Review forA Fistful of Dollars:A Fistful of Dollarslaunched the spaghetti Western and catapulted Clint Eastwood to  stardom. Based on Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai picture Yojimbo, it  scored a resounding success (in Italy in 1964 and the U.S. in 1967), as  did its sequels, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the  Ugly. The advertising campaign promoted Eastwood's character--laconic,  amoral, dangerous--as the Man with No Name (though in the film he's  clearly referred to as Joe), and audiences loved the movie's refreshing  new take on the Western genre. Gone are the pieties about making the  streets safe for women and children. Instead it's every man for himself.  Striking, too, was a new emphasis on violence, with stylized, almost  balletic gunfights and baroque touches such as Eastwood's armored  breastplate. The Dollars films had a marked influence on the Hollywood  Western--for example, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch--but their most  enduring legacy is Clint Eastwood himself. --Edward BuscombeReview forThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:If you think ofA Fistful of DollarsandFor a Few Dollars Moreas the tasty appetizers in Sergio Leone's celebrated "Dollars" trilogy of Italian "Spaghetti" Westerns, thenThe Good, the Bad, and the Uglyis a lavish full-course feast. Readily identified by the popular themes  of its innovative score by Ennio Morricone (one of the bestselling  soundtracks of all time), this cinematic milestone eclipsed its  influential predecessors with a $1.2 million budget (considered  extravagant in the mid-1960s), greater production values to accommodate  Leone's epic vision of greed and betrayal, and a three-hour running time  for its wide-ranging plot about the titular trio of mercenaries ("Good"  Blondie played by rising star Clint Eastwood, "Bad" Angel Eyes played  by Lee Van Cleef, and "Ugly" Tuco played by Eli Wallach) in a ruthless  Civil War-era quest for $200,000 worth of buried Confederate gold.  Virtually all of Leone's stylistic attributes can be found here in full  fruition, from the constant inclusion of Roman Catholic iconography to a  climactic circular shoot-out, along with Leone's trademark use of  surreal landscapes, brilliant widescreen compositions and extreme  close-ups of actors so intimate that they burn into the viewer's memory.  And while some Leone fans may favor the more scaled-down action ofFor a Few Dollars Moreor the masterful grandiosity ofOnce Upon a Time in the West, it wasThe Good, the Bad, and the Uglythat cemented Leone's reputation as a world-class director with a singular vision.--Jeff ShannonReview forHang 'Em HighAfter starring in the now-legendary trilogy of spaghetti Westerns for  Italian director Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood became a box-office star  and imported the style of those classic shoot-'em-ups for this 1967  Western directed by Ted Post, with whom Eastwood had worked during their  days on the television seriesRawhide. Eastwood plays an  innocent rancher who is mistaken for a cattle rustler and sentenced to  hang by an angry mob. When he is saved from the noose by a passing  lawman, he embarks on a renegade campaign of vengeance against the men  who attempted to lynch him.Hang 'Em Highoffers a number of  memorable moments and stylistic flourishes, and features a superb  supporting cast of Western veterans, including Ben Johnson, Ed Begley,  Pat Hingle, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, L.Q. Jones, and the "Skipper"  himself, Alan Hale Jr. Made just three years beforeDirty Harry, the film marked a turning point for Eastwood, who would soon move into a prolific period of contemporary thrillers.--Jeff Shannon