Cinema
A Fistful of Dollars
Per un pugno di dollari
Sergio Leone · 1964
Synopsis
San Miguel, a dusty town near the Mexican border. Two families of smugglers, the Rojos and the Baxters, are fighting over control of the town. A nameless stranger arrives on horseback, watches, then offers his services to one of the clans, before selling himself to the other as well. Each believes it is employing him against its rival, and the man fully intends to profit from their hatred.
Context
The film takes up, without having acquired the rights, the plot of “Yojimbo”, by Akira Kurosawa (1961); the settlement that followed gave Kurosawa and Toho fifteen per cent of worldwide receipts. Several members of the crew took American-sounding pseudonyms, among them Ennio Morricone, credited as Dan Savio. The lead role was turned down by several stars before falling to Clint Eastwood, then known for a television series. Shot in Spain, at Almería, on a budget of about 200,000 dollars, it earned nearly twenty million.
Who it is for
A film of about an hour and a half, shot in Spain with an international crew and carried by Ennio Morricone's music.
Prizes and reception
It launched the vogue for the Italian western and opened the Dollars trilogy, continued by its director in 1965 and 1966.