September 12, 1964: "A Fistful of Dollars" Premieres

September 12, 1964: The film A Fistful of Dollars premieres, beginning the age of the "Spaghetti Western."

Italian film director Sergio Leone loved American Western films, and wanted to make some of his own. He chose to film in southern Spain, because the Tabernas desert was reminiscent of the American West before "the closing of the frontier" at the turn of the 20th Century.

As a result, Spanish journalist Alfonso Sánchez, noting Italy's love of pasta, coined the phrase "Spaghetti Western." In Japan, they were called "Macaroni Westerns"; in Eastern Europe, noting the location rather than the producer, "Paella Westerns"; in Germany, simply "Italo-Westerns." Leone's success set the pattern for other Italian directors to follow: A mostly Italian technical staff, a Spanish filming location, and actors from Italy, Spain, Germany, and, of course, America.

Leone is best known for the three movies that are known as either the Dollars Trilogy, the Blood Money Trilogy, or the Man With No Name Trilogy. Clint Eastwood, who had become famous in the late 1950s after playing supporting character Rowdy Yates in the Western TV series Rawhide, had caught Leone's attention.

The 1st film is Per un pugno di dollari: "For a Fistful of Dollars," or simply A Fistful of Dollars. In this film, Eastwood's character is called "Joe" by the character Piripero, and that's how he's listed in the credits. However, that may not be his real name. He plays what would now be called an anti-hero, playing two gangs off each other for his own gain.

The film was based on Yojimbo, a samurai film by Akiro Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune. Kursoawa had also made The Seven Samurai, which was turned into the Western The Magnificent Seven; The Hidden Fortress, which would later inspire George Lucas in the making of Star Wars; and Rashomon, whose multiple points of view would inspire many American productions, especially in TV situation comedies, even though Rashomon was by no means a comedy, but a murder mystery.

A Fistful of Dollars was released in Italy on September 12, 1964; in West Germany on March 5, 1965; and in Spain on September 27, 1965. The 2nd film in the series, Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More), was released in Italy on December 30, 1965, and in Spain on August 17, 1966. In this one, Eastwood's character is called "Manco."

The 3rd film was titled Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo -- "The Good, the Ugly, the Bad," but its English title became The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Eastwood, representing "The Good," is addressed as "Blondie." Lee Van Cleef represents "The Bad," a sadistic mercenary with the ironic nickname of "Angel Eyes." Eli Wallach, the Brooklyn-born Jewish actor who nonetheless played every ethnicity under the Sun, including the Mexican villain of The Magnificent Seven, represents "The Ugly": A Mexican bandit known as Tuco. The film was released in Italy on December 23, 1966.

By that point, none of the films had been released in America, because distributors feared being sued by Kurosawa. Finally, a deal was worked out, in which Kurosawa would get 15 percent of the American gross, and all 3 films were released in America in 1967: A Fistful of Dollars on January 18; For a Few Dollars More on May 10; and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on December 29. They were all smash hits, and made Eastwood a legend.

Sergio Leone made Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968, and a gangster film, Once Upon a Time in America, in 1984. He died in 1989, from a heart attack. He was only 60 years old. Eastwood went on to star in many more films, including Westerns, directing many of them himself, starring in some of them as variations on his "Man With No Name" character from the Dollars Trilogy.

In 2006, the BBC produced a police series titled Life On Mars, with Sam Tyler (Jon Simm), a detective from Manchester being thrown back to 1973, where he's still a cop, but in a world of lesser technology. His boss, the very old-school Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), has a poster of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in his office. Sam asks him, "Which one are you?" Gene says, "All three." ABC made an American version in 2008, set in New York, and repeated the scene, with Jason O'Mara as Sam and Harvey Keitel as Gene.

Eastwood's proto-bulletproof vest was homaged in Back to the Future Part III in 1989. And a Wild West holodeck adventure gone wrong formed the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "A Fistful of Datas" in 1994.

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September 12, 1964 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. Bobby Richardson singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 9th, to give Mel Stottlemyre a complete-game victory. Elston Howard hit a home run. Roger Maris went 1-for-4. Mickey Mantle did not play. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run for the Twins.

* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Pete Richert pitched a 2-hit shutout. Frank Howard went 4-for-4 with 2 RBIs, although none of his hits, or any of the Dodgers' 13 hits, was a home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Athletics, 1-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Jackie Brandt brought home the only run with a sacrifice fly in the 8th inning, as Frank Bertaina outpitched Bob Meyer. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Lou Clinton hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 10th. The Red Sox got a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th, but couldn't find the tying run. Tony Conigliaro went 0-for-5. Carl Yastrzemski appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-10 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 6-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers got home runs from Norm Cash in the 9th and Dick McAuliffe in the 10th to win it. Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks and Lou Brock each went 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron did not play. Joe Torre went 2-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 and was hit with a pitch.

* The Houston Colt .45s beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Don Larsen was the winning pitcher for the Colts, who became the Astros the next season. For the Pirates, Roberto Clemente went 0-for-4, but Willie Stargell went 2-for-3 with a solo home run.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Orlando Cepeda hit 2 home runs, and Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with a walk.

It was the opening weekend of the NFL season, and 1 game was played, before the rest of the games the next day: The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-6 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Two games were played that day in the American Football League. Playing their 1st game at their new home of Shea Stadium, the New York Jets beat the Denver Broncos, 30-6. And the San Diego Chargers beat the Houston Oilers, 27-21 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.

There were 3 college football games played:

* UCLA beat the University of Pittsburgh, 17-12 at Pitt Stadium.

* Furman beat Mississippi College, 13-10 at Sirrine Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.

* And the University of Houston beat Trinity University, 34-7 at Rice Stadium in Houston.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat North-East team Sunderland, 3-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.