The Grand Duel/Il Grande Duello/Hell's Fighters/Grand Duel/Storm Rider/The Big Showdown (1972) - Lee Van Cleef is cool sheriff in action-packed, derivative western

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A cool and smudgy, dirty-looking, sand, blood and tar-colored poster for Giancarlo Santi's The Grand Duel

A sheriff captures a young man, who is sentenced for execution, and brings him to the town of Saxon City. But here the town's powerful tyrants don't agree with the sheriff about the transgressions of the young, long-haired delinquent!

 

The Grand Duel is written by Ernest Gastaldi (Prey of Vultures/Un Dólar de Recompensa (1972)) and directed by debuting Giancarlo Santi (Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968, first assistant director)).

Lee Van Cleef (Ripcord (1962-63)) is the sheriff, who can stop a bullet with his teeth and control everything, and Alberto Dentice (The Girl Who Couldn't Say No/Tenderly (1968)) is photogenic as the doomed junior. The film is full of fun and good action, - in particular falls and explosions, - and many stand-offs, before the story arrives at the evil brothers of Saxon City: One of them gay, in a white suit, with ugly pockmarks in his face and a predilection for massacres!

The Grand Duel is obviously almost a knock-off of Sergio Leone and others' great spaghetti western hits from the preceding years; it is complete with an Ennio Morricone-like score (by Sergio Bardotti (Summertime Killer/Un Verano para Matar (1972)) and Luis Bacalov (Sea of Dreams (2006))), close-ups by the boatloads and lots of returning, 'significant' flashbacks. Don't look for a dramatic of thematic width here, but The Grand Duel is entertaining.

 

Watch the film's title sequence here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Grand Duel was released 29 December (West Germany) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in Italy, including Rome, around July 1972. The film was not released in most of its 13 listed markets until in 1974, including USA. Some of the film's score was reused in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). Santi returned with Quando c'era Lui... Caro Lei! (1978). Van Cleef returned in Mean Frank and Crazy Tony/Dio, Sei Proprio un Padreterno! (1973). 2,660 IMDb users have given The Grand Duel a 6.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Grand Duel?

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Leone ends his poncho trilogy with certified classic

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Kept in mostly earthy tones, this hand-painted poster for Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a masterwork

Three gunslingers in the West fight each other in a fierce search for a fortune in buried Confederate gold around the time of the American Civil War.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is written by Agenore Incrocci (Spaghetti House (1982)), Furio Scarpelli (Celluloid/Celluloide (1996)), Luciano Vincenzoni (Count Tacchia/Il Conte Tacchia (1982)) and co-writer/director, Italian master filmmaker Sergio Leone (The Colossus of Rhodes/Il Colosso di Rodi (1961)). It is the final film in Leone's Dollars trilogy, which also contains A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965).
An impressively grand work, this spaghetti western is a complete joy: An epic with big sets, twists, great storytelling and Ennio Morricone's (The Repenter/Il Pentito (1985)) classic legendary score and theme, which returns probably around 20 times through the film without ever getting tiring.
Clint Eastwood (The Bridges of Madison County (1995)) is the clench-jawed Clint we know and love from these films; whereas Eli Wallach (The Toe Tactic (2008)) as Tuco ('the ugly') is especially good in the film, filling out his mischievous and unpleasant yet charming character with bravado.
The desert scenes and the cemetery finale are incredibly handsome pieces of cinema, (cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli (Lovers & Liars/Viaggio con Anita (1979))). The story of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is very uncomplicated, and at its length Leone operates in a space somewhere between grandeur and at the cusp of delusions of grandeur. However that space is wonderful to be in with him here.

