Considered an early landmark and one of the best movies in the spaghetti Western genre, Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964) came as Clint Eastwood’s breakthrough film, and it never gets old.
Eastwood’s character in the story is nameless, though his friend in town calls him Joe; to the rest including the viewer, he is The Stranger in the town. With his background not known, The Stranger is a tough loner who risks his life to make some money by pitting two powerful families in the town against each other. But when he releases the beautiful Marisol (Marianne Koch) from the captivity of the Ramón Rojo (Gian Maria Volontè), he has to face the deadly Rojo brothers and their men in the open for keeping his life, and his money.
A Fistful of Dollars has the essential ingredients that came to define Leone’s trademark filmmaking style: the mysterious protagonist in the town, a violent gang, some reckless to outright bloody scenes of killings (inclusive of those in shootouts), and the hero’s background score. Eastwood’s appearance in the movie has made a cultish fandom for his poncho, cigar, and a .45 revolver. He gets few lines to say but his silence conveys what the audience needs to hear in the moment.
Despite Eastwood’s dominance in the movie, the production stands on the strength of a great cast, particularly the Rojo brothers who make the perfect bad guys in a Leone western. Gian Maria Volontè as Ramón personifies the merciless spaghetti Western villain. The humor in the jokes among the Rojo brothers and in The Stranger’s lines is raw, matching the tone of the men’s skin and manners.
A Fistful of Dollars is more of a character movie with the plot following whatever suits the actions of the lead characters. For Clint Eastwood fans, this is the movie to watch before anything else, even Dirty Harry. Interestingly, the Italian audience got to see it way earlier than Americans as the movie didn’t see its American release until 1967. But nearly six decades later, it remains fascinating as was back then.
