Per un pugno di dollari
Eastwood helped in creating his character's distinctive visual style. He bought the black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat came from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm, and the trademark black cigars came from a Beverly Hills' store.
Because this was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, there was a significant language barrier on the set. Eastwood communicated with Leone and the Italian crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production.
The film's US release was delayed when Yojimbo (1961) screenwriters Akira Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima sued the filmmakers for breach of copyright. Kurosawa and Kikushima won and as a result received 15 percent of the film's worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
When the film was shown on American Television station ABC in the early 70's, additional footage was shot to give the "Man with no Name" character a motive for going to the town (San Miguel) featured in the film. Neither Eastwood nor Leone were involved in the shooting of this additional footage. Harry Dean Stanton (uncredited) played an unidentified lawman or politician who orders Eastwood to get rid of the gangs of San Miguel in return for a pardon. Stock footage of Eastwood was used. This footage apparently no longer exists, although a copy of Dean's script did survive.
Eastwood's trademark squint was caused by the combination of the sun and high-wattage arc lamps on the set.
The trailers and promo material in the United States list the title of this film as "A Fistful of Dollars". The on-screen title on the film itself gives the title as simply "Fistful of Dollars".
Sergio Leone was not keen on using composer Ennio Morricone for this film. He simply had not been impressed with the scores that Morricone had done in the past for other directors. The initial scoring made Leone quickly set aside any reservations. Leone and Morricone would develop a close working relationship that would last through all of Leone's future films.
This has been described as the first "spaghetti western". When this film was made, there had already been about 25 such westerns produced in Italy. This was the first to receive a major international release.
This was the first time that Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone worked together. As children, they were classmates in school.
Originally called "The Magnificent Stranger", the title wasn't changed to "A Fistful of Dollars" until almost three days before the movie premiered in theaters. In fact, nobody had bothered to inform its main star, Clint Eastwood, of the change, and as a result Eastwood remained virtually unaware of the positive buzz surrounding the movie until an agent pointed it out to him in a Variety Magazine article three weeks later.
Because this was an Italian/German/Spanish co-production, there was a significant language barrier on the set. Eastwood communicated with Leone and the Italian crew mostly through stuntman Benito Stefanelli, who also acted as an unofficial interpreter for the production.
The film's US release was delayed when Yojimbo (1961) screenwriters Akira Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima sued the filmmakers for breach of copyright. Kurosawa and Kikushima won and as a result received 15 percent of the film's worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
When the film was shown on American Television station ABC in the early 70's, additional footage was shot to give the "Man with no Name" character a motive for going to the town (San Miguel) featured in the film. Neither Eastwood nor Leone were involved in the shooting of this additional footage. Harry Dean Stanton (uncredited) played an unidentified lawman or politician who orders Eastwood to get rid of the gangs of San Miguel in return for a pardon. Stock footage of Eastwood was used. This footage apparently no longer exists, although a copy of Dean's script did survive.
Eastwood's trademark squint was caused by the combination of the sun and high-wattage arc lamps on the set.
The trailers and promo material in the United States list the title of this film as "A Fistful of Dollars". The on-screen title on the film itself gives the title as simply "Fistful of Dollars".
Sergio Leone was not keen on using composer Ennio Morricone for this film. He simply had not been impressed with the scores that Morricone had done in the past for other directors. The initial scoring made Leone quickly set aside any reservations. Leone and Morricone would develop a close working relationship that would last through all of Leone's future films.
This has been described as the first "spaghetti western". When this film was made, there had already been about 25 such westerns produced in Italy. This was the first to receive a major international release.
This was the first time that Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone worked together. As children, they were classmates in school.
Originally called "The Magnificent Stranger", the title wasn't changed to "A Fistful of Dollars" until almost three days before the movie premiered in theaters. In fact, nobody had bothered to inform its main star, Clint Eastwood, of the change, and as a result Eastwood remained virtually unaware of the positive buzz surrounding the movie until an agent pointed it out to him in a Variety Magazine article three weeks later.
posted by Tobias Yarwood at 10:30 PM
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