Related posts:

Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa, Coglione!/Duck, You Sucker (1971) - Sergio Leone's cinematic cornucopia 
For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer A Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho
 

Watch a clip from the movie here with Van Cleef

Cost: Estimated 1.2 mil. $
Box office: 25.1 mil. $ (North America only)
= Mega-hit (returned more than 20.91 times its cost)
[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly premiered 23 December (Italy) and runs 177 minutes. United Artists reportedly put up 0.5 mil. $ of the budget, following the success of the two previous Dollars movies in Europe especially, (all three were not released in North America until 1967.) Eastwood reportedly negotiated his salary up to 250k $, a Ferrari and 10 % of the US profits. Shooting took place in Spain, including Madrid, and in Italy, including Rome, around July 1966. The cemetery set was built by Spanish soldiers in 2 days. The film is said to have grossed 6.3 mil. $ in its initial North-American release. It was released slowly to more countries into the 1970s and has had many re-releases. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #9 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Pulp Fiction (1994) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Leone returned with Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968). Eastwood returned in The Witches/Le Streghe (1967); Lee Van Cleef (Shotgun Slade (1961, TV-series)) in Death Rides a Horse/Da Uomo a Uomo (1967); and Wallach in Batman (1967, TV-series) and theatrically in The Tiger Makes Out (1967). The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.76/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

God's Gun/Diamante Lobo (1976) - Van Cleef/Garrett pair for revenge in trashy Italo-Israeli delight

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Lee Van Cleef strangely seems to be wearing a shiny diamont earring on this beautifully painted poster for Gianfranco Parolini's God's Gun

A priest is murdered by a ruthless thug, but his twin brother will come to take his revenge!

God's Gun is written by John Fonseca (The Great Adventure/Il Richiamo del Lupo (1975)) and co-writer/director Gianfranco Parolini (The Old Testament/Il Vecchio Testamento (1962)).
It is an entertaining and well-paced b-picture western that's also semi-exploitation; it has several shoot-outs, hot ladies and elaborate rape scenes. It also has a cool Lee Van Cleef (The Perfect Killer/Quel Pomeriggio Maledetto (1977)) in the dual twin brother roles, Jack Palance (Young Guns (1988)) as the heavy and the unusually pretty (at the time) Leif Garrett (The Next Tenant (1998)) as the boy Johnny, who helps the justified vengeance along. Also with a 'ghost' duplicity plan, which is well thought up.
Dragging down God's Gun are involuntarily funny scenes, primitive effects and a monotone photographic expression that relies on zooms in just about every second scene!

Listen to the film's theme in a video here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[God's Gun was released in Italy some time in 1976 and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in Israel. Sybil Danning, who plays Johnny's mother, was only 9 years older than him. Richard Boone left the film drunk and in poor health, before he had done his dub, (which was then completed by another actor), later calling the film "the worst picture ever made", as he derided its producer and director to an American reporter. The film was released in North America and at least 7 European markets, but its performance and budget is regrettably not known. It has apparently fallen into public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally here. Parolini returned with Giant of the 20th Century/Yeti - Il Gigante del 20° Secolo (1977). Van Cleef returned in Vengeance/Kid Vengeance (1977); Palance in Welcome to Blood City (1977). 1,182 IMDb users have given God's Gun an average 5.1/10 rating.]

What do you think of God's Gun?

For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer

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A familiar figure in a poncho returns on this striking painted poster for Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More

Manco is a hard-nosed bounty hunter in the wild West, but in his hunt for the evil bank robber Niño, he runs into the vengeful colonel Mortimer, and the two partner up in what becomes an extremely dangerous duplicity.

