A Fistful of Dollars (Pour une Poignée de Dollars) Rare French release poster of 1966

A Fistful of Dollars (Pour une Poignée de Dollars) Rare French release poster of 1966

I was inspired to put this small piece together after a new friend to the Archive, Travis Trewin got in touch with a seldomly seen poster (from his collection) for A Fistful of Dollars. The poster (23.6” x 31.5”) (60 cm x 80 cm) was apparently produced for a screening dating from 1966 and from within the Bordeaux region of France. It’s certainly an interesting poster, what is immediately apparent is that it features no actual image of Eastwood. instead, the central area is dominated by members of the film’s Rojo family. Esteban Rojo (Sieghardt Rupp) is clearly seen with whip in hand and suggests that the shot was taken shortly before the film’s climax where Silvanito (José Calvo) is tied and suspended from outside the tavern.  

It’s a real curiosity, remembering of course that A Fistful of Dollars had its premiere in Italy during September of 1964. France’s premiere took place in the March of 1966 – some 18 months later… According to the French film press at the time, A Fistful of Dollars was doing great business all over Italy and they were keen to exploit and publish the grosses from the film. Yes, Eastwood’s name still headlined the poster, but it remains a mystery as to why an image of the poncho-clad, anti-hero of the film still remained missing? 

Travis, who is based in Australia, informed me that he has only ever seen one other copy of the poster, so we can safely assume that there aren’t too many about today. My thanks to Travis for sharing this poster, we look forward to featuring more of his contributions. 

 Below: The French regional poster for A Fistful of Dollars

Below: Some French trade magazines were eager to show the success of A Fistful of Dollars in Italy

Below: A couple of original lobby cards for the French release of A Fistful of Dollars