega's character's demise.
The scene where Joe faces off with Ramon using the boiler plate as a bulletproof vest was recreated by Marty McFly in Back to the Future III (1990) his showdown with "Mad Dog" Tannen near the end of the film
When the film was released in UK cinemas in June 1967, a lot of the violence was censored despite being given an 'X' certificate (no one under 16 allowed). Clint Eastwood's beating was heavily trimmed, and particularly the Rojos gunning down the Baxters. We never got to see the deaths of John, Antonio, and Consuelo Baxter. Also cut was Ramon coughing up blood. After he had killed Consuelo's husband and son, she curses Ramon, and hopes he dies "spitting blood". Her curse is fulfilled... A more complete version of this great Western has been restored for DVD and Blu-ray
(1964)
Trivia
After considering Henry Fonda, director Sergio Leone offered the role of the Man With No Name to James Coburn, who proved to be too expensive. Charles Bronson then turned it down after describing it as the "worst script I have ever seen". Third choice Richard Harrison also declined the role but pointed Leone in the direction of Rawhide (1959). Leone then offered the part to "Rawhide" star Eric Fleming, who turned it down but suggested his co-star Clint Eastwood for the part. The rest, as they say, is history. Leone would eventually work with both Fonda and Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West(1968), and Coburn in Duck, You Sucker (1971).
Clint Eastwood helped in creating his character's distinctive visual style. He bought the black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat came from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm and the trademark black cigars came from a Beverly Hills store. Eastwood himself cut the cigars into three pieces to make them shorter. Eastwood himself is a non-smoker.
Clint Eastwood's trademark squint was caused by the combination of the sun and high-wattage arc lamps on the set.
When Clint Eastwood arrived on the set, he was struck by how little the Italian crew and writers knew about the American West they were filming about. For example, he had to point out that coonskin caps were worn by frontiersmen and trappers in the Davy Crockett era, circa the 1820s, not by gunfighters and townsmen in the American West and Mexico of the 1870s, as the scriptwriters had written.
Prior to this picture, in American films, whenever a person was shot, one camera was focused on the shooter, who fired his weapon, and a split second later, the director quickly cut to the victim who could be seen being hit and falling to the ground or whatever. Clint Eastwood knew this had always been the way such scenes were shot in the States, but didn't bother to tell Sergio Leone. Leone shot the first scene involving any kind of major violence in this picture with the camera shooting from over Eastwood's shoulder, as though the viewer was right there watching.
Originally called "The Magnificent Stranger", the title wasn't changed to "A Fistful of Dollars" until almost three days before the movie premiered in theaters. In fact, nobody had bothered to inform its main star, Clint Eastwood, of the change, and as a result Eastwood remained virtually unaware of the positive buzz surrounding the movie until an agent pointed it out to him in a Variety Magazine article three weeks later.
This has been described as the first "spaghetti western", but when this film was made, there had already been about 25 such westerns produced in Italy. This was, however, the first to receive a major international release.
Because this was an Italian/West German/Spanish co-production, there was a significant language barrier on the set. Clint Eastwood communicated with Sergio Leone and the Italian crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production.
Clint Eastwood's contract for Rawhide (1959) prohibited him from making movies in the United States while on break from the series. However, the contract did allow him to accept movie assignments in Europe.
According to "Once Upon a Time in the Italian West" by Howard Hughes, Sergio Leonespotted a tree, while on location, that he thought would be perfect for the hanging tree at the beginning of the film, so the tree was dug up and relocated.
Since all footage was filmed silent, Clint Eastwood did not add his voice to the soundtrack until 1967, when the movie was prepared for U.S. release.
A remake of Yojimbo (1961), which itself was based on the as yet unadapted 1929 novel "Red Harvest" by Dashiell Hammett. In fact, the film's US release was delayed when "Yojimbo" screenwriters Akira Kurosawa and Ryûzô Kikushima sued the filmmakers for breach of copyright. Kurosawa and Kikushima won, and as a result received 15% of the film's worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Kurosawa said later he made more money off of this project than he did on Yojimbo (1961).
This was the first time that Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone worked together. Initially Leone was not keen on using Morricone for this film. Lacerenza's initial trumpet performance of the score made Leone quickly set aside any reservations. Leone and Morricone, who had known each other since 3rd grade, would develop a close working relationship that would last through all of Leone's future films.
The Man With No Name is actually called Joe in the film's dialog (by the undertaker) and in the closing credits.
When the film made its U.S. network television debut on "The ABC Sunday Night Movie" in February 1975, a new prologue was added in which an unidentified lawman or politician (played by Harry Dean Stanton) orders "Joe" to get rid of the gangs of San Miguel in return for a pardon. Neither Eastwood nor Leone were involved in the shooting of this additional footage. A double with his face hidden and stock footage of Eastwood were used. Monte Hellman directed the new footage. This prologue is now available on the Special Edition released in 2005.
Clint Eastwood wore the same boots that he did in Rawhide (1959).
Clint Eastwood recalled, "I've never been to Italy. I've never been to Spain. I've never been to Germany. I've never been to any of the countries (coproducing) this film. The worst I can come out of this is a nice little trip. I'll go over there and learn some stuff. I'll see how other people make films in other countries."
