The "Dollars Trilogy" also known as the "Man with No Name

Man with No Name

The man with no name is a stock character in Western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy."...

 Trilogy", refers to the three Spaghetti Western

Spaghetti Western

Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...

s starring Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

 and directed by Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...

: A Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars

A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...

(1964), For a Few Dollars More

For a Few Dollars More

For a Few Dollars More is a 1965 Italian spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Gian Maria Volonté. German actor Klaus Kinski also plays a supporting role as a secondary villain...

(1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone...

(1966).

A Fistful of Dollars is an unofficial remake of Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...

's 1961

1961 in film

The year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:* Atlantis, the Lost ContinentB...

 film Yojimbo starring Toshirō Mifune

Toshiro Mifune

Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...

. Although it was not Leone's intention, the three movies came to be considered a trilogy following the exploits of the same "Man with No Name

Man with No Name

The man with no name is a stock character in Western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy."...

" (Eastwood, wearing the same clothes and acting with the same mannerisms).

The "Man with No Name" concept was invented by the American distributor, looking for a strong angle to sell the movies as a trilogy. Eastwood's character does have a (nick)name in all three movies: a different one in each. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is theorized to be a prequel

Prequel

A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...

 by some, since Eastwood's character gradually acquires the clothing he wears in the other two films and because it takes place during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 (1861–1865), whereas the Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...

 character in For a Few Dollars More appears to be a Confederate veteran who has come down in the world and a graveyard scene in A Fistful of Dollars features a gravestone dated 1873; some, however, believe the discrepancies with dates to be nothing more than a simple error. Both the DVD and Blu-ray box set releases make specific reference to the set of films as "The Man With No Name Trilogy."

Four actors have appeared twice in the trilogy, playing different characters. They are: Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonté

Gian Maria Volontè

Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor. He is perhaps most famous outside of Italy for his roles as the main villain in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.-Early life:Volonté was born in Milan, and graduated in Rome in 1957...

, Luigi Pistilli

Luigi Pistilli

Luigi Pistilli was an Italian actor of stage, screen, and television. In theater, he was considered one of the country's best interpreters of Bertolt Brecht's plays in The Threepenny Opera and St Joan of the Stockyards....

, and Joseph Egger

Joseph Egger

Joseph Egger was an Austrian character actor of western films. Besides acting he was a well-known music hall comedian, and he was famous for doing "tricks" with his beard....

. The only actors to appear in all three movies besides Eastwood are Mario Brega

Mario Brega

Mario Brega was an Italian actor. His heavy build meant that he regularly portrayed a thug in his films particularly earlier in his career in westerns. Later in his career however, he featured in numerous Italian comedy films. Brega stood at and well over at his heaviest but after the 1960s...

, Aldo Sambrell

Aldo Sambrell

Alfredo Sanchez Brell , known as Aldo Sambrell, was a Spanish film actor, director and producer who made over 150 appearances in film between 1961 and 1996....

, Benito Stefanelli

Benito Stefanelli

Benito Stefanelli was an Italian film actor and stuntman who made over 60 appearances in film between 1955 and 1991....

, and Lorenzo Robledo

Lorenzo Robledo

Lorenzo Robledo was a Spanish film actor, who made over 85 appearances in film between 1956 and 1982. He is a familiar face in Italian westerns appearing in a total of 32 Spaghetti Western films throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.Robledo is probably best known in world cinema for his roles in...

. Composer Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...

 provided original music score for the three films, although in A Fistful of Dollars he was credited as "Dan Savio".

All three films were released by United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

.