A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
Cast and Information
Directed By: Sergio Leone
Written By: Adriano Bolzoni, Sergio Leone, Jaime Comas Gil, Víctor Andrés Catena
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volontè, Aldo Sambrell, Mario Brega, Marianne Koch, José Calvo, Margarita Lozano, Benito Stefanelli, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, Joseph Egger, Antonio Prieto
Genre: Western
Franchise: Man with No Name Trilogy
AKAs: A Fist Full of Dollars (Show all 3)
- For a Fistful of Dollars
- Per un pugno di dollari
Country: Italy, Spain, West Germany
Where to Stream
Loading...


A Fistful of Dollars belongs to 68 collections
1. IMDB Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 122 stars)
2. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
3. AAA: Empire's five star movies (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 24 stars)
4. IMDb Top 250 Complete (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 23 stars)
5. The Story of Film: An Odyssey (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 20 stars)
6. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
7. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)
8. Spaghetti Western (collaborative - 14 stars)
9. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
10. TimeOut's 1000 films to change your life (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 11 stars)
11. Cinema Discusso Yearly Consensus (2008) (public: PeaceAnarchy - 10 stars)
12. Remake (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 9 stars)
13. The Gentlemen's Guide To Midnight Cinema Podcast (collaborative: moderated by Coheed - 9 stars)
14. Ennio Morricone (composer) (collaborative: moderated by djross - 8 stars)
15. Great Fights (collaborative: moderated by doctor7 - 6 stars)
16. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)
17. Ekşi Sinema "Alternatif" Top 250 (collaborative - 6 stars)
18. Cinemacom's 500 Best Westerns (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 5 stars)
19. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)
20. 19th century period film (collaborative: moderated by djross - 4 stars)
21. Best of criticker: Western (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 4 stars)
22. cultfilms (public: medium123 - 4 stars)
23. Trilogy (collaborative: moderated by frederic_g54 - 3 stars)
24. Best of criticker: Action (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 3 stars)
25. Moribunny's favorite westerns (public: Moribunny - 3 stars)
26. Coheed's Films I Need To See Or Try To Track Down (public: Coheed - 3 stars)
27. Top 1000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 3 stars)
28. Decent Remakes (collaborative: moderated by DavidB - 2 stars)
29. Better Remakes (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 2 stars)
30. Top 2000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 2 stars)
31. Doubling the Canon (2012 update) (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 1 star)
32. 4k Ultra HD discs owned (collaborative: moderated by dumbjaw - 1 star)
33. Reza Archive (public: reza899 - 1 star)
34. Original movies that were remade (only movies with original screenplay) (public: EbelC - 1 star)
35. Movies to See: Western (public: Lord Moe - 1 star)
36. IMDb Top 250 (2 years) (public: sianaa - 1 star)
37. Western Harikaları (public: Ozancan - 1 star)
38. Remake Of Asian Film (collaborative: moderated by whatismyname)
39. Walk thing (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer)
40. Ratings (collaborative: moderated by cheapthrills)
41. non-American Westerns (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
42. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
43. My DVDs/Blu-rays, for better or worse (public: Actionberg)
44. prowler's DVDs (public: prowler)
45. My DVDs (public: Kavu)
46. Moribunny's favorite Italian movies (public: Moribunny)
47. My Blu-rays (public: Kavu)
48. zae's DVDs & Blurays (public: zae)
49. 1964: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
50. My DVD Collection (public: balseiros)
51. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 5 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
52. Owned Films (public: TheSaberfool)
53. Peliculas que tengo (public: escarta)
54. Pure remakes (not re-adaptation, ever) (public: EbelC)
55. My Home Video Library (public: joseywales)
56. Movies I Own (public: Farzan)
57. Films I watched in 2012 (public: jal90)
58. P. Watched List (public: nnraiden)
59. Tom's Movies (public: tomwalsh)
60. 5x10 Project 3 (public: kendell)
61. My Movie Collection (public: elhenzo)
62. Films Dunstan Owns (public: Dunstan-xxx)
63. Kaan's Spagetti Western DB (public: Kaan Kavusan)
64. 2019 (public: cash)
65. Western watchlist (public: AFlickering)
66. Movies I Have That I Haven't Watched Yet (public: TraverseTown)
67. 1960s Mile High Club (public: Dunstan-xxx)
68. DoObejrzenia (public: peeroog)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
7 | ![]() |
Grit | 91 97th |
A Fistful of Dollars goes down as the fantastic start to the best series of westerns ever made. When Sergio Leone's excellent direction is coupled with the pure attitude of the appropiately named Wild West and the rugged and insanely cool Eastwood it's automatically the underpinnings of a winning formula. A Fistful of Dollars revitalised the seemingly ailing genre and couples some wonderful scenes with evidence of the style of filmmaking Sergio Leone was soon to become renown for. True classic.