For a Few Dollars More is written by Italian master co-writer-director Sergio Leone (The Colossus of Rhodes/Il Colosso di Rodi (1961)), Luciano Vincenzoni (Beyond Justice (1992)), Sergio Donati (Almost Blue (2000)), Enzo Dell'Aquila (The Brute and the Beast/Le Colt Cantarono la Morte e Fu... Tempo di Massacro (1966)), Fernando Di Leo (Loaded Guns/Colpo in Canna (1975)) and Fulvio Morsella (My Name Is Nobody/Il Mio Nome è Nessuno (1973)). It is the middle film in Leone's Dollars Trilogy, which starts with Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) and ends with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo (1966). There seems to be a trend among online film critics to praise this film over the others now, because it is the least commonly hailed among the three, but I still feel that For a Few Dollars More is the weakest among Leone's western films, which include two subsequent films: The masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968) and the great political epic Duck, You Sucker/A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa (1971).
This in no way makes For a Few Dollars More a poor film, however; it is extremely entertaining, but also feels a little like a playground for the champion filmmaker to develop and reuse effects, devices and techniques, which not until his following two films would place him as an incontestable western maestro.
The film is well acted: Clint Eastwood (Honkytonk Man (1982)) is great as the dogged gunslinger Manco; Lee Van Cleef (How the West Was Won (1962)) is good as the colonel, and Klaus Kinski (Paganini (1989)) is fun in a wild supporting role. But it is Ennio Morricone's (Sabato, Domenica e Lunedì (2012), TV movie) original and innovative music that to me is the greatest part of For a Few Dollars More.

Related posts:

Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa, Coglione!/Duck, You Sucker (1971) - Sergio Leone's cinematic cornucopia 
A Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho

Listen to Morricone's unequaled theme for the film here

Cost: 0.6 mil. $
Box office: 15 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[For a Few Dollars More premiered 18 December (Italy) and runs 132 minutes. As Fistful of Dollars was released to immediate success in Italy, a sequel came up fast. But locking Eastwood for it was challenged, as the film was not yet released in the US. The producers rushed an Italian print to him, and screening it along with some friends, Eastwood was impressed by the film and signed up for the sequel upon realizing Leone's talent. The first script was reportedly written by Vincenzoni in 9 days. Charles Bronson was approached for a role but passed, as he had done with the previous film as well. Eastwood was paid 50k $ and Van Cleef 17k $. Shooting took place in Spain and in the Cinecittà studios in Rome, Italy. The film became an even greater success than Fistful of Dollars in Italy, where it by 1967 had become the highest-grossing film in the country ever. It did not get a North-American release until May '67, 4 months after Fistful of Dollars, and was a big hit, grossing 5 mil. $ (33.33 % of the total listed gross) there. The film was also successful in France; there it was the 7th highest-grossing film of 1966. It has since been re-released countless times. Leone returned with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which was also Eastwood's next movie. For a Few Dollars More is fresh at 94 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of For a Few Dollars More?

Django, Prepare a Coffin/Preparati la Bara!/Prepare a Coffin!/Viva Django/Django/Get the Coffin Ready/Django Get a Coffin Ready/Django Sees Red (1968) - Baldi and Terence Hill see red

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Gunfight from a coffin here on the gritty-cool poster for Ferdinando Baldi's Django, Prepare a Coffin

QUICK REVIEW:

Django's wife gets shot in a hold-up, where he was transporting gold. By freeing innocently sentenced by the gallows, the widowed Django then gathers a gang that is going to carry out vengeance towards the corrupt governor. - But also within the gang there is a rotten apple; SPOILER the Indian García (José Torres (Death Rides a Horse/Da Uomo a Uomo (1966)) steals and murders!

In the end, SPOILER Django gets his revenge in the film's best scene, in which he shoots the governor and his whole gang with a Gatlin gun, hidden in a coffin.
In Coffin, co-written by co-writer/director Ferdinando Baldi (Suicide Mission to Singapore/Goldsnake 'Anonima Killers' (1966)) and Franco Rossetti (Crazy Westerners/Little Rita nel West (1967)), nearly everyone is a crook, safe for, of course, Django (Terence Hill (My Name Is Nobody/Il Mio Nome è Nessuno (1973))), and perhaps it is especially this, that Django is deserted again and again, that makes the film a little long to get through. Slightly dull.
The film doesn't lack fistfights, and the restored copy is handsome to look at. Coffin is filmed in the classic Italian style of the period by cinematographer Enzo Barboni (Vengeance of the Vikings/Erik il Vichingo (1965)).

