The term remake often inspires skepticism when it involves an already beloved film. For every Psycho 1990 or so-bad-it’s-good Nicolas Cage-led Wicker Man that completely loses what made their inspirations so special, however, there are all-time classics, like John Carpenter‘s The Thing and the Brendan Fraser-led The Mummy, that build on, or sometimes completely transform their sources in entertaining new ways. Westerns are especially rife with fantastic remakes, from True Grit to The Magnificent Seven, the latter of which has two great takes traced back to Akira Kurosawa‘s Seven Samurai. However, perhaps the greatest of these films is also an infamous example of plagiarism, yet one that forever changed the course of cinema.
That film would be A Fistful of Dollars, the first entry in the iconic Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone. First released in its native Italy in 1964 on a budget of just $200,000, it introduced Eastwood as a leading man in his most recognizable role, the Man with No Name, and marked a breakthrough moment for spaghetti Westerns, alongside the other films in the series, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Like The Magnificent Seven, Leone’s first feature of the bunch was also based on a classic Kurosawa film, Yojimbo, though unlike its fellow Western, this remake wasn’t officially authorized, credit wasn’t given, and the similarities between it and the period samurai thriller were far too many. Kurosawa certainly noticed, writing in a letter to the director, “Signor Leone, I have just had the chance to see your film. It is a very fine film, but it is my film. Since Japan is a signatory of the Berne Convention on the international copyright, you must pay me.”
Toho ultimately sued, and Leone settled, giving Kurosawa 15% of worldwide receipts and the exclusive right to distribute the film in Japan and other select Asian countries, but that didn’t dull the Man with No Name’s impact in the U.S. and beyond. Eastwood, in particular, made out like a bandit from the whole affair. His star soared, leading to a prolific career that spanned far beyond Westerns and into the realm of directing, where he’d provide some of his best work in classics like High Plains Drifter, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, and his last film before retirement, Juror #2. For those who want to look back at where it all began, and perhaps compare and contrast with Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars is set to stream for free on Pluto TVstarting next week on July 1.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
What Is ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ About?
While the story and scenes would be close to Yojimbo, Leone’s film still brought his own style with the switch in genres. A Fistful of Dollars follows Eastwood’s gunslinger into the town of San Miguel, where two rival smuggler families vie for power. Seeing them for their greed, the stranger decides to play the corrupt Baxters and the criminal Rojos against each other for profit, using his wits and his quick right hand. It came away with a cool box office haul of nearly $20 million despite its low budget and set the stage for greater things to come when The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly arrived and staked its claim as one of the most influential Westerns, let alone films, ever made.
A Fistful of Dollars strolls onto Pluto TV on July 1. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the biggest titles coming to and leaving streaming throughout the year.
