A Fistful of Dollars

Fistful of Dollars - 1964
[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058461/]

The Gist:
Clint Easwood begins his trilogy of the man with no name, which culminates in Sergei's masterpiece The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Here we find Eastwood emanating Akira Kurosawa's samurai counterpart, as this film is a direct translation of the Japanese Yojimbo (which is amazing in its own right). Ignoring for the moment that Leone pilfered Yojimbo scene for scene without getting rights or giving credit to Kurosawa or the 'so bad its awesome' voice dubbing from everyone save the spot on Eastwood, this film kills. Eastwood excels in the Spaghetti western, chomping on cigars and relishing Mexican standoffs, outwitting his enemies and just generally being a badass. Leone's beautiful, stark backdrops give a sense of isolation and desperation. Meanwhile, the story is just as clever the second time around, a man playing both sides of a power struggle and finding some lost sense of nobility and kindness in midst of the battle for control of a half dead town.

On Another Note:
Kurosawa ended up suing for copyright infringement and made more money from the lawsuit than he ever made from Yojimbo's release.