Terence Hill behind his machine gun in Ferdinando Baldi's Django, Prepare a Coffin

Watch an original trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[The film follows Sergio Corbucci's classic Django (1966), which started a wave of reportedly over 30 unofficial sequels without the original's director or star Franco Nero. Baldi's film was, actually supposed to have Nero back as Django, but that didn't ultimately pan out. Coffin is also noteworthy for its title song You'd Better Smile by Nicola Di Bari, which was later sampled for Gnarls Barkley's worldwide hit Crazy (2005).]

What do you think of Django, Prepare a Coffin?

Death Rides a Horse/Da Uomo a Uomo (1966) - John Phillip Law and Lee Van Cleef's macho stand-off in Petroni's stylish spaghetti western

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A 60s-stylish, colorful poster for Giulio Petroni's Death Rides a Horse that cries excitement and carnality

QUICK REVIEW:

As a boy, Bill Meceita witnesses his family get murdered, and 15 years later, he meets the man who will kick-start his quest for vengeance.

He is John Phillip Law (Thunder III (1988)) with the beautiful, cool, Mediterranean-blue eyes, and his gunslinger tutor is the always good Lee Van Cleef (For a Few Dollars More (1965)). Together the two blast through more than a few prickly situations here in Giulio Petroni's (Tepepa (1969)) keen revenge spaghetti western, written by Luciano Vincenzoni (Orca (1977)).
Death Rides a Horse is comparable to spaghetti western master filmmaker Sergio Leone's (Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968)) films in quality, and the West is certainly as gritty and dirty here as in any of Leone's movies.
Quentin Tarantino (Jackie Brown (1997)) lifted quite a bit of inspiration from the classical vendetta story and style of Horse for his Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2003; 04).
The last half of the film, which runs 114 minutes in the US cut and 120 in the Italian cut, drags on a bit, but Death Rides a Horse is still a solid, well-photographed (by Carlo Carlini (Black Emmanuelle (1975))) and -scored (by Ennio Morricone (Duck, You Sucker/Giù la Testa (1971))) Euro-western.

Lee Van Cleef came up with the Italian title for the film, (which translates to 'as man to man'), since he disliked the original choice, which translated to Duel in the Wind

Lee Van Cleef, chewing tobacco in Giulio Petroni's Death Rides a Horse

John Phillip Law in one of the less enviable situations he finds himself in in Giulio Petroni's Death Rides a Horse

Watch the original US trailer for the film here, which shows how it is both a hokey, stylish, cool and funny film to watch, - that also has a really cool tag-line: 'When you've waited 15 years to find a man... It's a shame you can only kill him once!'

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[Spaghetti western fans embrace and love Death Rides a Horse, - critics in general are more lukewarm: The film only has a 5.2 rating on Rotten Tomatoes (though based on just 5 reviews), but a 7.2 user average on IMDb. The late film critic legend Roger Ebert was hard on the film back in 1969, dishing it a snooty, mere 1-star review.]

What do you think of Death Rides a Horse?
Seen other films by Giulio Petroni?
If so, how was/were it/they?

Chino/Valdez, Il Mezzosangue/Valdez the Half BreedThe Valdez Horses (1973) - Bronson is his own man only in Sturges' good spaghetti western

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Charles Bronson, just announced as BRONSON, leads John Sturges' Chino

QUICK REVIEW:

