What a lovely score by Ennio Morricone

Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood team up for the first time and the partnership quickly bears fruit in this classic, scene-shaping western. While the plot is lifted almost verbatim from Akira Kurosawa's epic Yojimbo, the real devil is in the details as Leone challenges dozens of overplayed western tropes and instantly changes the genre's personality from a preachy, predictable windbag to a dirty, selfish, no-nonsense killer.

Eastwood is outstanding in his first outing as the Man With No Name, (curiously addressed as "Joe" in this chapter) bringing so much depth, certainty and silent substance to the role that it's tough to believe he hadn't been playing it for years. Although it's no comparison to the next two films in the trilogy, which really picks up when Lee Van Cleef enters the fray as Eastwood's dust-cloaked playmate, as warm-ups go it's second to none. At roughly half the length of its siblings, it's also much more digestible and straightforward. Whether that's a positive or a negative is entirely up to the viewer.

Clint Eastwood is great, he does a lot with just his facial expressions. The score is fantastic really sets the mood. I really liked the editing and all the close ups.

I was born a century late

This is not 'Once Upon a Time in the West' or even 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' but we have the same atmosphere, the same kind of score by Ennio Morricone and a Clint Eastwood at the beginning of a great career.

Here it is, the start of Clint Eastwood's ongoing career. He's just got it all in every scene. No matter what is going on, The Man with No Name is owning it all. Especially those smokes. Damn he smokes a lot in this movie. Of course, this soundtrack is wonderful. Ennio Morricone always knocks it out of the park with his music. Especially in the climax. The music just makes it sooooo much more tense.

Not to say that the climax, or any of it, would have been flat otherwise. The cinematography is wonderful throughout. Sergio is a great director, and this is a nice start to what would escalate even better down the road. I only have a couple minor issues that take it out of a higher rating. First, the start of the movie takes a bit of time to get into. What exactly is happening is tough to understand your first time through. And of course, the voices barely match the lips. You get past both of these issues after about 15 minutes or so, not a huge problem. If you like anything related to Westerns, I'd say watch this spaghetti for sure.

Pleasantly surprised! From the score to the plot to the characters everything was phenomenal.

If you're interested in the western genre in general, this movie is fantastic. What is there to add to what has already been stated about this movie? The Dollars trilogy is a fantastic narrative medium.

The Dollars trilogy by Sergio Leone
A Fistful of Dollars - Part 1
For a Few Dollars More- Part 2
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly - Part 3

My least favorite of the "Dollars Trilogy", but always worth remembering for having introduced most of Sergio Leone's trademarks into western cinema (the camera indulging on epic closeups and wide compositions, the solemn pacing and music). It's definitely a slow starter but offers some interesting scenes in the middle and an epic showdown in the end.

The film is an unauthorized remake of Kurosawa's "Yojimbo", from which Leone borrows not only the plot, but a lot of traits that we would find in his later works: the moral ambiguity of the characters, the mysterious antihero without a name, the cynical tone and black humor, the dirty streets, etc. And here is how a Japanese director managed to indirectly renew westerns through an Italian director.

My first thoughts were how on earth was this filmed in the 60s? It looks like an 80s film at max, but it's obviously held up really well. It's got a really good, if slightly convoluted story and some really well shot and intense scenes. 8.0/10

A Fistful of Dollars is the start of an excellent trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood. This is probably the lesser of the three films, but I still love this movie. I think the plot is what makes this the lesser. Theirs too much double crossing that gets a little tiresome and at times annoying to follow. The action is great and the small tows look incredible and its a piece of cinema history that really bought Spaghetti Westerns to us. Theirs the iconic music that has become a Western staple for many that followed. Not just a great film, but a ground-breaking one as well.

8/10

See this film for the first time after 60y it's not the same. We have already seen this kind of heroic stance in hundreds of movie. That's why just 7/10.

"a fine movie, but it was MY movie."
- Akira Kurosawa

Este filme do Sergio Leone é sem dúvida um bom filme, mas continuo a preferir o original, o Yojimbo (1961) do Kurosawa.

The film is an international co-production between Italy, West Germany, and Spain. It is part of the "Dollars Trilogy", or the "Man with No Name Trilogy".
A Fistful Of Dollars; Per un pugno di dollari (1964) https://trakt.tv/movies/a-fistful-of-dollars-1964
For a Few Dollars More; Per qualche dollaro in più(1965) https://trakt.tv/movies/for-a-few-dollars-more-1965
The Good The Bad And The Ugly; Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-1966

A supremely entertaining western from 1964!

I will say the dubbing nature of 'A Fistful of Dollars' is a little distracting early on, but by the time the opening portion concluded I was incredibly interested in what was happening onscreen. The pacing is excellent, thanks to some very fine cinematography, great action sequences and a top notch score.

Clint Westwood debuts as a leading movie star and is terrific throughout, portraying the wonderfully named J̶o̶e̶ "the Man with No Name". It's little surprise these are the films that truly made him. Away from Eastwood, I really enjoyed the trio that played the Rojo brothers - Gian Maria Volonté (aka Johnny Wels), Sieghardt Rupp and Antonio Prieto. They're just as important as the main man and play the roles superbly.

Bring on the sequels!