A drifter gunman (Clint Eastwood) arrives in the Mexican village of San Miguel in the border of United States of America, and befriends the owner of the local bar Silvanito (Jose Calvo). The stranger discovers that the town is dominated by two gangster lords: John Baxter (W. Lukschy) and the cruel Ramón Rojo (Gian Maria Volontè – a.k.a. John Wells). When the stranger kills four men of the Baxter's gang, he is hired by Ramón's brother Esteban Rojo (S. Rupp) to join their gang. However, the stranger plots a scheme working for both sides and playing one side against the other.

"Per un Pugno di Dollari" is a milestone in the history of the cinema, since the genre of "Spaghetti Westerns" didn't really exist previous to this movie. Sergio Leone used the storyline of Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo", replacing the samurai without a master ("ronin") Sanjuro Kuwabatake performed by Toshirô Mifune and the scenario of the rural Japanese town in Nineteenth Century by the stranger without a name (Clint Eastwood) and a small Mexican town in the border of the Wild and Far West. The result is a magnificent and remarkable movie, and beginning of the trilogy of Clint Eastwood's character Joe, who proves that "a man with a rifle beats a man with .45", completed by "Per Qualche Dollaro in Più" and "Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo", . My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Por um Punhado de Dólares" ("For a Fistful of Dollars")

The epitome of the S.W. is violent , beautifully crafted and exaggerated . This was the first S.W. to receive a major international release . It is a remake of Yojimbo (1961),which itself was based on 1929 novel "Red Harvest" by Dashiell Hammett . It pits ¨Man with no name¨ against two families that are feuding over business : the Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy , Margarita Lozano) and the Rojo (Gian Maria Volonte , Antonio Pietro , Sieghardt Rupp) . Meanwhile , Eastwood saves a damsel in distress (Marianne Koch) , her husband (Daniel Martin) and son . ¨Man with no name¨ is helped by Silvanito (José Calvo) and an old gravedigger , Piripero (Joseph Egger).

This classic Western contains slow and deliberating filming , elaborate shoot-outs , and portentous close-ups of grime-encrustred faces with bloodbaths included . A remake to Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa , in fact he sued the filmmakers for breach of copyright . The impact of this Spaghetti opened the gate for the huge numbers of Italian-Spanish Western which made fortune for their producers and directors in the sixties and early seventies . This has been described as the first "spaghetti western", but when this film was made , there had already been about 25 such westerns produced in Italy . This one made Eastwood an international star and previously better-known for his running character in TV series ¨Rawhide¨. Leone did revive his career almost instantly on the strength of this film , though the role was formerly offered to Charles Bronson , Frank Wolff , Rory Calhoun , Steve Reeves and Richard Harrison . In fact , Richard Harrison was the one who suggested Clint Eastwood to Sergio Leone when the famed director was looking for the main actor , as Harrison said : Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars , and recommending Clint for the part . Leone came to the set of ¨Rawhide¨ intending to recruit Eric Fleming for the lead in the upcoming "A Fistful of Dollars" , due to Fleming's off putting personality, Leone looked elsewhere , director Charles Marquis Warren suggested Eastwood as an alternative . As all of Eastwood's later Western and his ¨Dirty Harry¨ movies owe a considerable debt to Leone . Furthermore , here appears Leone's habitual secondaries , acting as ominous hoodlums , such as : Mario Brega , Aldo Sambrell , Antonio Molino Rojo , Lorenzo Robledo , Jose Canalejas , Frank Braña , among them.

It's a slick remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo , the plot is mainly ripped off from classic Japanese , as Kurosawa wrote to Leone reclaiming the copyright . Ultimatelly , the Toho (Yojimbo's producer) obtained the rights of exhibition and received 15% of the film's worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Asian countries . ¨Fistful of dollars¨ was filmed in low-budget during seven weeks on location in Golden City (Sierra of Madrid) , and Almeria : Albaricoques and Tabernas ; besides , interiors located on Roman Cinecitta studios . In the premiere the main cast and technicians were replaced by American names as John Welles (Gian Maria Volonte) , master of arms Benny Reeves (Benito Stefanelli),Dan Savio (Ennio Morricone who composed a groundbreaking and streaking soundtrack) , designer production by Charles Simons (Carlo Simi) and even Bob Robertson (Sergio Leone) ; nowadays , justly stay the true names . For Leone enthusiastic with his usual trademarks , it's full of which made his films so memorable, others might find it a bit long but no one can deny its sense of style what achieved a great burst of world-wide popularity .

I've read in many places that this is the prequel to FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, and while I could understand people thinking this, this really isn't the case. It's more a film "inspired" by FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, as the same chief bad guy (Gian Maria Volontè) is killed in both films and Clint Eastwood is not the same amoral bounty hunter he is in the sequel. However, he looks the same and acts almost the same, so why be picky? Especially since if you like one of these movies, it's certain you will like both,...though I think overall FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE is a slightly better film--mostly due to the appearance of Lee Van Cleef.

FISTFUL OF DOLLARS is a reworking of the Kurosawa masterpiece YOJIMBO. And, while it's not quite as perfect as the original Japanese film (this would practically be impossible to achieve),it's a wonderful reworking of the plot by putting it in the old West. Plus, it does have an edge over the original when it comes to the always strange but always cool music from Ennio Morricone. Both Toshiro Mifune and Clint Eastwood play odd characters who the audience know very little about who wander into a town torn by a war between two rival gangs. And, in both, our heroes use their brains and fantastic fighting skills to wipe out both gangs for the good of the people.

The movie begins with Eastwood coming to an unfriendly Mexican town and seeing a little boy trying to sneak in to see his mother who was kidnapped by the town's #1 bully. Although Clint (nicknamed "the Man with no Name" by fans) isn't visibly shaken when the kid is soon discovered and thrown out, he spends much of the movie trying to figure out why the baddies are holding her as well as how to get her safely back to her family. About the only real negative I saw in the film was some of the dubbing--in particular, the kid. He was SO whiny and shrill that I wondered why the bad guys didn't just kill the kid to shut him up once and for all! However, being a smart good guy (and yes, he is more of a good guy in this film than in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE),he doesn't immediately act but uses his brain to get the two rival gangs in town to wipe each other out instead of relying on his lightning fast shooting to kill everyone (something even this character probably couldn't do). To do this, he pretends to help both gangs by selling them information and playing tricks on them. At first, his two new friends in town can't understand several things he does--but Clint has a master plan.

Like every early Eastwood Western I can think of, at some point Clint is captured and has the crap knocked out of him (it also happened in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY as well as in HANG EM HIGH). But, this is only just before Clint strikes back and finishes the job. In this case, with the aid of home made plate mail, he is able to beat Gian Maria Volontè and what's left of his gang in a dandy showdown.

The movie has so many excellent touches that it's hard to figure out the negatives in the film--other than a few of the dubbed voices. In fact, this is the only problem. The music, direction, acting and script are all top-notch. A wonderful but violent early "Spaghetti Western".