A Fistful of Dollars

Name: A Fistful of Dollars
Genre: Western
Released: January 18, 1967
Duration: 99 min
Rating: 65
Cast: Antonio Prieto, Clint Eastwood, Daniel Martin, Gian Maria Volonté, José Calvo

1967

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 101 Ratings

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8.1	User Score Universal acclaim based on 101 Ratings

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A Fistful Of Dollars

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Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: January 18, 1967 | R

Starring: Antonio Prieto, Clint Eastwood, Daniel Martin, Gian Maria Volonté, José Calvo, Joseph Egger, Margarita Lozano, Marianne Koch, Sieghardt Rupp, Wolfgang Lukschy

Summary: A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.

Director: Sergio Leone

Genre(s): Western

Rating: R

Runtime: 99 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Empire Staff (Not Credited)

Leone makes the borders of the frame feel limitless, his camera moves striking out unpredictably as if he could barely tame his vision. Ennio Moriconne’s indelible score added a wild swagger to this oddball tale of a lone guman conniving plan to set two gangs of killers against one another. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

This is a hard-hitting item, ably directed, splendidly lensed, neatly acted, which has all the ingredients wanted by action fans and then some.

Time Out London Geoff Andrew

Based on Kurosawa's Yojimbo, it sets a fashion in surly, laconic, supercool heroes with Eastwood's amoral gunslinger, who plays off two gangs against one another in a deadly feud. Read full review

Sam Adams

The visual scheme of Leone’s movie leaves no doubt as to his familiarity with Kurosawa’s movie. Plopping Eastwood’s roving gunman down in the middle of a dusty street with opposing gangs lodged at either end, Fistful replicates Yojimbo’s visual plan to an almost distracting extent. The bigger problem with Fistful is that Leone is still attempting to work with a conventional plot, which never plays to his strengths. Read full review

Bosley Crowther

Clearly, the magnet of this picture, which has been a phenomenal success in Italy and other parts of Europe, is this cool-cat bandit who is played by Clint Eastwood, an American cowboy actor who used to do the role of rowdy in the Rawhide series on TV. Wearing a Mexican poncho, gnawing a stub of cheroot and peering intently from under a slouch hat pulled low over his eyes, he is simply another fabrication of a personality, half cowboy and half gangster, going through the ritualistic postures and exercises of each. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The plot is simple and the Italian performances verge on the operatic, but Leone revitalizes the Western through a unique and complex visual style. The film is full of brilliant spatial relationships (extreme close-ups in the foreground, with detailed compositions visible in the background) combined with Ennio Morricone's vastly creative musical score full of grunts, wails, groans, and bizarre-sounding instruments. Aural and visual elements together give a wholly original perspective on the West and its myths. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Actor Eastwood, the sometime star of television's Rawhide, is certainly not paid by the word. In Fistful he hardly talks at all. Doesn't shave, either. Just drawls orders. Sometimes the bad guys drawl back. Just as tersely. Trouble is, after they stop talking, their lips keep moving. That's because the picture is dubbed. Like the villains, it was shot in Spain. Pity it wasn't buried there. Read full review

