The first and perhaps the finest of the "spaghetti westerns" that launched the career of Italian director Sergio Leone and transformed the unassuming American actor Clint Eastwood into an international icon, A Fistful of Dollars revitalized the standard elements of the classic genre through striking widescreen cinematography, kinetic editing, vivid locations (Spain doubling for Southwest landscapes), and a memorable Ennio Morricone score. Eastwood plays a drifter who stumbles upon a feud in a remote Western settlement and wisely decides to play each side against the other. These elements, combined with Eastwood’s singular laconic style, earned Leone’s film international acclaim and led to a trio of even more successful sequels.