Chino owns a horse ranch that lies on another man's soil. Together with the boy Jimmy, he runs the place, but when he falls in love with the landowner's sister, open animosity breaks out.
Chino has some of the best about westerns in it; the unsentimental depiction of some people's relations to each other for a while. The film SPOILER turns out to be a tragedy: Chino doesn't get his love; has to leave his ranch, and also gets rid of the sweet lad who works for him.
Chino is a quiet film that also has various horses in front.
The play between Charles Bronson (Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)) and his real-life wife Jill Ireland (Violent City (1970)) is hot as usual, although some of the simplicity of the era seems deeply comical today. - As when Chino announces to his love that he wants to marry her, whereupon he in complete earnest tells her, "We'll meet in church tomorrow", - and leaves!
Chino is directed by Illinoisan John Sturges (The Great Escape (1963)), who now shares IMDb-director's credit for the film with Italian director Duilio Coletti (The Mask of Cesare Borgia (1941)), although Coletti is only mentioned on the old French poster for the film:

The whole movie is on Youtube here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of Chino?
And of Bronson-Ireland's other films together?

Blood Money/The Stranger and the Gunfighter/El Kárate, el Colt y el Impostor (1974) or, The Tough Guys and the Fortune of the Butt Cheeks

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Lee Van Cleef's furry chest features prominently on this kitschy cool poster for Antonio Margheriti's Blood Money

QUICK REVIEW:

The pretty sleazy story of Blood Money is that a bank robber and a kung fu-heir from China pair up to get their hands on a great treasure, which is only possible to find through a series of four maps in four different cities, concealed as tattoos on the buttocks of hot ladies! Meanwhile they have to fight off a fanatical priest, who also wants the fortune.
The Stranger and the Gunfighter is an amusing genre-cook-down, but not a very successful film, and not very interesting for anyone besides fans of Lee Van Cleef (For a Few Dollars More (1965)), who plays the bank robber, and fans of obscure genre mixes as this.
It was made as a co-production between Spaghetti western Italians and the Hong Kong-based Shaw Brothers, who were behind Bruce Lee's films among others, as part of their effort at the time to branch out to new markets. They collaborated with the English Hammer studios the same year for The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, a film that mixed Gothic horror with kung fu.
Blood Money also features Indonesian Hong Kong-based kung fu star Lieh Lo (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)). It was directed by Italian genre and exploitation director Antonio Margheriti, who also directed such appetizing titles such as The Long Hair of Death (1964),  Mr. Hercules Against Karate (1973), Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) and Commando Leopard (1985).

Click to enlarge this other poster for the film, which also features scarcely clad ladies!

Watch the super-cool, original exploitation trailer here

Budget: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of Blood Money?
Do you know any better instances of trying to mend the western with the martial arts genre?

Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West/Buffalo Bill, l'Eroe del Far West (1964) or, Cowboys and Indians in the Good Old Italian West

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A hyper-sexualized scene of impending bloodled is teased on this sensationalistic poster for Mario Costa's Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West

Buffalo Bill is the man, who can function diplomatically as a broker between the parties and thus prevent the grand war against the Indians that bad folks on both sides want. - But with so high odds against him, will he succeed?

 
Buffalo Bill is written by Nino Stresa (Un Hombre y un Colt (1967)) and Luciano Martino (In Camera Mia (1992)), with Ernesto Gastaldi (Stradivari (1988)), Louis Agotay (Haus im Haus (1952, short)) and Piette Lévy-Corti (Les Culottes Rouges (1962)) contributing uncredited work, and directed by Mario Costa (La Sua Strada (1946)). The title is a literal translation of the original Italian title.

It is an early spaghetti western with its forte in lots of fighting and shooting scenes. There is drama with kidnapped beautiful women on both sides, and Gordon Scott (Goliath e la Schiava Ribelle (1963)) plays the big-muscled title hero with his heart surely in the right place.
Photography-wise, cinematographer Massimo Dallamano (A Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964)) is too wobbly for Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West to strike one as a good film, even thought it is entertaining.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain

[Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West was released 19 November (Italy) and runs 100 minutes. Shooting took place in Rome, Italy. Details of the film's release results, mainly in Europe, are regrettably not available online, - but it is highly likely that it was a box office success. It was not released in North America. Costa returned with Karim ibn el Sheikh (1964). Scott's return was also in this film. 219 IMDb users have given Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West a 4.5/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West?

