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IMDbPro

A Fistful of Dollars

Original title: Per un pugno di dollari
  • 19641964
  • RR
  • 1h 39m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
215K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,069
666
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Watch ’A Fistful of Dollars’
Play trailer1:41
2 Videos
99+ Photos
  • Action
  • Drama
  • Western
A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
215K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,069
666
  • Director
    • Sergio Leone
  • Writers
    • Adriano Bolzoni(story)
    • Mark Lowell(dialogue)
    • Víctor Andrés Catena(story)
  • Stars
    • Clint Eastwood
    • Gian Maria Volontè(Italian, English version)
    • Marianne Koch
Top credits
  • Director
    • Sergio Leone
  • Writers
    • Adriano Bolzoni(story)
    • Mark Lowell(dialogue)
    • Víctor Andrés Catena(story)
  • Stars
    • Clint Eastwood
    • Gian Maria Volontè(Italian, English version)
    • Marianne Koch
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 344User reviews
    • 127Critic reviews
    • 65Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 4 nominations

    Videos2

    A Fistful of Dollars
    Trailer 1:41
    A Fistful of Dollars
    "The Mandalorian" Takes Star Wars to Wild West of Space
    Clip 4:02
    "The Mandalorian" Takes Star Wars to Wild West of Space

    Photos207

    Clint Eastwood and José Calvo in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Gian Maria Volontè and Sieghardt Rupp in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Marianne Koch in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Nino del Arco, Marianne Koch, and Daniel Martín in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood and José Calvo in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood and José Calvo in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood and Antonio Molino Rojo in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
    Clint Eastwood and Marianne Koch in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Clint Eastwood
    Clint Eastwood
    • Joe
    Gian Maria Volontè
    Gian Maria Volontè
    • Ramón Rojo
    • (Italian, English version)
    • (as John Wells, Johnny Wels)
    Marianne Koch
    Marianne Koch
    • Marisol
    Wolfgang Lukschy
    Wolfgang Lukschy
    • John Baxter
    • (as W. Lukschy)
    Sieghardt Rupp
    Sieghardt Rupp
    • Esteban Rojo
    • (as S. Rupp)
    Joseph Egger
    • Piripero
    • (as Joe Edger)
    Antonio Prieto
    Antonio Prieto
    • Don Benito Rojo…
    José Calvo
    • Silvanito
    • (as Jose Calvo)
    Margarita Lozano
    Margarita Lozano
    • Consuelo Baxter
    • (as Margherita Lozano)
    Daniel Martín
    Daniel Martín
    • Julián
    • (as Daniel Martin)
    Benito Stefanelli
    Benito Stefanelli
    • Rubio
    • (as Benny Reeves)
    Mario Brega
    Mario Brega
    • Chico
    • (as Richard Stuyvesant)
    Bruno Carotenuto
    • Antonio Baxter
    • (as Carol Brown)
    Aldo Sambrell
    Aldo Sambrell
    • Rojo gang member
    • (as Aldo Sambreli)
    Raf Baldassarre
    Raf Baldassarre
    • Juan De Dios
    • (uncredited)
    Luis Barboo
    Luis Barboo
    • Baxter Gunman 2
    • (uncredited)
    Frank Braña
    Frank Braña
    • Baxter Gang Member
    • (uncredited)
    José Canalejas
    José Canalejas
    • Rojo Gang Member
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Sergio Leone
    • Writers
      • Adriano Bolzoni(story)
      • Mark Lowell(dialogue)
      • Víctor Andrés Catena(story) (screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Clint Eastwood's trademark squint was caused by the combination of the sun and high-wattage arc lamps on the set.
    • Goofs
      When the Rojo gang ambush the Mexican army unit the gun Ramon uses to kill all the troops is a Mitrailleuse volley gun. Each barrel had to be laboriously loaded by hand before all barrels were fired together in a single volley. However, the film shows the volley gun being used as a form of machine gun. The only machine gun around at the time was the hand-cranked Gatling gun which the soundtrack also seems to depict.

