A Fistful of Dollars
National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. 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.
What critics thought
A Fistful of Dollars is a film whose reputation has been almost entirely rebuilt by history: on release, Italian critics dismissed it and prominent American reviewers actively attacked it, yet retrospective opinion now treats it as a landmark that rewired the Western genre. The gap between its original hostile reception and its current near-universal admiration is as much a part of the film's story as Leone's direction or Eastwood's performance.
“a James Bondian vigor and tongue-in-cheek approach that was sure to capture both sophisticates and average cinema patrons”
Variety
“A Fistful of Dollars looks awful, has a flat dead soundtrack, and is totally devoid of human feeling.”
Philip French·The Observer
“egregiously synthetic but engrossingly morbid, violent film”
Bosley Crowther·The New York Times
Genres
Drama, Western
Cast & Crew
DirectorSergio Leone
StarringClint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, Gian Maria Volonté, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp
ComposerEnnio Morricone
A Fistful of Dollars
National Film Registry
The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. 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.
What critics thought
A Fistful of Dollars is a film whose reputation has been almost entirely rebuilt by history: on release, Italian critics dismissed it and prominent American reviewers actively attacked it, yet retrospective opinion now treats it as a landmark that rewired the Western genre. The gap between its original hostile reception and its current near-universal admiration is as much a part of the film's story as Leone's direction or Eastwood's performance.
“a James Bondian vigor and tongue-in-cheek approach that was sure to capture both sophisticates and average cinema patrons”
Variety
“A Fistful of Dollars looks awful, has a flat dead soundtrack, and is totally devoid of human feeling.”
Philip French·The Observer
“egregiously synthetic but engrossingly morbid, violent film”
Bosley Crowther·The New York Times
Genres
Drama, Western
Cast & Crew
DirectorSergio Leone
StarringClint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, Gian Maria Volonté, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp
ComposerEnnio Morricone
Rent/Purchase