A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari)

Sergio Leone directed Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars), a 1964 spaghetti western made as an Italian-Spanish-West German co-production. It was Clint Eastwood's first leading role; released in Italy in 1964 and in the United States in 1967, it set off the popularity of the genre. Shot on a low budget of about $200,000, it paid Eastwood $15,000. It opens the Dollars Trilogy with Per qualche dollaro in più and Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.

The story follows a nameless stranger who arrives in San Miguel, a Mexican border town. He plays two feuding families off against each other for his own gain. His name is never given and he is known only as the blonde. United Artists' US campaign billed the character in all three films as the Man with No Name. Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch and José Calvo also star.

The plot is an unofficial remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), moved from Japan to the border region. A suit by Toho succeeded, and Kurosawa and Toho received 15 percent of the revenue. It was shot near Hoyo de Manzanares by Madrid and in the Tabernas Desert in Almería. For American audiences Leone used the name Bob Robertson and Ennio Morricone Dan Savio.