At first, Clint Eastwood had some major disagreements with Sergio Leone, particularly over the script which he found too verbose, but after convincing the director to cut his dialogue to a minimum, the two men began to collaborate more productively.
Gian Maria Volontè reportedly did not get along with Sergio Leone, who found Volonté's theatrical acting style and arrogant on-set manner tiresome. Volonté tried to become friendly with Clint Eastwood, but the language barrier and political differences (Eastwood was a conservative Republican, while Volonté was a committed leftist) prevented their striking up a rapport.
Besides Clint Eastwood of course, actors Mario Brega, Benito Stefanelli, Aldo Sambrell, and Antonio Molino Rojo are the only actors to appear in all 3 of the "Dollars Trilogy" movies.
Clint Eastwood's involvement in the film was purely a stroke of luck. He was bored with his role as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide (1959), and was looking for other acting opportunities. When his agent informed him that a film company in Italy was interested in him he dismissed it at first but then reconsidered.
Clint Eastwood's asking price to appear in the film was just $15,000.
During its 1969 American re-release, it was double-billed with For a Few Dollars More(1965).
The theme song was originally composed by Ennio Morricone as a lullaby. Sergio Leoneinsisted that he wanted the "deguello" trumpet dirge - played by Mexican troops before a battle to signify to the enemy that there will be no quarter given - that was used in Rio Bravo (1959), believing it was a "public domain" piece. Finally, he settled for a "Mexican trumpet" arrangement of the original Morricone piece.
The film was at first intended by Sergio Leone to reinvent the western genre in Italy. In his opinion, the American westerns of the mid- to late-1950s had become stagnant, overly preachy and not believable. Despite the fact that even Hollywood began to gear down production of such films, Leone knew that there was still a significant market in Europe for westerns. He observed that Italian audiences laughed at the stock conventions of both American westerns and the pastiche work of Italian directors working behind pseudonyms. His approach was to take the grammar of Italian film and to transpose it into a western setting.
Filmed in 1964, but not released in the US until 1967.
The film was shot in eight weeks.
For one scene, Sergio Leone needed a tree for a hanging sequence and confiscated one from a local farmer by pretending to be a highway official who was in charge of removing dangerous trees.
Sergio Leone warmed to Clint Eastwood very quickly and joked that he had only two expressions: with hat or without hat.
Sergio Leone was so enraptured with Ennio Morricone's score that he would frequently let scenes run longer than they should just so the music could play out fully.
Most of the extras and bit players were recruited from the local Gypsy population.
Clint Eastwood's first leading role.
Clint Eastwood described the set, "We had no electricity; we didn't have a trailer with a toilet. We just went out behind rocks."
As there were no replacement props, Clint Eastwood made a point of taking his costume home with him every night.
There were times when the production was almost shut down due to cash shortages but Sergio Leone prevailed, shooting multiple takes on each camera setup in case the Italian film labs damaged the footage and improvising when necessary.
When it was released in its home country, Fistful of Dollars (1964) grossed more than any other Italian film before it.
Marianne Koch was a huge star in her native Germany so it was somewhat of a surprise when she agreed to appear in the film in what is essentially a non-speaking role. (She has one line of dialogue in the film.)
For the Italian version of the film, Clint Eastwood was dubbed by stage and screen actor Enrico Maria Salerno, whose 'sinister' rendition of the Man With No Name's voice contrasted with Eastwood's cocksure and darkly humorous interpretation.
According to Mickey Knox, Sergio Leone ran Yojimbo (1961) in a Moviola while constructing the script and blocking the action.
Producer Alberto Grimaldi realized that shooting a Western in Spain was an absolute no-brainer as it was 25% cheaper than filming in Italy.
In a rather unusual move, a lot of Ennio Morricone's score was composed before the film was shot.
One of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films.
The film had its North American premiere at the Carlton Theatre in Toronto, beginning its run on December 23, 1966.
Having played a do-good hero in Rawhide (1959) for several years, Clint Eastwoodjumped at the opportunity to play an anti-hero.
Most of the first European posters didn't show Clint Eastwood at all.
The trailers and promo material in the United States list the title of this film as "A Fistful of Dollars". The on-screen title on the film itself gives the title as simply "Fistful of Dollars".
Gian Maria Volontè didn't speak English at all so was dubbed in this film. However, he was contractually obligated to speak English for the sequel, For a Few Dollars More (1965), so he had to learn the language specially.
Entertainment Weekly ranked this Number Four on their "Guilty Pleasures: Testosterone Edition" list in their March 30, 2007 issue.
Clint Eastwood is a non-smoker but found that the foul taste of the cigars put him in the right, surly frame of mind to play The Man with No Name.
The bartender's laugh (around 32:00) can be heard in the beginning of Ministry's song "You Know What You Are".
Although made in 1964, this had to wait three years before its US release.
Lee Marvin, Frank Wolff, Tony Kendall, Cliff Robertson, Steve Reeves, Horst BuchholzHenry Silva, Rory Calhoun, Tony Russel and Ty Hardin were considered to star as The Man With No Name.