|
|||
7 | ![]() |
BillyShears | 85 86th |
One of my favourite remakes of Yojimbo. It's fun to see Leone slowly laying out the groundwork of his style. If this was made later during the decade that taut just over 90 minute run time would be tripled, everyone would have their own lengthy disgusting sweaty closeup to beautiful music. No one makes lips grosser than Italian westerns.
|
|||
5 | ![]() |
MartinTeller | 89 92nd |
It's rare that a remake can stand side-by-side with the original. But Yojimbo and Fistful are practically equals, at least neither one is a substitute for the other. Leone takes the material and makes it his own, while still maintaining the framework of Kurosawa's film. Comparing the two isn't a game of determining which is superior, but rather "isn't it awesome that we have both?". Yes, yes it is. Terrific filmmaking by Leone, star-making role for Eastwood, and another superb Morricone score.
|
|||
4 | ![]() |
doctor7 | 85 83rd |
Quite good with some great shots. Clint Eastwood is fantastic. Quite obviously a remake of Yojimbo, even in it's cinematography, but it's setting is different enough to make it worthwhile. Really it all depends on if Eastwood could rival Mifune's performance and, quite frankly, even if you don't think he does he comes damn, damn close.
|
|||
4 | ![]() |
Pickpocket | 8 82nd |
How come none of those horses died in that shootout?
|
|||
4 | ![]() |
overrated | 80 89th |
You know, and I know, that there should have been a crossover sequel where Mifune and Eastwood have a staring contest until one of them explodes.
|
|||
4 | ![]() |
glumpy_99 | 95 90th |
Leone's first bona fide masterpiece is a simple retelling of YOJIMBO but embellished by a style that would become instantly iconic; warped perspective to make Eastwood look like a giant at times, casual brutality sweetened by understated gallows humour (DIRTY HARRY's origins can be found here), and use of newcomer Eastwood himself, who turns in a wonderfully restrained and subtle performance amid the cackling jackals of his supporting cast. All this, and bloody entertaining to boot!
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
Ronin167 | 85 89th |
You can see the beginnings of the wonderful style Leone would go on to use in his other films, but it's just not as developed here. That being said, this is still a wonderful film.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
Mentaculus | 90 89th |
A friend of mine in music once told me, “Never cover a song unless you think you can do just a little bit better somewhere,” and I think Leone knew he was doing something just a little bit different, in his own voice, and his own way. Clearly, Leone comes into his own with this Man Who Needs No Explanation. The joy in these films is seeing a Dude playing chess against a bunch of dudes playing Fruit Ninja - it’s a formula as old as time and just as satisfying no matter how many times you rewatch.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
Luna6ix | 89 96th |
Not quite as good as the final movie in the trilogy, but utterly fantastic, I mean really, really good. And the whole armor plate thing has become a sort of icon, and deservedly, because the finale in this movie is completely amazing.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
ewp805 | 90 94th |
A Fistful of Dollars is the beginning of one of the most iconic trilogies ever and the beginning of the young Eastwood's scruffy badass with no name. Leone's directing is superb and we can see his signature style developing as he crafts one of the most defining films of the entire Western genre. Truly a wonderful retelling of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, with Clint's performance matching Mifune's stride-for-stride.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
arkadia | 81 69th |
Excellent indicator of great things to come.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
burakc | 60 27th |
i gave yojimbo 90 when i watched. But after watched this, i decided to give yojimbo 100
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
thehynes | 70 88th |
Ramón, for crying out loud, SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD!
