Best Clint Eastwood Movies Ranked – and 1964 Western Among the Top Has 98% Rotten Tomatoes Score
Few actors have become as closely associated with the Western genre as Clint Eastwood.
From his breakthrough roles in Spaghetti Westerns to Oscar-winning epics later in his career, Eastwood built one of the most impressive filmographies in Hollywood history. Recently, Rotten Tomatoes ranked the best Clint Eastwood movies ever made, and one of the films near the very top of the list remains a defining moment in both his career and the Western genre - A Fistful of Dollars.
Released in 1964, the classic Western holds an impressive 98% critics score and 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, placing it among Eastwood's most acclaimed films more than 60 years after its debut.
The Movie That Made Clint Eastwood a Star
Before A Fistful of Dollars, Eastwood was best known for television work, including his role on the long-running Western series Rawhide. Everything changed when Italian director Sergio Leone cast him as the mysterious "Man with No Name."
The film follows a wandering gunslinger who arrives in a small border town controlled by two rival criminal families. Rather than choosing sides, he manipulates both factions in a dangerous game that eventually erupts into violence.
The role helped establish Eastwood's signature screen persona: quiet, tough, resourceful, and impossible to intimidate.
A Western That Changed the Genre
A Fistful of Dollars is widely credited with helping launch the Spaghetti Western movement.
Leone's filmmaking style looked dramatically different from the traditional Hollywood Westerns audiences had grown accustomed to. Extreme close-ups, long stretches of tension, morally complicated characters, and Ennio Morricone's unforgettable score gave the genre an entirely new feel.
The film proved so influential that it spawned two follow-up collaborations between Leone and Eastwood: For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Together, the trilogy helped redefine what a Western could be.
One of Eastwood's Greatest Films
Rotten Tomatoes ranked A Fistful of Dollars among the very best movies of Eastwood's career, trailing only a select few titles on the list.
Considering Eastwood's résumé includes classics such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Unforgiven, Dirty Harry, and Million Dollar Baby, that's impressive company. For many fans, however, A Fistful of Dollars remains the film that started it all.
And with near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores and a lasting influence on generations of filmmakers, it's easy to see why it continues to rank among Clint Eastwood's greatest movies.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 5:00 AM.