Released in Italy in 1964 and in the United States in 1967, the film initiated the popularity of the spaghetti Western genre. It is considered a landmark in cinema and one of the greatest and most influential films of all time. It was followed byFor a Few Dollars More andThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly, both also starring Eastwood. Collectively, these three films became known as theDollars Trilogy, or theMan with No Name Trilogy, after theUnited Artists publicity campaign referred to Eastwood's characters in all three films as the "Man with No Name". All three films were released in sequence in the United States in 1967, making Eastwood a national celebrity.[10]
The film has been identified as an unofficial remake of theAkira Kurosawa filmYojimbo (1961), which resulted in a successful lawsuit byToho,Yojimbo's production company.[11] Kurosawa wrote to Leone directly, saying, "Signor Leone, I have just had the chance to see your film. It is a very fine film, but it is my film. Since Japan is a signatory of the Berne Convention on the international copyright, you must pay me." He and Toho received 15 percent of the film's revenue. Kurosawa earned more money from this settlement than fromYojimbo.[12]
An unnamed stranger[N 1] arrives at the little town of San Miguel, on theMexico–United States border. Silvanito, the town's innkeeper, tells the Stranger about a feud between twosmuggler families vying to gain control of the town: the Rojo brothers — Don Miguel, Esteban and Ramón — and the family of the town sheriff, John Baxter; his matriarchal wife, Consuelo; and their son, Antonio. To make money, the Stranger decides to play these families against each other. He demonstrates his deadliness to both sides by shooting the four men who insulted him as he entered town with ease.
The Stranger witnesses the Rojos massacre a detachment of Mexican soldiers escorting a chest of gold (to exchange for rifles) and comes up with a plan. He takes two of the dead bodies to a nearby cemetery and props them up to make them appear alive. He sells information to both factions, claiming two Mexican soldiers survived the attack. Each faction races to the cemetery, the Baxters to get the supposed survivors to testify against the Rojos, and the Rojos to silence them. They engage in a gunfight, with Ramón "killing" the supposed survivors and Esteban capturing Antonio Baxter.
While the Rojos and the Baxters are fighting, the Stranger searches the Rojo hacienda for the gold, and accidentally knocks out a woman, Marisol. He takes her to the Baxters, who arrange to return her to the Rojos in exchange for Antonio. During the hostage exchange, Marisol's son and husband approach her. Ramón orders one of his men, Rubio, to kill Marisol's husband, Julio, but he is deterred by Silvanito and the Stranger. The Stranger orders Marisol to go back to Ramón, and her husband to take their son home. He learns from Silvanito that Ramón accused Julio of cheating during a card game and took Marisol as collateral.
That night, while the Rojos are celebrating, the Stranger kills the guards, frees Marisol, and wrecks the house where she was held to create the appearance of an attack by the Baxters. He gives money to Marisol and urges her family to leave town.
The Rojos eventually discover that it was the Stranger who freed Marisol. They capture and torture him, but he escapes. Believing that he is protected by the Baxters, the Rojos set fire to the Baxter home, massacring everyone, including the Baxter's wife, as they flee the burning building. With help from the local coffinmaker named Piripero, the Stranger escapes town by hiding in a coffin, and recuperates in an abandoned mine.
When Piripero tells him that Silvanito has been captured and tortured by the Rojos for the Stranger's whereabouts, he returns to town to confront them. With a steel chest plate hidden beneath hisponcho, he taunts Ramón to "aim for the heart" as Ramón's shots deflect until Ramón exhausts hisWinchester rifle's ammunition. The Stranger shoots the weapon from Ramón's hand and kills Don Miguel, Rubio and the other Rojo men standing nearby. He uses the last shot to free Silvanito, who is hanging from a rope by his hands.
After challenging Ramón to reload his rifle faster than he can reload his revolver, the Stranger shoots and kills him. Esteban Rojo aims for the Stranger's back from a nearby building, but is shot dead by Silvanito. The Stranger bids Silvanito and Piripero farewell, and rides away from town.
