A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Dir: Sergio Leone
Cast: Clint Eastward, Marianne Koch, Gian Maria Volonte, Wolfgang Lukschy
Summary
An unnamed drifter arrives in a small Mexican town caught in a bitter rivalry between two powerful families. Seeing an opportunity to profit, he cleverly plays both sides against each other to make a fist full of dollars.
Synopsis
A stranger arrives in a small Mexican town, where the innkeeper explains the ongoing feud between the local sheriff John Baxter’s family and the Rojo brothers. The stranger decides to exploit this rivalry for financial gain.
When Mexican soldiers transporting gold are ambushed and murdered near the village by the Rojo family, the stranger secretly moves two bodies and spreads misinformation, telling both families that two soldiers survived. This sets off a violent conflict as each side seeks to either silence or protect the supposed survivors. Amid the chaos, the Rojo gang captures Baxter’s son Antonio.
While searching the Rojo household, the stranger finds Marisol, a prisoner and reluctant mistress of the Rojo brothers. He brings her to the Baxters to arrange a prisoner exchange. The innkeeper reveals that Marisol was taken from her husband after a false accusation of cheating at cards.
The stranger rescues Marisol in a daring raid, killing the guards and framing the attack as the work of a larger gang. After reuniting her with her family, he gives them money to escape, explaining, “Why? Because I knew someone like you once. There was no one there to help. Now get moving.”
Captured and beaten by the Rojos for his betrayal, the stranger escapes with help from the town’s coffin maker. The Rojos, suspecting the stranger works for the Baxters, burn down the Baxter home, massacring the family and leaving themselves the only gang in town.
Recovering from his injuries, the stranger learns the Rojos have taken the innkeeper hostage. Returning to town for a final showdown, he wears a steel plate under his poncho and taunts his enemies to “aim for the heart.” As bullets bounce off him, he challenges them to reload faster than he can shoot. In the climactic duel, the stranger kills the Rojos, rescues the innkeeper, and rides away from the ruined town.
Review
I have seen A Fist Full of Dollars many times, yet I only recently discovered it is a remake of Yojimbo. Watching them back to back was fascinating.
The stories are nearly identical, and Clint Eastwood’s enigmatic “Man with No Name” is as compelling as Toshiro Mifune’s ronin. Both films stand strong on their own merits, but what sets Fist Full of Dollars apart is Ennio Morricone’s iconic score, which perfectly matches the gritty atmosphere of the film—something I found lacking in Yojimbo, whose music felt a bit too dramatic and “Western” for its setting.
Spaghetti Westerns brought a fresh, raw realism to the genre, revealing the Old West as a harsh, dirty, and desperate place, unlike the sanitized, heroic versions from the 1950s. This film is a great entry point for anyone interested in the evolution toward modern Westerns and comes highly recommended.
