The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit.
Really little more than a series of loosely connected shoot-outs -- but, as Sergio Leone proved, there can be a lot of fun in that.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Egregiously synthetic but engrossingly morbid, violent film.
– Bosley Crowther,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
fresh:
Though far less operatic and satisfying than Leone's later work, his first spaghetti Western with Eastwood still looks stylish, if a little rough at the edges.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
From Clint Eastwood's iconic performance to Ennio Morricone's unforgettable (and much-parodied) musical score, A Fistful of Dollars (****) took the western down trails it had never explored.
– Colin Covert,
Minneapolis Star Tribune,
22 Jun 2006
fresh:
This is a hard-hitting item, ably directed, splendidly lensed, neatly acted, which has all the ingredients wanted by action fans and then some.