Clint Eastwood was a star in the television western, Rawhide. He wanted more of a challenge and wanted to star in a movie. He got his first starring role, in the very low budget film, A Fistful of Dollars. It is a western that isn’t going to compete with any that John Ford directed. Its chief quality is that it shows the directions that westerns were headed. It shows a small Mexican border town: very grim and destroyed by violence, caused by warring criminal families; The Rojo’s and The Baxters It does have an antihero; The Man With No Name, played by Clint Eastwood.
Eastwood’s character comes riding into town, not intimidated by the bad men who run the town. He faces down the villains, and gets information from the bartender, Silvanito, (Jose Calvo), and aid from Piripero, the coffin maker, played by Joseph Eggar. The Man With No Name, even rescues Marisol, (Marianne Koch), held against her will by Ramon Rojo, (Gian Maria Volonte ); the head of the Rojo family. Eastwood’s character is captured by the Rojo gang, and beaten almost to death. He is locked in a room, but manages to get free, and dispatch a few of the bad guys in a unique way. This inevitably leads to the showdown with The Rojos. Eastwood’s character doesn’t have to worry about The Baxters: they were murdered by The Rojo’s.
A Fistful of Dollars is a film that was made by Sergio Leone in Spain. It is dubbed in English. Leone’s first western is not the best to look at; with low production values, but it does show Clint Eastwood’s acting abilities. Eastwood shows this when his character, near death, crawls to the door, where he is held. Eastwood and Leone working together created a different type of western, gritty and, violent with sadistic villains. Clint Eastwood did a few more films with Sergio Leone, using them as a springboard to make better westerns and movies.