      A volley gun could fire each round individually using a hand crank. However, Ramon clearly has both hands on the (incorrect) twin grips at all times.
    • Quotes

      [Having said "get three coffins ready" earlier]

      Joe: My mistake. Four coffins...

    • Alternate versions
      The original British theatrical release had about 4 minutes cut by the BBFC. Many closeup shots of bloodied faces and bodies (including the body of Chico) were removed, as well as a shot of Ramon dripping blood from his mouth. The main cuts, however, were to the beating up of Eastwood, which lost a hand stomping scene, and extensive cuts to the assault on the Baxters' house which was cut to shorten the overall sequence by removing all shots of men on fire, and the shooting of Consuela Baxter. (The cut version removes the shot of her falling backwards.) The 1999 MGM video and DVD releases are fully uncut and the same as the USA DVD release.
    • Connections
      Edited into Propaganda (2012)
    • Soundtracks
      Sweet Betsy from Pike
      (uncredited)

      Written by John A. Stone

      Performed by Clint Eastwood

    User reviews344

    Review
    Top review
    The Star Wars of westerns...
    When Per un pungo di dollari, or A Fistful Of Dollars, was released in the mid-1960s, the term "Spaghetti Western" was coined as a putdown to these brazen new films that dared to recreate the Wild West in a place as far away as Italy. However, the last laugh was shared by the Italian directors, whose new style of portraying Colonial America in a realistic style rather than the romanticised way that was characteristic of John Wayne and his contemporaries will be remembered long after the films of the romanticised style are no more.

    The plot is indescribably simple, as Clint Eastwood simply wanders into a town where gang warfare has stripped the economy to the point where only the local undertaker makes a profit and turns the two warring families against one another. Sergio Leone's best-known trademark, his dynamic use of widescreen ratios, comes to the fore here as Clint shares a film frame with no less than four of his enemies, all of whom have plenty to say to him and vice versa. This is one film where a pan and scan transfer is purely and simply vandalism. Some of the dialogue that is included here absolutely takes the cake for cleverness and wit, too. Asking four gunslingers to apologise to a horse, well, if it wasn't a man as famous for playing a gunslinger as Clint Eastwood, it'd be ridiculous.

    Transplanting old Samurai legends into the Wild West works well, as you can see here. Simply having an old mercenary who travels the land in search of wrongs to right and battles to be fought makes the story a lot more compelling than the Westerns where we are told every iota of the characters' motivations in the hope that it will give them some depth. The element of the main hero not getting involved in every scuffle that the bad guys cause, our semi-nameless hero's ignoring a drunken thug shooting at a little boy being the most obvious example, was another master stroke, one that got Eastwood involved in doing the film to begin with. The confrontation at the end of the film works well, too, with pyrotechnics exploding all over the picture in a bright display that keeps the film powerful and yet focused at the same time.

    All in all, Per un pungo di dollari gets nine out of ten from me. The lack of any interesting support characters does dull the story a little, but this mistake was quickly rectified in the two sequels. The addition of Lee Van Cleef also worked well, but in this effort, it's all Clint Eastwood, and while the rest of the cast are nowhere near as interesting, it's all a better watch than anything the Americans were lumping out at the time.
    helpful•120
    49
    • mentalcritic
    • Sep 22, 2001

    FAQ7

    • Is this movie based on a book?
    • What is a "spaghetti western"?
    • Must I watch the Dollars trilogy in order?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 18, 1967 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • West Germany
    • Languages
      • Italian
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • For a Fistful of Dollars
    • Filming locations
      • Cabo de Gata, Almería, Andalucía, Spain
    • Production companies
      • Jolly Film
      • Constantin Film
      • Ocean Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $200,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $14,500,000
    • Gross worldwide
      • $14,516,248
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 39 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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