Westerns have enjoyed some sort of renaissance in recent years with the advent of new projects that bring audiences back in tune with \ dusty spectacles and gunslinging bravado. Within this genre, movies like Kevin Costner’s sweeping theatrical epic, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 & Chapter 2, and Eddington, a contemporary neo-western dark thriller, stand out as modern entries into the genre. Television shows such as Netflix’s violent and gritty limited series, American Primeval and the acclaimed historical anthology from Paramount+, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, which stars David Oyelowo in the lead role, help prop up the genre within the sphere of television.
However, arguably the most recognizable Western of the past decade or so, is Taylor Sheridan‘s nep-Western drama series, Yellowstone. While not set on the 19th-century American frontier, Yellowstone’s success allowed the franchise to venture into that era and others through prequels. Costner led Yellowstone, and the star can be considered a star of the genre, who romanticized and revived it for modern audiences. However, it should be without question that Clint Eastwood was the back upon which the entire idea of modern Westerns was laid upon. As almost a matter of fact, as a film enthusiast, it’s almost likely that when you imagine a classic Western movie, you likely envision Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy, as the Man with No Name.
The Dollars Trilogy is a compilation of three movies which one can comfortably pencil down under true all-time classics. A Fistful of Dollars was its first entry in 1964 with Eastwood starring and Sergio Leone directing. That entry stood out as a breakthrough for spaghetti Westerns and was quickly followed by the other two films in the series, For a Few Dollars More in 1965 and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly the following year. Despite the passing of sixty years since the trilogy premiered, it remains incredibly popular, with several aspects of its production, like its layered storytelling, standing the test of time. Now, if you have an interest in owning the full trilogy as a set, the perfect opportunity has presented itself. Kino Lorber recently announced that it’s releasing a new 4K UHD box set called the Sergio Leone Masterworks. Whilst holding all three films of the Dollars Trilogy, the box set also holds Once Upon a Time in the West in 4K UHD. The Sergio Leone Masterworks box set is currently set to release on November 24, and costs $150. However, you can pre-order it on Amazon right now for $107.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Western Icon Are You Most Like? No Name · Doc Holliday · Wyatt Earp · Mattie Ross
Pick your name, your gun, your horse and how you spend a night in town, and we will tell you which legend of the Old West you would have been. Four icons are waiting at the end of this: the stranger who never gives his name, the gambler who would die for a friend, the lawman who never wanted the badge, and the girl nobody has ever talked out of anything.
🚬No Name(Dollars Trilogy)
🃏Doc Holliday(Tombstone)
⭐Wyatt Earp(Tombstone)
🐎Mattie Ross(True Grit)
01
The town is about to learn your name. What do they call you? In a Western, what people call you is already half the character.
02
What are you carrying? Everything out here is character, right down to what is sitting on your hip.
03
What are you riding? A hero and their horse is one of the oldest relationships in cinema.
04
You have got one evening in town. How does it go? The saloon is where these films quietly tell you who somebody really is.
05
A stranger offers you money for a job that sounds like trouble. Somebody always turns up with a full purse and a bad idea.
06
Somebody is waiting for you in the street. What does the town see? Two people, an empty road, and everybody else watching from behind the shutters.
07
What is the one thing you will not do out here? The code is about the only thing west of the river that actually holds.
08
The job is finished. Where does the story leave you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your icon.
The Dust Has Settled Your Western Icon Is…
Four icons and four completely different ways of walking into trouble.
This is the one you would have been out there, why it fits, and what it would have cost you.
The Dollars Trilogy · 1964–1966
The Man With No Name
You have never explained yourself and you have never needed to,
because people work out fairly quickly that you are the most capable person in the room
without you ever having to mention it.
Eastwood built the character out of everything he refused to do, stripping away the
backstory, the speeches and every bit of reassurance until only the competence was left.
You keep your own counsel, and while other people occasionally find that unnerving, you
have never felt any real need to fix it for them.
The Dollars films work because he genuinely is in it for himself right up until the
moment he is not, and he never explains that part either.
You would be gone before anybody got a chance to thank you.
Doc Holliday · Tombstone · 1993
Doc Holliday
You are the funniest person in most rooms and the most loyal
person in all of them, and you would be genuinely insulted if somebody suggested those two
things were in any tension.
Doc has no real reason to be in this fight beyond the fact that his friend is in it,
which is the only reason he has ever needed for anything.
You lead with wit, and it does a very effective job of hiding how seriously you take the
handful of people you actually care about.
Val Kilmer’s performance is the most quoted in the entire genre because the jokes keep
getting sharper as the situation gets worse.
You would spend everything you had on this and still describe it as a good week.
Wyatt Earp · Tombstone · 1993
Wyatt Earp
You never wanted this job, and you took it anyway because the
alternative was standing there watching somebody less careful do it badly, which is the most
Western reason there has ever been.
Earp is the reluctant authority figure, a man who came to town specifically to be left
alone and somehow ended up answerable for all of it.
You are protective by instinct, so when something goes wrong your first thought is who
is exposed rather than who is to blame.
These films understand that keeping order costs far more than breaking it, and that the
person holding the line almost never gets thanked.
You would do the whole thing again, and you would complain about it the entire time.
Mattie Ross · True Grit · 1969 & 2010
Mattie Ross
Nobody has ever successfully talked you out of something you had
already decided was right, and a long line of grown adults has found that out the hard way.
Mattie is the most relentless character in the Western canon and she manages it through
argument, paperwork and flat refusal rather than a fast draw.
You have no patience for being managed, so you negotiate, you check the details and you
turn up exactly when you said you would.
True Grit is the rare Western where the moral centre is the youngest person on screen
and every adult around her has to catch up.
You would get what you came for, and the film is honest about what that takes out of
you.
What Happens Throughout the ‘Dollars’ Trilogy?
The Dollars trilogy follows Eastwood’s enigmatic Man with No Name through three separate adventures with unique storylines. In A Fistful of Dollars, upon his arrival in a divided town, he artfully manipulates two rival factions into destroying each other after inserting himself in both camps. By the time we arrive in For a Few Dollars More, we see him form an uneasy partnership with a bounty hunter (Lee Van Cleef), as they seek out a ruthless outlaw. In the final entry, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the story expands into a sweeping Civil War-era epic with buried gold the center of attention. Three gunslingers would ultimately be forced into an unstable alliance as they compete for the same fortune buried somewhere in the desert.
The Dollars trilogy movies will be available to purchase as part of the Sergio Leone Masterworks 4K UHD box set from November 24. Stay tuned to Collider for updates.