The firearm used by Ramón in is a Winchester Model 94. It has the serial number of: 2826062 1383, in .30-30 Winchester caliber, using a .30-30 Winchester. blank ammunition Courtesy, Giovanni Corridori, as revealed at the Sergio Leone exhibit, Summer, 2005, at the Gene Autry Museum, Los Angeles, California.
Sergio Leone's first choice to play Ramon Rojo was his friend Mimmo Palmara. Palmara passed on the role to appear in Mario Caiano's Bullets Don't Argue (1964). Gian Maria Volontè was then cast as Ramon. Leone never cast Palmara in another film.
The year of the setting is never specifically stated, but the date on a gravestone in the cemetery scene has the year as 1873.
Spoilers
Mario Brega appears in all 3 of the Dollars Trilogy movies, and in all 3 movies, his character meets an unfortunate demise. In this movie, his character of Chico is crushed by a runaway large barrel pushed by Joe (Clint Eastwood). This is the only movie in the Dollars Trilogy where Eastwood's character was directly involved with Brega's character's demise.
The scene where Joe faces off with Ramon using the boiler plate as a bulletproof vest was recreated by Marty McFly in Back to the Future III (1990) his showdown with "Mad Dog" Tannen near the end of the film
When the film was released in UK cinemas in June 1967, a lot of the violence was censored despite being given an 'X' certificate (no one under 16 allowed). Clint Eastwood's beating was heavily trimmed, and particularly the Rojos gunning down the Baxters. We never got to see the deaths of John, Antonio, and Consuelo Baxter. Also cut was Ramon coughing up blood. After he had killed Consuelo's husband and son, she curses Ramon, and hopes he dies "spitting blood". Her curse is fulfilled... A more complete version of this great Western has been restored for DVD and Blu-ray
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A Fistful of Dollars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Fistful of Dollars
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed bySergio Leone
Produced byArrigo Colombo
Giorgio Papi
Screenplay byUncredited:
Víctor Andrés Catena
Jamie Comas Gil
Fernando Di Leo
Sergio Leone
Duccio Tessari
Tonino Valerii[1]
English Version:
Mark Lowell
Clint Eastwood[2]
Based onYojimbo
by Akira Kurosawa
Ryūzō Kikushima
(both uncredited)
Starring
Music byDan Savio
CinematographyJack Dalmas
Edited byRoberto Cinquini
Production
company
Distributed byUnidis (Italy)
United Artists (United States)
Release date
Running time100 minutes
Country
Language
Budget$200,000–225,000[5]
Box office$14.5 millionA Fistful of Dollars (Italian: Per un pugno di dollari, lit. "For a Fistful of Dollars",[6] titled on-screen as Fistful of Dollars) is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volontè, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger.[7] The film, an international co-production between Italy, West Germany, and Spain, was filmed on a low budget (reported to be $200,000), and Eastwood was paid $15,000 for his role.[8]
Released in Italy in 1964 and then in the United States in 1967, it initiated the popularity of the Spaghetti Western genre. It was followed by For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, also starring Eastwood. Collectively, the films are known as the "Dollars Trilogy", or "The Man with No Name Trilogy". All three films were later released in sequence in the United States in 1967, catapulting Eastwood into stardom.[9] The film has been identified as an unofficial remake of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo (1961), which resulted in a successful lawsuit by Toho, Yojimbo's production company. In the United States, the United Artists publicity campaign referred to Eastwood's character in all three films as the "Man with No Name".
As few Spaghetti Westerns had yet been released in the United States, many of the European cast and crew took on American-sounding stage names. These included Leone himself ("Bob Robertson"), Gian Maria Volontè ("Johnny Wels"), and composer Ennio Morricone ("Dan Savio"). A Fistful of Dollars was shot in Spain, mostly near Hoyo de Manzanares[10] close to Madrid, but also (like its two sequels) in the Tabernas Desert and in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, both in the province of Almería.
Plot[edit]A stranger arrives at the little town of San Miguel. Silvanito, the town's innkeeper, tells the Stranger about a feud between two families vying to gain control of the town: the Rojo brothers: Don, Esteban and Ramón and that of the town sheriff, John Baxter. The Stranger decides to play each family against the other in order to make money, and proves his speed and accuracy with his gun to both sides by shooting with ease the four men who insulted him as he entered town.
The Stranger seizes his opportunity when he sees the Rojos massacre a detachment of Mexican soldiers who were escorting a shipment of gold. He takes two of the dead bodies to a nearby cemetery and sells information to both sides, saying that two Mexican soldiers survived the attack. Both sides race to the cemetery; the Baxters to get the "survivors" to testify against the Rojos, and the Rojos to silence them. The factions engage in a gunfight, with Ramón managing to "kill" the "survivors" and Esteban capturing John Baxter's son, Antonio.
While the Rojos and the Baxters are fighting, the Stranger searches the Rojo hacienda for the gold. While he is searching he accidentally knocks out a woman, Marisol. He takes her to the Baxters, who, in turn, arrange to return her to the Rojos in exchange for Antonio. During the exchange, Marisol's son, Jesús, runs towards her, followed by her husband, Julio. While the family embraces, Ramón orders one of his men, Rubio, to kill her husband as he has already told him to leave town. Silvanito attempts to protect the family with a shotgun with the Stranger backing him up. Neither Ramón nor any of his men attempt to challenge the Stranger, knowing that he is too fast on the draw.
