A Fistful of Dollars

 (2,557)
7.91 h 40 min1967X-RayR
The laconic "man with no name" - a tough gunslinger - manipulates rival families warring over a small frontier town. Stylish, violent film was the first spaghetti western hit and made Clint Eastwood a star.
Directors
Sergio Leone
Starring
Clint EastwoodMarianne KochJohn Wells
Genres
ActionWestern
Subtitles
English [CC]
Audio languages
EnglishEnglish [Audio Description]
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Supporting actors
Gian Maria VolonteWolfgang LukschyMario BregaCarol BrownPepe CalvoSieghardt RuppMargarita LozanoDaniel MartinJosef EggerBenny ReevesAntonio PrietoMargherita LozanoRichard Stuyvesant
Producers
Arrigo Colombo
Studio
MGM STUDIOS INC
Rating
R (Restricted)
Content advisory
Alcohol usefoul languagesmokingviolence
Purchase rights
Stream instantly Details
Format
Prime Video (streaming online video)
Devices
Available to watch on supported devices

Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars

2557 global ratings

  1. 84% of reviews have 5 stars
  2. 10% of reviews have 4 stars
  3. 4% of reviews have 3 stars
  4. 1% of reviews have 2 stars
  5. 1% of reviews have 1 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

Hugo Z. HackenbushReviewed in the United States on August 30, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the Best BLU-RAY version of Fistfull of Dollars
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I have now three Blu-Ray version of this film. Ripley's Italian version, the German BR and now this one. This is the best. Restoration was done in Bologna, with co-operation of the last still living members of Leone's crew. Picture is sharp in the right way, looking film-like. Colors are little yellowish and warm. Good extras, Marianne Koch, Christopher Frayling specially and restored outtakes - where we see how fast Clint was with the gun in real. Ripley's BR have nice colors, but picture is not as sharp as in Kino BR, and english soundtrack is simply bad. Italian soundtrack is great, but there's no English subs. German BR is not in the same level. Picture is over sharpened. KINO LORBER BR is the best. Watched with JVC DLA-55R projector and OPPO 203 BR-player.
35 people found this helpful
joel wingReviewed in the United States on May 15, 2020
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eastwood plays upon the greed of two bosses in a small town in this take off of Yojimbo
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A Fistful of Dollars was the first of a trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns by Sergio Leone featuring Clint Eastwood. It was Leone’s interpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. In fact, the movie borrowed so much that Kurosawa sued for copyright infringement, won and got a percent of the profits. The story focuses upon the greed and violence of the Old West.

Eastwood enters a town divided between two bosses named Baxter and Rojo and full of gunmen working for them. A local tells Eastwood he should leave, but instead Eastwood decides to profit off of the situation. What he ends up doing is hiring himself out to each boss to play the two off of each other. At first, it looks like Eastwood is just acting out of greed, but he actually has a plan.

Together Eastwood and Leone re-defined the cowboy. Instead of having a stark difference between good and evil, Eastwood was actually like an anti-hero. He killed people left and right for money and didn’t seem to care about anyone but himself. In the end it turns out he was trying to help the town.

A Fistful of Dollars was also propelled along by the excellent soundtrack by Ennio Morricone that scored most of Leone’s movies.

The story, the music and the action is what set A Fistful of Dollars apart from its American inspirations and is why it’s considered a classic Western today.
C
9 people found this helpful
zverina dot comReviewed in the United States on May 10, 2021
1.0 out of 5 stars
Is this a parody?
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I'm new to Leone. Recently watched Once Upon a Time in the West and was absolutely spellbound. That got me stoked to catch up on what I always hear celebrated as a classic, but good lord, Fistful of Dollars is tough to watch. It has its moments of humor and Clint Eastwood cool, but it has a paper-thin story and just way too much absurdity for me to suspend disbelief. There's very little tension or suspense, just ridiculous and repetitive montages of bloodless shootings with guys grabbing their backs and falling over. For the most part it's nicely shot, but the day-for-night scenes and poor dubbing just makes it all seem farcical. It's weirdly paced and drags in a way that the significantly longer Once Upon A Time... does not. In the latter, character and plot are slowly revealed in a way that keeps one invested. Here we have a nameless dude with a barely-hinted-at traumatic past carrying the narrative weight, and I just didn't care. The Morricone score is iconic and might account for the indelible imprint this film has made on the culture, but it just feels like this is a case where the reputation far exceeds the reality. I kept looking for a way to watch it at 1.5x speed but I guess that’s not an option on Amazon. I toughed it out till the end, hoping for redemption, but it just got stupider and stupider. Was this intended as a satire? It’s so over the top and illogical that’s the only reading that makes sense, but I think people do really take this seriously. I like silly genre films, but this one just feels tired and dated, no fun at all.
3 people found this helpful
Sony_XLReviewed in the United States on September 7, 2016
4.0 out of 5 stars
a close working relationship
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A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.

Sergio Leone kicks off his spaghetti western trilogy with Clint Eastwood as the man with no name (and quickly followed this with "For a Few Dollars More"). While it is not the best of the series, it still ranks above your average western, and Clint Eastwood always delivers.

