By the early 1960's, the American Western film genre had pretty much run it's course. Italian director Sergio Leone, a fan of the genre, still saw tons of potential in marketing Westerns to European audiences though. He devised to come up with a Western in his own style, a grittier panorama more focused on realism and atmosphere. With a limited budget and minimal salary to offer, Leone's top picks (Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, James Coburn) all turned down the role... but Clint Eastwood, a TV actor in the Rawhide series, was more than happy to accept. The resulting film, A Fistful of Dollars (1964), was shot in Spain but made to resemble the American West. It became the first "Spaghetti Western" and the first in Leone's "The Man with No Name" series. With the addition of a great musical score by Ennio Morricone, Leone invented a whole new genre of film making. One with it's own technical and visual characteristics that have now become Iconic.
An unnamed man (Clint Eastwood), quiet but skilled with a gun, rides into a Western town...
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| A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood |
He makes it clear from the start that he won't be pushed around...
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| A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood |
The town is divided between two warring factions: The Baxters and the Rojos...
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| A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood |
The man with no name intelligently concocts a plan to play one side against the other, all the while collecting wages for himself from both sides for his services...
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| A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood |
This scheme is not without it's difficulties...
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| A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood |
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| A Fistful of Dollars. 1964: Clint Eastwood |