The Stranger then tells Marisol to go to Ramón and for Julio to take Jesús home. He learns from Silvanito that Ramón had framed Julio for cheating during a card game and taken Marisol as his prisoner, forcing her to live with him. That night, while the Rojos are celebrating, the Stranger rides out and frees Marisol, shooting the guards and wrecking the house in which she is being held, making it appear as though it were attacked by the Baxters. He gives Marisol some money and tells her family to leave the town. When the Rojos discover that he freed Marisol, they capture and torture him, but he escapes. Believing the Stranger to be protected by the Baxters, the Rojos set fire to the Baxter home and massacre the entire family as they run out of the burning building. Ramon kills John Baxter and Antonio after pretending to spare them. Consuelo, John Baxter's wife, appears and curses the Rojos for killing her unarmed husband and son. She is then shot and killed by Esteban.
With help from Piripero, the local coffin-maker, the Stranger escapes town by hiding in a coffin. The Stranger hides and convalesces in a nearby mine. When Piripero tells him that Silvanito has been captured, the Stranger returns to town to face the Rojos. With a steel chest-plate hidden beneath his poncho, he taunts Ramón to "aim for the heart" as Ramón's shots bounce off. Panicking, Ramón uses up all of the bullets in his Winchester. The Stranger shoots the rifle from Ramón's hand and kills the other Rojos standing nearby, including Don Miguel and Rubio. He then uses the last bullet in his gun to free Silvanito, tied hanging from a post. After challenging Ramón to reload his rifle faster than he can reload his own pistol, the Stranger shoots and kills Ramón. Esteban Rojo aims for the Stranger's back from a nearby building, but is shot dead by Silvanito. The Stranger bids farewell and rides away from the town.
Cast[edit]
Eastwood was not the first actor approached to play the main character. Originally, Sergio Leone intended Henry Fonda to play the "Man with No Name."[11] However, the production company could not afford to employ a major Hollywood star. Next, Leone offered Charles Bronson the part. He, too, declined, arguing that the script was bad. Both Fonda and Bronson would later star in Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). Other actors who turned the role down were Henry Silva, Rory Calhoun, Tony Russel,[12] Steve Reeves, Ty Hardin, and James Coburn.[13][14][15][16] Leone then turned his attention to Richard Harrison, an expatriate American actor who had recently starred in the very first Italian western, Duello nel Texas. Harrison, however, had not been impressed with his experience on that previous film and refused. The producers later presented a list of available, lesser-known American actors and asked Harrison for advice. Harrison suggested Eastwood, who he knew could play a cowboy convincingly.[17] Harrison later stated, "Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing A Fistful of Dollars and recommending Clint for the part."[18] Eastwood later spoke about transitioning from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide, I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat ... the hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero."[19]
A Fistful of Dollars was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, so there was a significant language barrier on set. Leone did not speak English,[20] and Eastwood communicated with the Italian cast and crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unlicensed interpreter for the production and would later appear in Leone's other pictures. Similar to other Italian films shot at the time, all footage was filmed silent, and the dialogue and sound effects were dubbed over in post-production.[21] For the Italian version of the film, Eastwood was dubbed by stage and screen actor Enrico Maria Salerno, whose "sinister" rendition of the Man with No Name's voice contrasted with Eastwood's cocksure and darkly humorous interpretation.[22]
Visual style[edit]A Fistful of Dollars became the first film to exhibit Leone's famously distinctive style of visual direction. This was influenced by both John Ford's cinematic landscaping and the Japanese method of direction perfected by Akira Kurosawa. Leone wanted an operatic feel to his western, and so there are many examples of extreme close-ups on the faces of different characters, functioning like arias in a traditional opera. The rhythm, emotion, and communication within scenes can be attributed to Leone’s meticulous framing of his close-ups.[23] This is quite different from Hollywood's use of close-ups that used them as reaction shots, usually to a line of dialogue that had just been spoken. Leone's close-ups are more akin to portraits, often lit with Renaissance-type lighting effects, and are considered by some as pieces of design in their own right.[24]
Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man with No Name's distinctive visual style. He bought black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat came from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm, and the trademark cigars from a Beverly Hills store.[25] He also brought props from Rawhide including a Cobra-handled Colt, a gunbelt, and spurs.[26] The poncho was acquired in Spain.[27] It was Leone and costume designer Carlo Simi who decided on the Spanish poncho for the Man with No Name.[26] On the anniversary DVD for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, it was said that while Eastwood himself is a non-smoker, he felt that the foul taste of the cigar in his mouth put him in the right frame of mind for his character. Leone reportedly took to Eastwood's distinctive style quickly and commented that, "More than an actor, I needed a mask, and Eastwood, at that time, only had two expressions: with hat and no hat."[28]
Title design[Iginio Lardani created the film's title design.[29]
Soundtrack[The film's music was written by Ennio Morricone, credited as Dan Savio.
