A Fistful of Dollars (Bir Avuç Dolar)

Directed by Sergio Leone in 1964, the Italian-Spanish-German co-production Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars) is widely credited with launching the spaghetti western as a genre. Clint Eastwood, in his first starring role, plays a wandering gunman whose name is never revealed, arriving in a small border town caught between two feuding factions and playing them off each other for profit. The story draws heavily on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, a debt that later triggered a copyright dispute settled with a revenue share for Kurosawa and his studio. Shot cheaply around Almería in Spain, the production saw many of its European cast and crew adopt American-sounding pseudonyms. Released in Italy in 1964 and reaching American theaters in 1967, the picture ignited enormous interest in the genre. Two sequels followed, forming what became known as a trilogy, with marketing dubbing Eastwood's character the man with no name. The role turned Eastwood into an international star.