Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, except in the entertainment industry, where it’s usually recognized as copyright infringement. No matter how much you love a fellow filmmaker’s idea, that idea is their intellectual property and therefore protected under copyright.
Despite clearly drawn boundaries regarding matters of copyright, plenty of filmmakers have been accused of borrowing from an existing IP without consent from the rights holder. A number of epic films have faced accusations of copyright infringement. The Cabin in the Woods and The Matrix, to name just a few. In both of those cases, the suits were dismissed; however, things don’t always work out that way.
As it turns out, co-writer/director Sergio Leone played fast and loose with intellectual property laws when he made the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars, and he paid the price. Celebrated filmmaker Akira Kurosawa took in the picture and realized that it’s essentially an unauthorized remake of his 1961 film Yojimbo. In response, production company Toho successfully filed suit. As dictated by the court case, Toho and Kurosawa were afforded a share of the royalties.
Closely paralleling the core narrative structure of Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars plays out like this:
Wandering gunfighter Joe (Eastwood) arrives in the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among Sheriff John Baxter and the three Rojo brothers. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, Joe is hired by Esteban to join the gang, but he plays one side against the other.
Although A Fistful of Dollars drew heat for lifting its premise from a celebrated film, it’s still pretty great in its own right and has its fair share of fans. The flick is presently streaming on Tubi. However, if you’re not ready to check it out just yet, perhaps this sampling of social media reactions will help you make up your mind.
As you can see, the flick has plenty of fans. The picture’s success paved the way for an eventual trilogy of sorts. Leone followed up A Fistful of Dollars with two more Spaghetti Westerns, including For a Few Dollars More in 1965 and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in 1966. Although the actor plays slightly different characters in each, Eastwood stars in all three films, and each shares similar thematic elements.
There you have it, A Fistful of Dollars, a fan-favorite Spaghetti Western that once created its fair share of controversy, is now available to stream on Tubi!
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