A Fistful of Dollars was originally calledIl Magnifico Straniero ("The Magnificent Stranger"), before the title was changed toA Fistful of Dollars.[14] The production and development ofA Fistful of Dollars, from anecdotes, was described by Italian film historian, Roberto Curti, as both contradictory and difficult to decipher.[2]Tonino Valerii alternatively said that Barboni andStelvio Massi met Leone outside a theater in Rome where they had seenYojimbo, suggesting to Leone that it would make a good Western.[2] The actorMimmo Palmara, a friend of Leone, told a similar story to Valerii, saying that Barboni had told him aboutYojimbo, and he would see it the next day with Leone and his wife, Carla.[2][3]
Adriano Bolzoni stated in 1978 that he had the idea of makingYojimbo into a Western, and brought the idea to Franco Palaggi, who sent Bolzoni withDuccio Tessari to watch the film and take notes on it.[3] Bolzoni said that both he and Tessari wrote a first draft, which moved on to Leone, noting that Tessari wrote the majority of the script.[3]
Fernando di Leo also claimed authorship of the script, saying that bothA Fistful of Dollars andFor a Few Dollars More were written by him and Tessari, and notLuciano Vincenzoni.[3] Di Leo claimed that after Leone had the idea for the film, Tessari wrote the script and he gave him a hand.[3] Di Leo would repeat this story in an interview, saying that he was at the first meetings of Tessari and Leone discussing what kind of film to make fromYojimbo.[3] Di Leo noted that Leone did not like the first draft of the script, which led to him to drastically rewrite it with Tessari.[3] Production papers for the film credit Spanish and German writers, but these were added to play into coproduction standards during this period of filmmaking, to get more financing from the Spanish and West German companies.[3] Leone would suggest that he wrote the entire screenplay, based on Tessari's treatment.[3]
Originally, Sergio Leone intendedHenry Fonda to play the "Man with No Name".[15] However, the production company could not afford to employ a majorHollywood star. Next, Leone offered the part toCharles Bronson. He, too, declined, saying that the script was bad. Both Fonda and Bronson would eventually star in Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the West. Other actors who turned down the role wereHenry Silva,Rory Calhoun,Tony Russel,[16]Steve Reeves,Ty Hardin andJames Coburn.[17][18][19][20] Leone said he wanted Coburn for the role, but he was deemed too expensive.[21] Leone turned his attention toRichard Harrison, an expatriate American actor who had recently starred in the Italian Western,Duello nel Texas. Harrison, however, had not been impressed with his experience in that film, and refused. The producers 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.[22] Harrison would state, "Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doingA Fistful of Dollars and recommending Clint for the part."[23] Eastwood said "InRawhide, 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 anantihero."[24]
Eastwood said that he had a similar idea for adaptingYojimbo into a Western a few years earlier inLos Angeles, when a friend who was a fan ofsamurai cinema took him to watchYojimbo at aWestern Avenue theater that ranJapanese films. Eastwood recalled that he "remembered sitting there" and saying, "Boy, this would be a great western if only someone had nerve enough to do it, but they'd never have enough nerve." A few years later, after someone handed him the script forA Fistful of Dollars, "about five or 10 pages in" he "recognized it as an obvious rip-off" ofYojimbo, which he found ironic.[25]
A Fistful of Dollars was an Italian, German and Spanish co-production, so there was a significant language barrier on set. Leone did not speak English and Eastwood communicated with the Italian cast and crew mostly through the actor and stuntmanBenito Stefanelli, who also acted as an uncredited interpreter for the production, and later appeared in Leone's other pictures.[26] Similar to other Italian films shot at the time, all footage was filmed silent, and the dialogue and sound effects were dubbed in post-production.[27] For the Italian version of the film, Eastwood was dubbed by the actorEnrico Maria Salerno, whose sinister rendition of the Man with No Name's voice contrasted with Eastwood's cocksure and darkly humorous interpretation.[28]
A Fistful of Dollars became the first film to exhibit Leone's distinctive style of visual direction. This was influenced by bothJohn Ford's cinematic landscaping and the Japanese method of direction honed byAkira Kurosawa. Leone wanted an operatic feel to his Western, so there are many examples of extreme closeups of 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 closeups.[29] Leone's closeups are akin to portraits, often lit withRenaissance-type lighting effects, and are considered by some as pieces of design in their own right.[30]
Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man with No Name's distinctive visual style. He bought black jeans from a sports shop onHollywood Boulevard; the hat came from aSanta Monica wardrobe firm; and the trademark cigars from aBeverly Hills store.[31] He also brought props fromRawhide, including a Cobra-handledColt, a gunbelt and spurs.[32] The poncho was acquired in Spain.[33] Leone and the costume designerCarlo Simi decided on the Spanish poncho for the Man with No Name.[32] On theDVD commentary forThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it is said that although Eastwood 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 quickly to Eastwood's distinctive style, and commented, "More than an actor, I needed a mask, and Eastwood, at that time, only had two expressions: with hat and no hat."[34]
The film's music was written byEnnio Morricone, initially credited as Dan Savio.