Leone requested Morricone to write a theme that would be similar to Dimitri Tiomkin’s El Degüello (used in Rio Bravo, 1959). Although the two themes are similar, Morricone states that he used a lullaby he had composed before and developed the theme from that. He adds that what makes the two themes similar is the execution, not the arrangement.[30]
In 1962 expatriate American folk singer Peter Tevis recorded a version of Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty" that was arranged by Morricone. During a conference with Morricone over the music in the film a recording of Tevis's Pastures of Plenty was played. Sergio Leone said "That's it"[31] with Tevis claiming the tune and musical arrangements were copied for the music for the opening titles "Titoli".
"Some of the music was written before the film, which is unusual. Leone's films were made like that because he wanted the music to be an important part of it, and he often kept the scenes longer simply because he didn't want the music to end. That's why the films are so slow - because of the music."[32]
Though not used in the completed film, Peter Tevis recorded lyrics to Morricone's main theme for the film. As a movie tie-in to the American release, United Artists Records released a different set of lyrics to Morricone's theme called Restless One by Little Anthony and the Imperials.
Release and reception[edit]A Fistful of Dollars was released in Italy in September 1964.[34] Over the film's theatrical release, it grossed more than any other Italian film up to that point.[34] In January 1967 the film premièred in the United States grossing $4.5 million for the year.[34] It eventually grossed $14.5 million in its American release.[35] In 1969 it was re-released, earning $1.2 million in rentals.[36]
When the film was released on the televised network ABC on February 23, 1975[37], a four and a half minute prologue was added to the film to contextualise the character and justify the violence. Written and directed by Monte Hellman, it featured an unidentified official (Harry Dean Stanton) offering the Man With No Name a chance at a pardon in exchange for cleaning up the mess in San Miguel. Close-ups of Eastwood's face from archival footage are inserted into the scene alongside Stanton's performance.[38][39] This prologue opened television presentations for a few years before disappearing; it reappeared on the Special Edition DVD and the more recent Blu-ray, along with an interview with Monte Hellman about its making.[40][41]
Upon the film's American release in 1967, both Philip French and Bosley Crowther were unimpressed with the film itself. Critic Philip French of The Observer stated: "The calculated sadism of the film would be offensive were it not for the neutralising laughter aroused by the ludicrousness of the whole exercise. If one didn't know the actual provenance of the film, one would guess that it was a private movie made by a group of rich European Western fans at a dude ranch... A Fistful of Dollars looks awful, has a flat dead soundtrack, and is totally devoid of human feeling."[42] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times treated the film not as pastiche, but as camp-parody, stating that nearly every Western cliche could be found in this "egregiously synthetic but engrossingly morbid, violent film". He went on to patronise Eastwood's performance, stating: "He is simply another fabrication of a personality, half cowboy and half gangster, going through the ritualistic postures and exercises of each... He is a morbid, amusing, campy fraud".[43]
However, in response to these immediate negative reviews, Howard Hughes, in his 2012 book Once Upon a Time in the Italian West, reflected by stating: "American and British critics largely chose to ignore Fistful's release, few recognising its satirical humour or groundbreaking style, preferring to trash the shoddy production values...".[44] The retrospective reception of A Fistful of Dollars has been much more positive, noting it as a hugely influential film in regards to the rejuvenation of the Western genre. The 67th Cannes Film Festival, held in 2014, celebrated the "50th anniversary of the birth of the Spaghetti Western... by showing A Fistful of Dollars".[45] Quentin Tarantino, prior to hosting the event, in a press-release described the film as "the greatest achievement in the history of Cinema".[45] A Fistful of Dollars has achieved a 98% freshness rating out of 43 critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, whilst being placed 8th on the site's 'Top 100 Westerns'.[46]
Legal dispute[edit]The film was effectively an unofficial and unlicensed remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo (written by Kurosawa and Ryūzō Kikushima), lifting traditional themes and character tropes usually typified within a Jidaigeki film. Kurosawa insisted that Leone had made "a fine movie, but it was MY movie."[47] Leone ignored the resulting lawsuit, but eventually settled out of court, reportedly for 15% of the worldwide receipts of A Fistful of Dollars and over $100,000.[48][49]
British critic Sir Christopher Frayling identifies three principal sources for A Fistful of Dollars: "Partly derived from Kurosawa's samurai film Yojimbo, partly from Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest (1929), but most of all from Carlo Goldoni's eighteenth-century play Servant of Two Masters."[50] Leone has cited these alternate sources in his defense. He claims a thematic debt, for both Fistful and Yojimbo, to Carlo Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters—the basic premise of the protagonist playing two camps against each other. Leone asserted that this rooted the origination of Fistful/Yojimbo in European, and specifically Italian, culture. The Servant of Two Masters plot can also be seen in Hammett's detective novel Red Harvest. The Continental Op hero of the novel is, significantly, a man without a name. Leone himself believed that Red Harvest had influenced Yojimbo: "Kurosawa's Yojimbo was inspired by an American novel of the serie-noire so I was really taking the story back home again."[51]
Leone also referenced numerous American Westerns in the film, most notably Shane[52] (1953) and My Darling Clementine (1946) which differs from Yojimbo.
