A Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars
Italian theatrical release poster
Italian	Per un pugno di dollari
Directed by	Sergio Leone
Based on	Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa Ryūzō Kikushima (both uncredited)
Produced by	Arrigo Colombo Giorgio Papi[1]
Starring	Clint Eastwood Marianne Koch Josef Egger Wolfgang Lukschy Gian Maria Volonté Daniel Martín Bruno Carotenuto Benito Stefanelli
Cinematography	Massimo Dallamano[1]
Edited by	Roberto Cinquini[1]
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Production companies	Jolly Film Constantin Film Ocean Films[1]
Distributed by	Unidis (Italy) Constantin Film (West Germany) Izaro Films (Spain)
Release dates	12 September 1964 (1964-09-12) (Italy) 5 March 1965 (1965-03-05) (West Germany) 27 September 1965 (1965-09-27) (Spain) [1]
Running time	99 minutes[1]
Countries	Italy[2] Spain[1][2] West Germany[1][2]
Languages	English Spanish Italian
Budget	$200,000–225,000[3]
Box office	$19.9 million

A Fistful of Dollars (Italian: Per un pugno di dollari) is a 1964 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto and Joseph Egger.^[4] The film, an international co-production between Italy, West Germany and Spain, was filmed on a low budget (reported to be $200,000), and Eastwood was paid $15,000 for his role.^[5]

Released in Italy in 1964 and in the United States in 1967, the film initiated the popularity of the spaghetti Western genre. It was followed by For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, both also starring Eastwood. Collectively, the films are known as the Dollars Trilogy, or the Man with No Name Trilogy, after the United Artists publicity campaign referred to Eastwood's character in all three films as the "Man with No Name". All three films were released in sequence in the United States in 1967, catapulting Eastwood into stardom.^[6]

The film has been identified as an unofficial remake of the Akira Kurosawa film, Yojimbo (1961), which resulted in a successful lawsuit by Toho, Yojimbo's production company.^[7] Kurosawa wrote to Leone directly, saying, "Signor Leone, I have just had the chance to see your film. It is a very fine film, but it is my film. Since Japan is a signatory of the Berne Convention on the international copyright, you must pay me." He and Toho received 15% of the film's revenue, and it is believed that Kurosawa earned more money from the financial settlement than he had made on his own film, Yojimbo.^[8]

Few spaghetti Westerns had been released in the United States at the time, so many of the European cast and crew adopted American-sounding stage names. These included Leone ("Bob Robertson"), Gian Maria Volonté ("Johnny Wels") and composer Ennio Morricone ("Dan Savio"). A Fistful of Dollars was shot in Spain, mostly near Hoyo de Manzanares^[9] close to Madrid, but also (like its two sequels) in the Tabernas Desert and in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, both in the province of Almería.