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
Jimmy Suede | 78 68th |
So fun to see this in the theater. Very cool and stylish, and Clint of course is awesome, but the film's a little too cheesy to be great. It's easy to manipulate two sides against each other when they're all pea-brains.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
Ytadel | 7 83rd |
An entertaining western with a predictably badass Clint Eastwood and plenty of cool shootouts, although some of the dubbing is distractingly horrible. All in all I admire it but strongly prefer the original Yojimbo.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
brandt64 | 75 55th |
Rather underwhelming when compared to Yojimbo as well as Leone's future films, but solid entertainment nevertheless and a building block in the spaghetti western genre.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
Paxton | 90 97th |
I don't think that's nice, you laughing. See my mule don't like people laughin. It gets the crazy idea you're laughin at him. Now if you apologize like I know you're going to, I might convince him you really didn't mean it.
|
|||
2 | YoSaff | 70 11th |
|
Can't help finding it overrated, the story is overly complicated and it just seems to lack a good deal of the magic that comes later with Few Dollars More and TGTBATU. Worth watching as a matter of interest but not on its own merits, it hasn't aged well.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Magb | 80 61st |
The small budget shows and it's not as good as Yojimbo, but the entertainment value and Clint more than redeem it.
|
|||
1 | whomperize | 81 82nd |
|
This is a beautiful movie. I love the ending sequence. Truly part of the best American Westerns ever made.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Moribunny | 85 95th |
A bare-bones plot ripped off from Kurosawa, sparse dialogue... but Leone, Eastwood and Morricone all do such astounding jobs that this western is just infinitely lovable.
|
|||
1 | Loki | 70 52nd |
|
Fun little western with great style.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
TheDenizen | 80 84th |
Leone's remake of Yojimbo and the film that made Eastwood a star.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Alex Watkins | 4 70th |
Humble beginnings for a legendary director. While it's self-evident how rapidly Leone's abilities progressed, so that even For a Few Dollars More seems like a leap forward, so much of what characterized his signature style was already in play here.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Nathan S | 4 74th |
Despite being somewhat underdeveloped compared to his later westerns, this is still a punch in the gut from Leone. It's not a surprise, considering it's a shot-for-shot remake of what might be Kurosawa's most entertaining film, but the western setting adds a different flavor of badassery to the formula.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
evrana | 83 81st |
The crown jewel of plagiarism. Having watched Yojimbo just a week ago, every single "borrowed" detail was too apparent. That said, it would be a great idea to shoot the same film in different periods and different locations. The soundtrack is unreal, Morricone is a genius really. The movie stutters in some action scenes and is not as chiseled as The good, the bad and the ugly; but it is highly enjoyable. Eastwood came to this world to act in these movies I think.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
vesupria | 6 61st |
All said, this is a fairly high standard Western. It's entertaining, but after watching Yojimbo recently enough (which it's basically a remake of, albeit in Western style not Samurai) I cannot say that it stands up. Eastwood is good, and there's some really classic lines here. But the quality is fairly patchy and the mood doesnt always make an impact. The intensity seems to drop off at times. It really makes you appreciate the brilliance of Kurosawa and the depth of his directing if nothing else
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
prowler | 77 78th |
could be 100 minutes of clint squinting and i'd still be jizzing over this movie. add leone and morricone and you've got a winning formula
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
westknife | 85 78th |
"My mistake... four coffins."
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Freder | 50 36th |
Nowhere near as good as Yojimbo and not even close. Leone knows how to frame a shot and create iconic images, but he can't tell a story to save his soul! Despite my familiarity with the plot, this was at times impossible to follow. And there's a sick element here, too: YOJIMBO took a clinical and detached approach to its very necessary violence, whereas Leone crosses the line into a kind of prurient sadism that the audience is meant to enjoy. Give me Hawks, Wyler and John Wayne any day.