A Fistful of Dollars/Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho

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This stylish, cool and simple poster for Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars seems to presage the explosion of the spaghetti western that the film initiated

The Man With No Name stops in a small, Mexican town, which is plagued by death due to its two rivaling gangs, the Rojos and the Baxters. In the course of a few days, the good stranger manages to play them out against each other in expert fashion, before he is eventually forced to face the mighty bad Ramón. 

Italian master co-writer/director Sergio Leone's (Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era una Volta il West (1968)) second film, spaghetti western classic A Fistful of Dollars skyrocketed Clint Eastwood's (Unforgiven (1992)) career, getting released around the last year of the stale Rawhide TV-series (1959-1965) that he starred on. With Eastwood's similarly rough, cigar-chomping performances in the subsequent two films in Leone's Dollars trilogy, For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo (1966), he became an established star, readied for his Dirty Harry franchise, countless other films and later evolution as a filmmaker in his own right.
Leone tried to get 9 other actors for the part, before Richard Harrison (Perseus Against the Monsters/Perseo l'Invincibile (1963)) recommended Eastwood to him, and Leone recognized the Californian's potential as a personality star here. The image Eastwood carved out already here in his first major break is the one which he continued to hone and keep alive in countless performances all the way up to his great Gran Torino (2008), SPOILER which finally seem to put the iconic star persona to rest. At the time of A Fistful of Dollars, Leone made his famous comment about Eastwood and his character's function: "More than an actor, I needed a mask, and Eastwood, at that time, only had two expressions: With hat and no hat."
Besides being a fun, raw and still wholly vibrant movie to watch, - especially an excellent choice for any dull afternoon, - A Fistful of Dollars features music from legendary composer, Ennio Morricone (Who Killed Pasolini?/Pasolini, un Delitto Italiano (1995)).
A Fistful of Dollars is written by Leone, Víctor Andrés Catena (The Rash One/El Espontáneo (1964)) and Jaime Comas Gil (Panic/Bakterion (1982)), with Adriano Bolzoni (Silver Saddle/Sella d'Argento (1978)) contributing story elements, Mark Lowell (His and Hers (1961)) supplying dialog and Fernando Di Leo (Blood and Diamonds/Diamanti Sporchi di Sangue (1977)), Duccio Tessari (Marco Polo (1962)) and Tonino Valerii (My Dear Killer/Mio Caro Assassino (1972)) doing uncredited screenplay work.

Related post:

Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dynamite/Giù la Testa, Coglione!/Duck, You Sucker (1971) - Sergio Leone's cinematic cornucopia

Listen to Morricone's main title theme for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 0.2 - 0.225 mil. $
Box office: 14.5 mil. $ (North America only)
= Mega-hit
[A Fistful of Dollars premiered 12 September (Florence, Italy) and runs 100 minutes. Leone thought that American westerns had grown stagnant in the 1950s and approached the genre with an operatic visual style and brutal violence. Eastwood was paid 15k $ for his performance. Shooting took place near Madrid and in Andalucía, Spain, and in Rome's Cinecittà Studios. As was custom in Italian filmmaking, sound was not recorded during shooting but dubbed in later. Leone was sued for plagiarizing Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's samurai film Yojimbo (1961) by an angered Kurosawa. The dispute was settled out of court with Kurosawa receiving 15 % of the worldwide receipts, - more than 100k $. The film was a major hit in Italy with a reported 14.4 mil. admissions in its initial release. Many millions more saw it all over Europe; in North America it did not see a release until 22 December 1966 in Canada, and the finest critics trashed it, but it also became a popular phenomenon there, and the film became the highest-grossing Italian film ever made for a while. Several re-releases followed. Leone returned with For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965), which was also Eastwood's next film, with some Rawhide in between. A Fistful of Dollars is certified fresh at 98 % with a 8.19/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Fistful of Dollars?