Often considered as a lost art, "Westerns", used to be one of the only genres of movies. Every actor had to do one, they just had to. Westerns were defining movies in an actor's career, and were only getting better and better as they advance through the years. Between the 30's and 80's hundreds of Westerns were released, qucikly becoming one of the most popular "type" of film. Sadly, this art from has begun to die. How many westerns do you see being made now? None. Last year we had the refreshingly original "Apaloosa" which was a damn good western film. But not since 1992's "Unforgiven" had we seen a true western. One of those defining westerns was Sergio Leone's 1964 classic "A Fistful of Dollars".

This classic western helped to revolutionize the western genre. It took the western name and added spaghetti to it. The story follows Clint Eastwood's iconic "Man with No Name" as he enters a small town bordering Mexico. While there he is introduced to a local feud between two mafioso style families. The Rojo brothers and the family of town sheriff John Baxter. "The Man" seizes the opportunity for a "fistful of dollars" and plays the two family's against one another. Later he rescues a woman named Marisol from one of the Rajo brothers, but is eventually beaten and tortured when captured. When escaping from his captors, he manages to kill all the Rajo brothers and ride of into the sunset.

Clint Eastwood's performance is absolutely superb. Creating this lonely, drifting, good doer he manages to capture your imagination and offers one of the most iconic characters ever seen on film. He would return in the two sequels "For a Few More Dollars" and "The Good the Bad and the Ugly". The other performances in the film are equally as captivating. The Rojo brothers are played by a group of very talented actors. Gian Maria Volontè plays the more intelligent brother of the group and would later return to play his part in "For a Few Dollars More" as the sociopath El Indio.

Sergio Leone's masterful story telling only helped the movie achieve higher greatness. His revolutionary directing and film making was able to create a new breed of Westerns. Spaghetti Westerns. The more violent and stylized side of cowboys proved to be more entertaining than good old moral stories about good doing cowboys rescuing the bank from robbers. An excellent film created by an even greater director.

Although its often considered as the weakest of the "Dollars Trilogy", "Fistful of Dollars" is still a a captivating movie. The story telling is more basic than the others, but it still serves up a nice heaping plate of fun. It manages to be both entertaining and stylized but still doesn't lose the old style of the ones who came before it. Throw in Leone's excellent filmmaking and Eastwood's superb acting and you got one hell of a movie. "The Man" is what catapulted Eastwood to fame and proved that he was always as cool as ever. Even in the end when he rides off in the sunset we await his return as "The Man with No Name". Grade: A-