Digital restoration[edit]In 2014, the film was digitally restored by Cineteca di Bologna and Unidis Jolly Film for its Blu-ray debut and 50th anniversary. Frame-by-frame digital restoration by Prasad Corporation removed dirt, tears, scratches and other defects.[53][54] The directorial credit for Leone, which replaced the "Bob Robertson" card years ago, has been retained, but otherwise, the original credits (with pseudonyms, including "Dan Savio" for Morricone) remain the same.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Fistful of Dollars
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed bySergio Leone
Produced byArrigo Colombo
Giorgio Papi
Screenplay byUncredited:
Víctor Andrés Catena
Jamie Comas Gil
Fernando Di Leo
Sergio Leone
Duccio Tessari
Tonino Valerii[1]
English Version:
Mark Lowell
Clint Eastwood[2]
Based onYojimbo
by Akira Kurosawa
Ryūzō Kikushima
(both uncredited)
Starring
Music byDan Savio
CinematographyJack Dalmas
Edited byRoberto Cinquini
Production
company
- Jolly Film
- Constantin Film
- Ocean Films
Distributed byUnidis (Italy)
United Artists (United States)
Release date
- September 1964 (Italy)
Running time100 minutes
Country
Language
- Italian
- English
Budget$200,000–225,000[5]
Box office$14.5 millionA Fistful of Dollars (Italian: Per un pugno di dollari, lit. "For a Fistful of Dollars",[6] titled on-screen as Fistful of Dollars) is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volontè, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger.[7] The film, an international co-production between Italy, West Germany, and Spain, was filmed on a low budget (reported to be $200,000), and Eastwood was paid $15,000 for his role.[8]
Released in Italy in 1964 and then in the United States in 1967, it initiated the popularity of the Spaghetti Western genre. It was followed by For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, also starring Eastwood. Collectively, the films are known as the "Dollars Trilogy", or "The Man with No Name Trilogy". All three films were later released in sequence in the United States in 1967, catapulting Eastwood into stardom.[9] The film has been identified as an unofficial remake of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo (1961), which resulted in a successful lawsuit by Toho, Yojimbo's production company. In the United States, the United Artists publicity campaign referred to Eastwood's character in all three films as the "Man with No Name".
As few Spaghetti Westerns had yet been released in the United States, many of the European cast and crew took on American-sounding stage names. These included Leone himself ("Bob Robertson"), Gian Maria Volontè ("Johnny Wels"), and composer Ennio Morricone ("Dan Savio"). A Fistful of Dollars was shot in Spain, mostly near Hoyo de Manzanares[10] close to Madrid, but also (like its two sequels) in the Tabernas Desert and in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, both in the province of Almería.
Plot[edit]A stranger arrives at the little town of San Miguel. Silvanito, the town's innkeeper, tells the Stranger about a feud between two families vying to gain control of the town: the Rojo brothers: Don, Esteban and Ramón and that of the town sheriff, John Baxter. The Stranger decides to play each family against the other in order to make money, and proves his speed and accuracy with his gun to both sides by shooting with ease the four men who insulted him as he entered town.
The Stranger seizes his opportunity when he sees the Rojos massacre a detachment of Mexican soldiers who were escorting a shipment of gold. He takes two of the dead bodies to a nearby cemetery and sells information to both sides, saying that two Mexican soldiers survived the attack. Both sides race to the cemetery; the Baxters to get the "survivors" to testify against the Rojos, and the Rojos to silence them. The factions engage in a gunfight, with Ramón managing to "kill" the "survivors" and Esteban capturing John Baxter's son, Antonio.
While the Rojos and the Baxters are fighting, the Stranger searches the Rojo hacienda for the gold. While he is searching he accidentally knocks out a woman, Marisol. He takes her to the Baxters, who, in turn, arrange to return her to the Rojos in exchange for Antonio. During the exchange, Marisol's son, Jesús, runs towards her, followed by her husband, Julio. While the family embraces, Ramón orders one of his men, Rubio, to kill her husband as he has already told him to leave town. Silvanito attempts to protect the family with a shotgun with the Stranger backing him up. Neither Ramón nor any of his men attempt to challenge the Stranger, knowing that he is too fast on the draw.
The Stranger then tells Marisol to go to Ramón and for Julio to take Jesús home. He learns from Silvanito that Ramón had framed Julio for cheating during a card game and taken Marisol as his prisoner, forcing her to live with him. That night, while the Rojos are celebrating, the Stranger rides out and frees Marisol, shooting the guards and wrecking the house in which she is being held, making it appear as though it were attacked by the Baxters. He gives Marisol some money and tells her family to leave the town. When the Rojos discover that he freed Marisol, they capture and torture him, but he escapes. Believing the Stranger to be protected by the Baxters, the Rojos set fire to the Baxter home and massacre the entire family as they run out of the burning building. Ramon kills John Baxter and Antonio after pretending to spare them. Consuelo, John Baxter's wife, appears and curses the Rojos for killing her unarmed husband and son. She is then shot and killed by Esteban.