|
|||
1 | Matthias99 | 90 66th |
|
Spaghetti Western at its best.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Icarus | 70 41st |
Enjoyed the montage-affected style, the wry comedy, and the fantastic music. Eastwood was great and I appreciated the way the film did more showing than telling. I could have done without the two massacres, this film being an early example that uses the maniacal killing of many helpless people to engender either sympathy or hatred for particular characters.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
andayb | 65 68th |
the plot is a little bit too simple, the side characters are a bit too flat, and "the bad" are too comically evil in this movie. Certainly not par with "good, bad, ugly", but Eastwood's impeccable charisma makes the movie into a classic.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
purgatos | 86 84th |
It's not quite as good as Yojimbo, but Eastwood is fantastic in the role and it's still very well executed.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Vandelay1 | 84 94th |
Nice Movie
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
muzak66 | 95 96th |
The man with no name easily one of the greats of all-time.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
UniqueName | 80 62nd |
If I'm not mistaken this is quite similar to Yojimbo, the villain in this film is a little obnoxious, and the dialogs were not quite as good as TGTBTU, but still one of the best Westerns out there.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
janus | 60 31st |
Leone manages a few great moments with the help of spot-on production design, Morricone's legendary music, and Eastwood's swagger. However, the story is very confusing. I had to check a Wikipedia summary of the plot more than once; important lines get lost in heavy accents and/or iffy audio, and a number of the assumptions one has to make to follow the story are a hell of a stretch, at least to me.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Bmunise | 94 68th |
It may have a low budget, it may have had less character development than its patron film, it may be a scene-for-scene adaptation of Yojimbo, but that doesn't make this any less of a huge game-changer in Westerns.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
QVT | 80 84th |
The best of the trilogy. All about Eastwood.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
stanthecaddy | 97 98th |
An amazing flick. I'm not so interested in the comparisons to Yojimbo- good a flick as that is- because the atmosphere, the music, and Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" are arguably as important to this movie as the story is. Leone creates a template for a West more lawless and chaotic than any that I had seen before, and you truly get the sense that these characters live in a world without any lawful or moral boundaries. The amazing score of Ennio Morricone brings it all together.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Melvin Smif | 75 84th |
A re-telling of Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" that loses nothing.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
walkearth | 75 89th |
Leone's camera creates the feeling we are watching an opera, rather than a film. Through the iconic close ups and by leaving the scenes run longer so the atmospheric music score plays its run-time, the viewer gets the feeling they are observing a timeless tale, a romanticised and mythological story. Eastwood's contained anger and resentment, his self-control and powerful screen presence are an unmatched treat. Then again one can't expect anything less - he's the quintessential man after all.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
SirStuckey | 80 78th |
A highly entertaining retelling of Yojimbo done the in the only other way it could work, as a Western. Eastwood plays the gun slinging tough but good guy without a name to perfection. The soundtrack fit great (as is the usual with the trilogy) and the setting is desolate and beautiful. Definitely worth a watch.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Bown | 73 31st |
A lot of fun. My first glimpse of Eastwood as this type of character (rather than the more "grizzled veteran" type he plays in Unforgiven), and it was awesome.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
wetwillies | 70 19th |
So hard to watch with that dubbing, but the action's great and so is Clint.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
mwgerb | 70 86th |
It is weaker than the two sequels in terms of characters, plot, and Morricone's score. However, Eastwood provides the charisma that would form the core of the series, and the film still manages to deliver great direction, a great story, and a great climactic scene.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
JakeFace | 3 81st |
you will never be as cool as the nameless one. ever
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
billkerwin | 75 27th |
An orgy of posturing machismo.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
rewind | 7 75th |
AFOD is not as good as TGTBTU and FAFDM, but it is a simpler Acronym than both.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
hellboy76 | 95 99th |
The film that made Eastwood a star and one of Leone's greats.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
CMonster | 88 87th |
Maybe its cause my own eyesight is bad, but Leone makes me feel seen with all the close ups of people squinting. I love seeing myself represented by movie characters. Everybody also being sweaty and dirty adds to my personal immersion.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Yiannos | 68 65th |
Overrated film set the stage for Eastwood as a screen icon and Leone as a master stylist, but aside from a few choice moments, it doesn't really live up to its lofty reputation, nor is it as good as Yojimbo.
|
|||
1 | Zipster | 99 96th |
|
This low-budget happy accident managed to be the beginning of a progressively superior and iconic filmography by a master of deep-focus costume grit, and a large part of the groundwork laid for the redefinition of the Western, particularly by its ushering in of the genre's most iconic contemporary star as well as score composer.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
le mami | 50 39th |
For me, far worse than the other parts of the triology. Firstly, second act is unbelievably bad. Moreover, very easy story unites with bad actors and kills your movie-watching pleasure. Even flawless acting by Clint Eastwood can't decrease the damage. Anyway I'll rewatch it.
|
Average Percentile 68.29% from 5556 Ratings | ![]() |