Excellent movie. Lots of shooting. Clint Eastwood makes his debut of "The Man With No Name". Although most people credit "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly" as being the best film out of the trilogy, I disagree. This film has a lot more action (don't get me wrong, The Good The Bad, And The Ugly was also an excellent movie). Along with Open Range, this is my favorite western. A Fistful Of Dollars is a must for any western fan.

The wait was quite long for the remaining 3 remastered Leone movies. These DVDs had been out in the UK/Region 2 for since 18 April 2005, 2+ years (5 June 2007.)

A Fistful of Dollars is the least of the 3 Dollars films but is still great. The best being For A Few Dollars More then GBU then Fistful. It is still a classic movie. I love the actors: Eastwood, "Johnny Wels" Volante, the innkeeper and the coffin maker. I also love the climax and that cool water tower. The Morricone score is great if edited coarsely at times. The chorus sings "We can fight." and later "We can win." Sir Christopher Frayling is wrong when he says that the lyrics are unintelligible. The extras are pretty good if less cohesive than other DVD supplements out there.

I think the most telling thing about this title is how the "Americanized" names were used in the titles. "Dan Savio" and "Bob Robertson" are sooo American indeed. The entertainment world and the rest of the world like to look down on us as ignorant, yet most of them want to live here or at least make some good money off of us.

The picture is great on my 24" flat screen tube TV fed through component inputs and shown 4:9 letterbox. It is much better than the first MGM single disc releases which I would assume were ported over from laser disc. The Lowry process has made them as new or maybe even better than when originally released (not alive when in initial release.) I hope a 16:9 progressive scan capable TV will make the image that much better. The sound is good. I do not have a 5.1 capable receiver, just as well with the new Blu-Ray audio options making older units closer to obsolescence. (I can't wait to listen to Leon: The Professional and Patriot Games among others in DTS someday and hope that Ronin and Braveheart will come out in DTS at some point.)

The 2 disc white Amaray case with slipcase is much better than the bulky case that came with The Good, The Bad... in 2004. The only problem would be getting white replacement cases at a reasonable cost.

If you have not seen Once Upon A Time In The West, get the 2 disc SE now, it is cheap to buy. The musical theme for Jill with Edda Dell'Orso's voice is angelic. It ranks up there with the Ecstasy of Gold and the theme of the Confederate carriage in the desert from GBU. The movie is Leone's best along with Once Upon A Time In America (which has some disturbing scenes of violence and vulgarity. It is not for children or gentle adults.)

The Bottom Line:

A clever updating of Yojimbo, "Fistful" sometimes reveals its low-budget origins but is certainly worth a look for anyone who enjoys westerns.

If you have already watched Sergio Leone's other western movies like 'For a Few Dollars More' or 'Once Upon A Time In The West', you better avoid this one. Sheer repeat. Only unique feature is Ennio Morricone's music. Rest, just another western movie based on a small town of a single road. Setting is not that ambitious in this one.
Eastwood is also all the same - not able to escape the sheer monotonous look of the other western movies of Leone. He does not look to have even a clear agenda in this edition!

For a fresher, this is a try, but not before the couple of movies mentioned above.

This is the first Spaghetti western and a superb film. Both Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone are on top form and the storyline, dialogue and action are tremendous.

A classic.