With help from Piripero, the local coffin-maker, the Stranger escapes town by hiding in a coffin. The Stranger hides and convalesces in a nearby mine. When Piripero tells him that Silvanito has been captured, the Stranger returns to town to face the Rojos. With a steel chest-plate hidden beneath his poncho, he taunts Ramón to "aim for the heart" as Ramón's shots bounce off. Panicking, Ramón uses up all of the bullets in his Winchester. The Stranger shoots the rifle from Ramón's hand and kills the other Rojos standing nearby, including Don Miguel and Rubio. He then uses the last bullet in his gun to free Silvanito, tied hanging from a post. After challenging Ramón to reload his rifle faster than he can reload his own pistol, the Stranger shoots and kills Ramón. Esteban Rojo aims for the Stranger's back from a nearby building, but is shot dead by Silvanito. The Stranger bids farewell and rides away from the town.
Cast[edit]
- Clint Eastwood as "Man with No Name"
- John Wells Ramón Rojo
- Marianne Koch as Marisol
- Jose Calvo as Silvanito
- Joe Edger as Piripero
- Antonio Prieto as Benito Rojo
- S. Rupp as Esteban Rojo
- W. Lukschy as Sheriff John Baxter
- Margherita Lozano as Consuelo Baxter
- Bruno Carotenuto as Antonio Baxter
- Daniel Martín as Julio
- Richard Stuyvesant as Chico
- Benny Reeves as Rubio
- Aldo Sambreli as Manolo
Eastwood was not the first actor approached to play the main character. Originally, Sergio Leone intended Henry Fonda to play the "Man with No Name."[11] However, the production company could not afford to employ a major Hollywood star. Next, Leone offered Charles Bronson the part. He, too, declined, arguing that the script was bad. Both Fonda and Bronson would later star in Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). Other actors who turned the role down were Henry Silva, Rory Calhoun, Tony Russel,[12] Steve Reeves, Ty Hardin, and James Coburn.[13][14][15][16] Leone then turned his attention to Richard Harrison, an expatriate American actor who had recently starred in the very first Italian western, Duello nel Texas. Harrison, however, had not been impressed with his experience on that previous film and refused. The producers later presented a list of available, lesser-known American actors and asked Harrison for advice. Harrison suggested Eastwood, who he knew could play a cowboy convincingly.[17] Harrison later stated, "Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing A Fistful of Dollars and recommending Clint for the part."[18] Eastwood later spoke about transitioning from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide, I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat ... the hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero."[19]
A Fistful of Dollars was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, so there was a significant language barrier on set. Leone did not speak English,[20] and Eastwood communicated with the Italian cast and crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unlicensed interpreter for the production and would later appear in Leone's other pictures. Similar to other Italian films shot at the time, all footage was filmed silent, and the dialogue and sound effects were dubbed over in post-production.[21] For the Italian version of the film, Eastwood was dubbed by stage and screen actor Enrico Maria Salerno, whose "sinister" rendition of the Man with No Name's voice contrasted with Eastwood's cocksure and darkly humorous interpretation.[22]
Visual style[edit]A Fistful of Dollars became the first film to exhibit Leone's famously distinctive style of visual direction. This was influenced by both John Ford's cinematic landscaping and the Japanese method of direction perfected by Akira Kurosawa. Leone wanted an operatic feel to his western, and so there are many examples of extreme close-ups on the faces of different characters, functioning like arias in a traditional opera. The rhythm, emotion, and communication within scenes can be attributed to Leone’s meticulous framing of his close-ups.[23] This is quite different from Hollywood's use of close-ups that used them as reaction shots, usually to a line of dialogue that had just been spoken. Leone's close-ups are more akin to portraits, often lit with Renaissance-type lighting effects, and are considered by some as pieces of design in their own right.[24]
Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man with No Name's distinctive visual style. He bought black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat came from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm, and the trademark cigars from a Beverly Hills store.[25] He also brought props from Rawhide including a Cobra-handled Colt, a gunbelt, and spurs.[26] The poncho was acquired in Spain.[27] It was Leone and costume designer Carlo Simi who decided on the Spanish poncho for the Man with No Name.[26] On the anniversary DVD for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, it was said that while Eastwood himself is a non-smoker, he felt that the foul taste of the cigar in his mouth put him in the right frame of mind for his character. Leone reportedly took to Eastwood's distinctive style quickly and commented that, "More than an actor, I needed a mask, and Eastwood, at that time, only had two expressions: with hat and no hat."[28]
Title design[Iginio Lardani created the film's title design.[29]
Soundtrack[The film's music was written by Ennio Morricone, credited as Dan Savio.
Leone requested Morricone to write a theme that would be similar to Dimitri Tiomkin’s El Degüello (used in Rio Bravo, 1959). Although the two themes are similar, Morricone states that he used a lullaby he had composed before and developed the theme from that. He adds that what makes the two themes similar is the execution, not the arrangement.[30]
In 1962 expatriate American folk singer Peter Tevis recorded a version of Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty" that was arranged by Morricone. During a conference with Morricone over the music in the film a recording of Tevis's Pastures of Plenty was played. Sergio Leone said "That's it"[31] with Tevis claiming the tune and musical arrangements were copied for the music for the opening titles "Titoli".