Leone requested Morricone to write a theme that would be similar toDimitri Tiomkin'sEl Degüello (used inRio Bravo). Although the two themes are similar, Morricone stated that he used alullaby that he had composed previously, and developed the theme from that. He added that what makes the two themes similar is the execution, not the arrangement.[36]
In 1962 the expatriate American folk singerPeter Tevis recorded a version ofWoody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty" that was arranged by Morricone. During a conference with Morricone discussing the music in the film, a recording of Tevis'sPastures of Plenty was played. Leone said, "That's it",[37] with Tevis claiming that the tune and musical arrangements were copied for the music for the opening title, "Titoli".
"Some of the music was written before the film, which is unusual," said Morricone. "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."[38]
Although not used in the completed film, Peter Tevis recorded lyrics to Morricone's main theme for the film. As amovie tie-in to the American release,United Artists Records released a different set of lyrics to Morricone's theme, calledRestless One, and recorded byLittle Anthony and the Imperials.
PromotingA Fistful of Dollars was difficult, because no major distributor wanted to take a chance on a faux-Western and an unknown director. The film ended up being released in Italy 12 September 1964,[5] which was typically the worst month for sales.
Despite the initial negative reviews from Italian critics, the film's popularity spread at a grassroots level, and, over the film's theatrical release, it grossed 2.7 billionlire ($4,375,000) in Italy, more than any otherItalian film to that point.[42][43] It sold admissions of 14,797,275 ticket sales in Italy.[44][45] The film also sold 4,383,331 tickets in France and 3,281,990 tickets in Spain,[46] earning a total of more than US$1 million grossed in international territories outside Italy and North America,[47] and 22,462,596 tickets sold in Europe.
The release of the film was delayed in the United States, because distributors feared being sued by Kurosawa. As a result, it was not shown in American cinemas until 18 January 1967.[48] The film grossed $4.5 million for the year.[42] In 1969, it was rereleased, earning $1.2 million intheatrical rentals.[49] It eventually grossed $14.5 million in the United States and Canada,[50] totaling more than$19.9 million grossed worldwide.