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User Reviews

MoviezNP

Apr 12, 2019

Some films are not the greatest films in the genre. They are the f**king trendsetters. This movie is one of them. And, there's much more to it other than being a trendsetter. .
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Good : Holy s**t, am I supposed to say something good about this film? There are no words to describe theSome films are not the greatest films in the genre. They are the f**king trendsetters. This movie is one of them. And, there's much more to it other than being a trendsetter. .
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Good : Holy s**t, am I supposed to say something good about this film? There are no words to describe the greatness of a film that started it all. Let's speak in retrospect. Before this movie, the word "Spaghetti Western" wasn't even around. This movie gave us the word, and made it popular. There have been really great Westerns before this, and many cheesy and nosy ones. The greats are always the greats, but it took a lot of risk and did many things in contrast to the nosy and cheesy ones. It had a protagonist, who was characterized as someone similar to the bad guys. Obviously, he did things only against bad guys, but that's the only part of his characterization that separated him from them. Also, he was shown to be a mysterious, and somewhat vulnerable, person in contrast to the messiahs of typical American Westerns. Plus, it had some suspenseful and believable violence for delivering the usual "triumph of good over evil" in the end. And most importantly, all of these worked in this movie. It isn't an awkward Italian styled Western, it is very much relatable to the great older Westerns. Yet, it easily shines out as a uniquely distinct film. It popularized an entire subgenre of films, which is a very difficult task to do. Other than that, the movie made Clint Eastwood a star. Everyone is familiar with his level of stardom. He is arguably the biggest star of American film industry. It was all because of this movie. And Clint went on to make many great films, including Westerns, himself. This would've never been possible if he wasn't a star, which was due to this movie. It gave us a perfect combo of Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone, which would improve over time. Speaking of the story, you can say that it's a typical story. But the beauty is in the way it was told - with suspense, music and violence. Eastwood's character feels like the same character that we see in the next two films of this trilogy. That gives a feel of continuity among these films, even though a very less of it is to be expected. He f**ks up bad guys, but never would he put his hands on the innocents. There are quite a few moments which prove that he is compassionate and clever. That is what has been shown in the other two films. .
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Mixed : Reconsidering it on the present day, there have been many improvements over this. It's certainly not better than The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I am a huge fan of Sergio Leone. I love his way of visual storytelling. He excelled in this aspect in his latter films. So, it feels a little weak compared to other of his films. It feels experimental in a few parts, as if Leone was trying to figure out what to do. .
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Conclusion : A must watch for Western fans! It may not be as great as other iconic Westerns, but in retrospect, it's one of the greatest films ever made. Eastwood is a badass and full of testosterone. The "three coffins ready" scene is, in my opinion, the best "testosterone scene" he has ever been in. .
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Rating. .
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Score : absolute 10/10
Grade : golden A+… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

geewah

Jun 19, 2021

A timeless classic.
A ground breaking movie full of swagger that builds what is relative simple story to a brilliant and climactic end.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

hardcorekidd

Sep 18, 2018

The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood) enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers (Antonio Prieto, Benny Reeves, Sieghardt Rupp) and sheriff John Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy). When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intendedThe Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood) enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers (Antonio Prieto, Benny Reeves, Sieghardt Rupp) and sheriff John Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy). When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit. With Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo as his template, Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars helped define a new era for the Western and usher in its most iconic star, Clint Eastwood. I'll give A Fistful of Dollars an A. (9.6/10)… Expand

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CoreGamer1408

May 29, 2023

Considering Yojimbo is possibly my fave movie of all time. Well how did this spiritual adaptation work out? Enough beats were changed from the original. So this version, became very much it's own thing thankfully.

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Came

Jun 29, 2019

A good western with an interesting story on how a man uses to rival families to gain money for himself. It has things that you would love from a western film like shootouts and bandits for example. This is by the way considered as one of the best western films.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

glomman

Dec 5, 2020

The movie itself is very formulaic, with a stoic hero, whose wits seemingly always outpace his opponents. His motives are noble, albeit also very driven by money, he needs no further backstory. The effects are primitive, with bullets that don't penetrate and blood that looks like cranberryThe movie itself is very formulaic, with a stoic hero, whose wits seemingly always outpace his opponents. His motives are noble, albeit also very driven by money, he needs no further backstory. The effects are primitive, with bullets that don't penetrate and blood that looks like cranberry juice, yet I still absolutely love this movie, and there are two things which make me think that way. First and foremost, the music by Ennio Morricone. Without it, the movie would be incredibly bland and him and Sergio Leone, the director, make a perfect team. Second, Clint Eastwood in his prime is always absolutely cool to watch.
This should be watched by everyone who wants to see a classic "Italo-Western".… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

amheretojudge

Jun 27, 2018

more than a handful..

Fistful Of Dollars The camera work is not only supported but celebrated with an amazing cinematography as it does usually on such western feature. As much as simple the plot goes, the weaving of the whole structure goes dull in its first act, as it grows obvious. Itmore than a handful..

Fistful Of Dollars

The camera work is not only supported but celebrated with an amazing cinematography as it does usually on such western feature. As much as simple the plot goes, the weaving of the whole structure goes dull in its first act, as it grows obvious. It is rich on technical aspects like sound effects, background score and editing. Sergio Leone is no short on execution and has probably improved on his skills as it keeps the audience engaged and doesn't unnecessarily chews off the character's perspective. Clint Eastwood holds on to its role and delivers the expectations and doesn't require any support at all. There are few action packed sequences and whistle-blowing dialogues that can only come out of a fanboy's perspective and this is the key that makes the feature stand alone in its franchise. The choreography too has improved a lot and so has the meddling of the emotions among the characters that is done well within shorter runtime of almost 100 minutes that helps factor in on its favor. Firstful Of Dollars is more than a handful and even though its reach for something more colossal that its potential fails in here, it still grasps a whole lot of popcorn fun in here.… Expand

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