You can see Eastwood knock a woman out, you can catch the exploding barrel. Gun enthusiasts might enjoy the discussion of a .45 versus a Winchester rifle. The winner of this debate lives, the loser dies. Sort of ads some weight to the topic.

This was the first time that Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone worked together. Initially Leone was not keen on using Morricone for this film. Lacerenza's initial trumpet performance of the score made Leone quickly set aside any reservations. Leone and Morricone, who had known each other since 3rd grade, would develop a close working relationship that would last through all of Leone's future films.
16 people found this helpful
WALTReviewed in the United States on August 8, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE FILM THAT STARTED IT ALL, FABULOUS
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THIS WAS THE FIRST FILM OF THE THE TRILOGY BY SERGEO LEONE,.......OFTEN KNOWN AS THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY........FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE AND THEN...........THE GOOD, THE BAD , AND THE UGLY, ALL STARRING CLINT EASTWOOD AND
THE SECOND AND THIRD ALSO WITH LEE VAN CLEEF. ALL MUSIC AND MANY DOZEN MORE FILMS WERE BY ENNIO MORRICONE, WHO
RECENTLY DIED MAY HE RIP. IN THE FILM, EASTWOOD PLAYS A BOUNTY HUNTER WHO TRIES TO WORK FOR TWO OPPOSITELY WARRING
FAMILIES. THIS IS TAKEN FROM A FAMOUS JAPANESE FILM BY AKIRA KURISOWA. THE MUSIC, ACTION AND AMAZING SCENERY ARE ALL
WHAT MADE THE PHRASE, SPAGHETTI WESTERN POPULAR, AS THEY WERE ITALIAN AND WESTERNS. YOU CAN SEE THEM ALL ON PRIME,
AND THE GUNFIGHT AT THE CONCLUSION IS WORLD FAMOUS. ALL FILMS ARE IN HD AND MAGNIFICENT COLOR AND 🎵 MUSIC.
APPROPRIATE FOR MATURE TEENS AND ADULTS OF ALL AGES. ENJOY.
DeckerReviewed in the United States on February 20, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars
Personal favorite of the entire "Dollars" trilogy
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Modern westerns owe a lot to Spaghetti Westerns like Fistful of Dollars. Without them we wouldn't have the grit that make so many westerns enjoyable now. Before they came into the States, American Western cinema was very "clean". While they were good and enjoyable in their own ways they never really depicted the violence and greed that made the "Wild West" so wild. The main hero's morals were always good and selfless, and the division between good and bad was pretty much black & white. But in here we see the west in all it's bloody and dirt covered glory.

Aside from helping change the scope of Western movies this also stars Clint Eastwood in his now legendary "Man with No Name" character. Who has a very strong presence in the movie that rivals that of John Wayne. The Stranger (Eastwood), rides into a barren border town where two rival gangs wrestle each other for power. Cashing in on boot legging and gun running these two gangs try to the use Eastwood's skills at gun-slinging against the other not realizing that he's actually playing them both to make a lot of money. As for gun play the Stranger is very good at it. He clears out rooms in seconds with well placed shots capable to taking other bandits down before they can even draw.

The Stranger is no hero, he's out to get his and owes allegiance to no one. A personal philosophy that more or less works well for him. Despite his stone like exterior though he does have a heart as shown when he actually goes out of his way to try and save a mother. Or his ride back to the god forsaken town to rescue a friend. His actions speak for themselves, he doesn't need any fancy monologues. Probably the best example of what a good Anti-Hero really is. When all is done with both gangs dead in their hideouts he rides off never to be seen again in what would become the iconic ending for all the Dollar movies. His name changes but his demeanor doesn't.

This movie is old but if you appreciate film making and westerns in general its amazing what was done with a small budget. Especially knowing about the language barrier that existed between Eastwood and his costars. Despite all that movie is still pretty well edited and the English dubbing is good. Who would have known then that what was originally supposed to be just another B-movie would have such a profound effect on cinema? Great movie, worth watching and owning if not for it's story at least for Eastwood's magnificent performance. Best one in the trilogy I think, but then again they are all great.
12 people found this helpful
YOMamaReviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fist Full of Dollars 4k restore
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Well the movie itself is great. I like Clint Eastwood. As for 4k restore........not really seeing it. I mean it looks good, it's blu ray....my tv identifies the video as 720 x 480 (!?!). I don't know. I leave it to others to verify. I know I couldn't. Also, comes in a regular blue colored blu ray disk box not in a black box like a true 4k video disk does. Has mono audio track and a 5.0 audio track. Has english subtitles. Got 4 stars only because again, I like the Clint Eastwood "Man with No Name" series of westerns. Otherwise it would have been a two star rating.
Bobby DReviewed in the United States on November 12, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars
The one that launched them all
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I had only seen this for the first time very recently, but have watched it several times since, as it is fantastic. This is the first in the "Dollars" trilogy starring Clint Eastwood as the man with no name.

The score and cinematography are far ahead of its time, both beautifully adding to the story. Knowing this pretty much catapulted Clint Eastwood into a household name, shows you how powerful this film was.

A must watch for both Western and all around movie lovers!
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