The film was initially shunned by Italian critics, who gave it extremely negative reviews. Some American critics felt differently from their Italian counterparts, withVariety praising it as having "aJames Bondian vigor and tongue-in-cheek approach that was sure to capture both sophisticates and average cinema patrons".[48]
On the film's American release in 1967, both Philip French and Bosley Crowther were unimpressed with the film itself. The criticPhilip French ofThe Observer stated:
The calculated sadism of the film would be offensive were it not for the neutralizing 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.[51]
Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times treated the film not as pastiche, but as camp-parody, stating that nearly every Western cliché could be found in this "egregiously synthetic but engrossingly morbid, violent film". He went on to patronize 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."[52]
When the film was televised on theABC network 23 February 1975,[53] a four-and-a-half-minute prologue was added to the film to contextualize the character and justify the violence. Written and directed byMonte 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. Closeups of Eastwood's face from archival footage are inserted into the scene alongside Stanton's performance.[54][55] This prologue opened television presentations for a few years before disappearing; it reappeared on the Special Edition DVD and the more recentBlu-ray, along with an interview with Monte Hellman about its production.[56][57]
The retrospective reception ofA Fistful of Dollars has been much more positive, noting it as a hugely influential film in regard to the rejuvenation of the Western genre. Film historian 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 recognizing its satirical humor or groundbreaking style, preferring to trash the shoddy production values...."[58]
A Fistful of Dollars has achieved a 98% approval rating from 55 critical reviews onRotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "With Akira Kurosawa'sYojimbo as his template, Sergio Leone'sA Fistful of Dollars helped define a new era for the Western and usher in its most iconic star, Clint Eastwood." It has also placed at number 8 on the site's "Top 100 Westerns".[59]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[60]
The67th Cannes Film Festival, held in 2014, celebrated the "50th anniversary of the birth of the spaghetti Western... by showingA Fistful of Dollars".[61]Quentin Tarantino, in a press release prior to hosting the event, described the film as "the greatest achievement in the history of cinema".[61]
The film was effectively an unofficial and unlicensed remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film,Yojimbo (written by Kurosawa and Ryūzō Kikushima); Kurosawa insisted that Leone had made "a fine movie, but it wasmy movie".[62] This led to a lawsuit fromToho,Yojimbo's production company. Leone ignored the resulting lawsuit, but eventually settled out of court, reportedly for 15% of the worldwide receipts ofA Fistful of Dollars and over $100,000.[63][64]
The criticChristopher Frayling identifies three principal sources forA Fistful of Dollars: "Partly derived from Kurosawa's samurai filmYojimbo, partly fromDashiell Hammett's novelRed Harvest (1929), but most of all fromCarlo Goldoni's eighteenth-century playServant of Two Masters [sic]."[65] Leone cited those alternate sources in his defense. He claimed a thematic debt, for bothFistful andYojimbo, to Carlo Goldoni'sServant of Two Masters — the basic premise of the protagonist playing two camps against each other. Leone asserted that this rooted the origination ofFistful/Yojimbo in European, and specifically, Italian, culture. The plot ofTheServant of Two Masters can also be seen in Hammett's detective novel,Red Harvest. TheContinental Op hero of the novel is, significantly, aman without a name. Leone believed thatRed Harvest had influencedYojimbo: "Kurosawa'sYojimbo was inspired by an American novel of the series-noire so I was really taking the story back home again."[66]
Leone also referenced numerous American Westerns in the film, most notablyShane[67] andMy Darling Clementine, both of which differ fromYojimbo.
In 2014, the film wasdigitally restored byCineteca di Bologna and Unidis Jolly Film for its Blu-ray debut and 50th anniversary. Frame-by-frame digital restoration byPrasad Corporation removed dirt, tears, scratches and other defects.[68][69] 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.
^The character, notably publicized as "theMan with No Name", is listed in the credits as "Joe" and is so called, in multiple instances, by the character Piripero; nevertheless, that may not be his real name.
^Mininni, Francesco."Intervista: Sergio Leone".Cinema Del Silenzio (in Italian).Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved7 January 2014.
^Galbraith IV, Stuart (2001).The Emperor and the Wolf. New York: Faber and Faber. Archived fromthe original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved29 February 2008.
^Fridlund, Bert (2005). "Classical American Western and Spaghetti Western: A Comparison of Shane and A Fistful of Dollars".2003 Film & History CD-ROM Annual. Cleveland: Film & History.
Munn, Michael (1992).Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books.ISBN0-86051-790-X.
Frayling, Christopher (2006).Spaghetti westerns : cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone (Revised paperback ed.). London: I. B. Tauris & Co.ISBN978-1845112073.
