film by Leone [1964]
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
- Internet Archive - Fistful of Dollars
- The New York Times - Screen: 'A Fistful of Dollars' Opens:Western Film Cliches All Used in Movie Cowboy Star From TV Featured as Killer
- The Guardian - A Fistful of Dollars review – punk-rock western as fabulous as ever
- Turner Classic Movies - A Fistful of Dollars (1967)
- Senses of Cinema - A Fistful of Dollars
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- A Fistful of Dollars - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
printPrint
Please select which sections you would like to print:
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
- Internet Archive - Fistful of Dollars
- The New York Times - Screen: 'A Fistful of Dollars' Opens:Western Film Cliches All Used in Movie Cowboy Star From TV Featured as Killer
- The Guardian - A Fistful of Dollars review – punk-rock western as fabulous as ever
- Turner Classic Movies - A Fistful of Dollars (1967)
- Senses of Cinema - A Fistful of Dollars
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- A Fistful of Dollars - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Also known as: “Per un pugno di dollari”
Written by
Lee Pfeiffer
Fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: •Article History
- Italian:
- Per un pugno di dollari
See all related content →
A Fistful of Dollars, Italian western film, released in 1964, that popularized the “spaghetti western” subgenre and was a breakthrough movie for director Sergio Leone and star Clint Eastwood.
A mysterious stranger (played by Eastwood) drifts into a small Mexican town only to find a virtual war taking place between two powerful families: the Baxters and the Rojos. The opportunistic stranger concocts a plan to make money by working as a hired gun for both families. At one point he frees Marisol (Marianne Koch), a local woman who is being held as the unwilling mistress of Ramón Rojo (Gian Maria Volonté), and helps her flee the town with her husband and young son. This enrages Ramón, and the Rojos brutally beat and torture the stranger. However, he manages to escape, and Ramón, believing that the Baxters are protecting him, kills the family. The stranger subsequently returns and fatally shoots Ramón in a tense showdown before vanishing as mysteriously as he arrived.
A Fistful of Dollars was among the first spaghetti westerns to achieve major success. The landmark film, based on Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961), was Leone’s second movie, and it made Eastwood an international star. His role as a ruthless and emotionless antihero was a defining one for the actor, who went on to play similar characters. Crude, underbudgeted, but engrossing, A Fistful of Dollars became a box-office hit when released in the United States in 1967. It spawned two sequels: For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), the latter of which is widely considered the best of the trilogy.
Production notes and credits
Studios: Constantin Film Produktion, Jolly Film, and Ocean Films
Director: Sergio Leone
Producers: Arrigo Colombo and Giorgio Papi
Writers: Victor Andrés Catena, Jamie Comas Gil, and Sergio Leone
Music: Ennio Morricone
Running time: 99 minutes
Cast
Clint Eastwood (Man with No Name)
Marianne Koch (Marisol)
Gian Maria Volonté (Ramón Rojo)
Wolfgang Lukschy (John Baxter)
