Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

It is so daring, it is so ambitious, it is so thrilling and weird and pointed and powerful. I never knew where it was going.

Fistful Of DollarsThe camera work is not only supported but celebrated with an amazing cinematography as it does usually on such western feature. As much as simple the plot goes, the weaving of the whole structure goes dull in its first act, as it grows obvious. It is rich on technical aspects like sound effects, background score and editing. Sergio Leone is no short on execution and has probably improved on his skills as it keeps the audience engaged and doesn't unnecessarily chews off the character's perspective. Clint Eastwood holds on to its role and delivers the expectations and doesn't require any support at all. There are few action packed sequences and whistle-blowing dialogues that can only come out of a fanboy's perspective and this is the key that makes the feature stand alone in its franchise. The choreography too has improved a lot and so has the meddling of the emotions among the characters that is done well within shorter runtime of almost 100 minutes that helps factor in on its favor. Firstful Of Dollars is more than a handful and even though its reach for something more colossal that its potential fails in here, it still grasps a whole lot of popcorn fun in here.

RELEASED IN 1964 and directed by Sergio Leone, "A Fistful of Dollars" stars Clint Eastwood as an expert gunman who drifts into a Mexican town where he finds himself in the middle of a war between two factions, the gun-running gringo Baxters and the firewater-running Hispanic Rojos. The story's based on Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai flick, "Yojimbo," which was patterned after the work of John Ford, so "A Fistful of Dollars" is an Itala copy of a Jap imitation of an American Western (!). Interestingly, Kurosawa sued Leone, but it never went to court. It ended with a settlement of $100,000 and 15% of the revenue of "Fistful" for Kurosawa.Speaking of ripping off (or homages), Ennio Morricone's excellent score (as usual) features a moving piece obviously inspired by Dimitri Tiomkin's outstanding "El Degüello" from "Rio Bravo" (1959). Compare the two.The opening act is great and is probably why so many people fondly remember this movie, but the middle act is weak. It starts with a thrilling massacre of dozens of Mexican soldiers, albeit curiously bloodless, carried out by a machine gun the likes of which the Earth has never seen (until this movie). For instance, it has multiple muzzles, like a Gatling gun, yet nothing revolves. I could go on, but I'll have mercy.This sequence is followed by a gunfight near a graveyard where members of the factions are absurdly fooled by two motionless corpses placed there earlier by Joe (Eastwood). Why sure! The final act is marred by another unbelievable scene where Joe boldly faces the main antagonist in a showdown. He has total faith in something that protects him with zero concern that any other part of his body besides his central torso might be hit. Why sure! Someone might argue that Joe KNEW Ramón Rojo would only aim for the heart, but there were several other lethal heavies present. How did he know they weren't going to shoot? Speaking of Ramón, Gian Maria Volontè is charismatic in the role, but he's even better in the follow-up, "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), as a wholly different character.Other problems include bad English dubbing, cartoony gore, the camera's curious infatuation with close-ups of sweaty, maniacal countenances and no female character of much note, although Marianne Koch and Margarita Lozano appear in small roles.There's this myth going around that Leone's Dollars trilogy introduced the concept of the antihero, otherwise known as the "good (or likable) bad man." Actually, the antihero had been around for decades when "Fistful" was released in '64. Take, for example, John Wayne's Ringo Kid in "Stagecoach" (1939) or Richard Widmark's Comanche Todd in "The Last Wagon" (1956) or Anthony Quinn's Bob Kallen in "The Ride Back" (1957) and, particularly, Brando's Kid Rio in "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961). These are just off the top of my head.The difference with Eastwood's antihero in Leone's so-called Man With No Name trilogy is that, unlike the antiheroes above, he is without personality, unless squinting, shooting, killing and smoking cheroots are taken as profound marks of character. In Short, Leone introduced the antihero CARICATURE as opposed to the antihero CHARACTER. Cool caricatures with superhuman bravery & abilities work just fine when you're in your teens or early 20s, but after you mature a bit you naturally desire more three-dimensional and believable characters."A Fistful of Dollars" is worth checking out for its engaging first act and its iconic place in Western history, but there are superior Eastwood Westerns, such as the two Leone non-sequels (1965 & 1966 respectively), "Hang 'em High" (1968), "Two Mules for Sister Sara" (1970), "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976), "Pale Rider" (1985) and "Unforgiven" (1992).THE MOVIE RUNS 99 minutes and was shot in Almería, Andalucía, & Madrid, Spain; and Rome, Italy.GRADE: C

Leone's first western certainly isn't his most ambitious. However, the familiar, simple take it has on the anonymous-man-coming-to-town-and-helping-the-good-guys story is so wonderfully told with the director's unique touches of style and unflinching propensity for violence. The action is fun, intense and exciting, and the bad guys are presented so that hating them is an absolute joy.

Having finished viewing Mel Gibson's Filmography in order, I'm now working my way through the legend that is Clint Eastwood's Filmography starting with A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)Plot In A Paragraph: A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into a town torn by war between two factions, the Baxters and the Rojo's. He schemes to play the two sides off each other, getting rich in the bargain.It's impossible to talk about Leone's spaghetti westerns without heading Ennino Morricone's superb score, so I'll start by saying he sets the tone with what is to come right from the opening credits. It's fantastic and he can be simple or inventive either way it's first class.In 1964 Clint was an established TV star, thanks to his role as Rowdy Yates on TV's Rawhide, a role he had played for 5 years and 7 seasons, so to say Clint was already at home playing a cowboy would be an understatement. Needless to say, we are a long way from Rawhide here. Considering what a risk (shooting a low budget Western in Italy and Spain, with a director nobody had heard of, with only one directing credit to his name, who didn't even speak English) this was at the time for Eastwood, he looks great in his now iconic outfit and very confident, We see Clint honing his trademark expressions!! The snarl, the squint and the famous grin!! We also see a rare occasion. Clint take a great deal of punishment in this movie, maybe the most vicious punishment he receives in his entire career.Grossing $14 million A Fistful Of Dollars was the sixth highest grossing movie and 1964. A Massive success given its $200,000 budget.