A review of Arrow Video’s “A Fistful of Dollars” book

Written by Matthew Long

This book was included as part of Arrow Video’s 4K UHD/Blu-ray limited edition deluxe version of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), which was released in 2025 for the Region B market. This version of the movie sold out shortly after the release date. The book will not be reprinted with the standard edition.

Scroll down for my thoughts on the book released with Arrow’s A Fistful of Dollars.

A painted image with Eastwood's character in center. He's a cowboy with a gun, bandaged hand, cowboy hat, smoking a cigarello, stern look. Face of another man over one shoulder, a woman embracing someone over other shoulder, plus images of buildings. — The front cover of the book for *A Fistful of Dollars* (1964), which was released by Arrow Video on 4KUHD and Blu-ray in 2025. This was the first of Arrow’s releases of the full Man With No Name trilogy.

Professionalism and production quality

This a 60-page perfect bound book with a matte finish. The art style has a dusty, mysterious quality that mixes a sense of age with professionalism befitting the movie. I’ve read and looked through this booklet a few times and it still looks new, so it should hold up over time. This is an impressive professional quality book.

Score: 10 (out of 10)

Text-to-image ratio

This one was difficult to rate because I liked the overall balance of text and images used in this booklet, but there were also certain pages that were more image than text, and it felt like they needed to pad the space to fill 40 pages. That’s totally understandable and it’s one of Arrow’s better attempts to do that, but I would have preferred a little more text to fill the available space.

Score: 8 (out of 10)

Content

The first essay, “Straight and Magnificent, was written by Henry Blyth. It contextualizes Leone’s debut western in its place in both western film history and how the movie fit into the Italian film industry of the time, along with details about how the film was made quickly on a lean budget. This essay provides the most detail about production matters related to the film.

The second essay, “A Fable Laid Bare,” written by Bilge Ebiri, provides a longer overview of the influence of the film on directors like Martin Scorsese, along with detailing stories like how Sergio Leone came to adapt Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961) for this western version. Although it’s not the most focused essay, its sweep provides enough information that it contextualizes A Fistful of Dollars effectively, so that it could have served as a singular essay if this was a shorter booklet.

The third essay is “A Shot in the Arm for the Western” by Pasquale Iannone. Iannone provides essential details into how the then-radical violence of the film was slowly accepted in that period of the 1960s when the Hays Code was losing relevance but pictures like Bonnie and Clyde (1967) had not yet brought violence to the mainstream.

In the last essay, “The Sound of a New Era” by Eloise Ross, Ross focuses on how this Italian movie became popular in America. We also learn about how Clint Eastwood became involved with the project and what he contributed, along with an interesting examination of the sound design and Ennio Morricone’s essential contributions to the genre with his unusual blend of avant-garde sounds with orchestral music.

Score: 16 (out of 20)

Creativity

I liked the variety of subjects within the essays, but they were ultimately all similarly academic looks at the film from various critics and lecturers. Given the age of the production, it might not be possible to get new interviews with people involved with the movie, but some archival material from Sergio Leone might have been interesting. Critical writing from the time of the movie’s release would have provided interesting context. A fan appreciation would have been a nice change of pace. I shouldn’t complain about what isn’t provided, because I appreciate what was chosen, but the essays blended together a little when I finished with the book.

The layout of the images was inspired, rarely relying on simple full page spreads or one-page images. Some behind the scenes images or a picture of Leone would have been appreciated along with the film stills, but what was provided suited the book.

Score: 6 (out of 10)

Final score: 40 (out of 25)

This book was a great read and a worthy supplement to the movie. The Arrow Video release is loaded with bonus features and these movies have been discussed many times, but this is a recommended read for anyone able to get their hands on one.

This deluxe edition with the booklet was available for purchase at Arrow Video, but it is now sold out. The standard edition is available directly from Arrow Video or your favourite retailers. If you’re in Canada, check out Rough Cut Video as a reliable option.