As part of Italian Heritage Month in Vancouver and in celebration of Italian Day on the Drive (Sunday, June 10), the Rio Theatre is highlighting select Italian titles in June, including director Sergio Leone‘s newly remastered, genre-defining “spaghetti Western” A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964), starring Clint Eastwood (in his first leading role) as the iconic “Man With No Name.” Featuring an iconic score from the legendary Ennio Morricone, film is the first of Leone’s so-called “Dollars Trilogy,” which also includes FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965) and THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (1966).

“When ‘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. Also starring Marianne Koch, Gian Maria Volonté, Sieghardt Rupp, Antonio Prieto, Benny Reeves, Sieghardt Rupp and Wolfgang Lukschy.

Thanks to our friends at Italian Day on the Drive, Il Centro Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver, the Vancouver Italian Film Festival, and the Italian Contemporary Film Festival for their ongoing support of this screening, and all the films selected for our annual Italian film series.

“Sergio Leone’s first spaghetti Western is now a deserved classic of the genre it invented. And it’s got Clint. What more could you want?” (Empire Magazine)

“With Akira Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO as his template, Sergio Leone’s A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS helped define a new era for the Western and usher in its most iconic star, Clint Eastwood.” (Rotten Tomatoes)

“A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS has a cult, comic-book intensity. It is the punk rock of westerns.” (Guardian)