"Some of the music was written before the film, which is unusual. Leone's films were made like that because he wanted the music to be an important part of it, and he often kept the scenes longer simply because he didn't want the music to end. That's why the films are so slow - because of the music."[32]
Though not used in the completed film, Peter Tevis recorded lyrics to Morricone's main theme for the film. As a movie tie-in to the American release, United Artists Records released a different set of lyrics to Morricone's theme called Restless One by Little Anthony and the Imperials.
Release and reception[edit]A Fistful of Dollars was released in Italy in September 1964.[34] Over the film's theatrical release, it grossed more than any other Italian film up to that point.[34] In January 1967 the film premièred in the United States grossing $4.5 million for the year.[34] It eventually grossed $14.5 million in its American release.[35] In 1969 it was re-released, earning $1.2 million in rentals.[36]
When the film was released on the televised network ABC on February 23, 1975[37], a four and a half minute prologue was added to the film to contextualise the character and justify the violence. Written and directed by Monte Hellman, it featured an unidentified official (Harry Dean Stanton) offering the Man With No Name a chance at a pardon in exchange for cleaning up the mess in San Miguel. Close-ups of Eastwood's face from archival footage are inserted into the scene alongside Stanton's performance.[38][39] This prologue opened television presentations for a few years before disappearing; it reappeared on the Special Edition DVD and the more recent Blu-ray, along with an interview with Monte Hellman about its making.[40][41]
Upon the film's American release in 1967, both Philip French and Bosley Crowther were unimpressed with the film itself. Critic Philip French of The Observer stated: "The calculated sadism of the film would be offensive were it not for the neutralising laughter aroused by the ludicrousness of the whole exercise. If one didn't know the actual provenance of the film, one would guess that it was a private movie made by a group of rich European Western fans at a dude ranch... A Fistful of Dollars looks awful, has a flat dead soundtrack, and is totally devoid of human feeling."[42] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times treated the film not as pastiche, but as camp-parody, stating that nearly every Western cliche could be found in this "egregiously synthetic but engrossingly morbid, violent film". He went on to patronise Eastwood's performance, stating: "He is simply another fabrication of a personality, half cowboy and half gangster, going through the ritualistic postures and exercises of each... He is a morbid, amusing, campy fraud".[43]
However, in response to these immediate negative reviews, Howard Hughes, in his 2012 book Once Upon a Time in the Italian West, reflected by stating: "American and British critics largely chose to ignore Fistful's release, few recognising its satirical humour or groundbreaking style, preferring to trash the shoddy production values...".[44] The retrospective reception of A Fistful of Dollars has been much more positive, noting it as a hugely influential film in regards to the rejuvenation of the Western genre. The 67th Cannes Film Festival, held in 2014, celebrated the "50th anniversary of the birth of the Spaghetti Western... by showing A Fistful of Dollars".[45] Quentin Tarantino, prior to hosting the event, in a press-release described the film as "the greatest achievement in the history of Cinema".[45] A Fistful of Dollars has achieved a 98% freshness rating out of 43 critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, whilst being placed 8th on the site's 'Top 100 Westerns'.[46]
Legal dispute[edit]The film was effectively an unofficial and unlicensed remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo (written by Kurosawa and Ryūzō Kikushima), lifting traditional themes and character tropes usually typified within a Jidaigeki film. Kurosawa insisted that Leone had made "a fine movie, but it was MY movie."[47] Leone ignored the resulting lawsuit, but eventually settled out of court, reportedly for 15% of the worldwide receipts of A Fistful of Dollars and over $100,000.[48][49]
British critic Sir Christopher Frayling identifies three principal sources for A Fistful of Dollars: "Partly derived from Kurosawa's samurai film Yojimbo, partly from Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest (1929), but most of all from Carlo Goldoni's eighteenth-century play Servant of Two Masters."[50] Leone has cited these alternate sources in his defense. He claims a thematic debt, for both Fistful and Yojimbo, to Carlo Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters—the basic premise of the protagonist playing two camps against each other. Leone asserted that this rooted the origination of Fistful/Yojimbo in European, and specifically Italian, culture. The Servant of Two Masters plot can also be seen in Hammett's detective novel Red Harvest. The Continental Op hero of the novel is, significantly, a man without a name. Leone himself believed that Red Harvest had influenced Yojimbo: "Kurosawa's Yojimbo was inspired by an American novel of the serie-noire so I was really taking the story back home again."[51]
Leone also referenced numerous American Westerns in the film, most notably Shane[52] (1953) and My Darling Clementine (1946) which differs from Yojimbo.
Digital restoration[edit]In 2014, the film was digitally restored by Cineteca di Bologna and Unidis Jolly Film for its Blu-ray debut and 50th anniversary. Frame-by-frame digital restoration by Prasad Corporation removed dirt, tears, scratches and other defects.[53][54] The directorial credit for Leone, which replaced the "Bob Robertson" card years ago, has been retained, but otherwise, the original credits (with pseudonyms, including "Dan Savio" for Morricone) remain the same.