One of Clint Eastwood‘s most iconic Western movies is getting a remake 60 years after its initial release, and it’s one that seemed truly untouchable. Over the course of his impressive career, Eastwood has appeared in plenty of Western movies, and many of them have become timeless examples of the genre. While not all of them were hits – Ambush at Cimarron Pass is at the bottom of the ranking of Eastwood’s Western movies – he’s made some of the most iconic movies the entire genre has to offer.

The fact that Eastwood made so many Westerns in the course of his career makes it even more surprising that one of his greatest is being remade. There are other Westerns in Eastwood’s filmography that seemed much more likely to be remade, and likely would have benefited more from getting a modern-day update. The movie that will be getting a remake is so classic and beloved that it seemed to be completely untouchable: until now.

A Fistful Of Dollars Is Getting A Remake – I Thought It Was Untouchable

Remakes have become increasingly more common in recent years, but the fact that A Fistful of Dollars is getting a remake still came as quite a surprise. Plenty of great movies have been remade in the past, and even Westerns like True Grit and The Magnificent Seven have been updated, but A Fistful of Dollars seemed special. Even after 60 years, A Fistful of Dollars is still an absolute classic, and it seemed like no one would ever dare try to update or remake it. Remaking A Fistful of Dollars seemed as ridiculous as remaking The Godfather or another one of the best movies of all time.

Could A Fistful Of Dollars Remake Actually Be Good?

While there’s virtually no way A Fistful of Dollars could realistically be improved, it wouldn’t be impossible for the remake to come close to being as good as the original. The actor who gets recast as the Man with No Name in the remake may be able to add something fresh and exciting to the role, and give the remake a reason to exist. Choosing the right actor to replace Eastwood could open up opportunities for the remake of A Fistful of Dollars to update for modern sensibilities and take a more realistic look at the mythical Old West.

The remake of A Fistful of Dollars could also learn from some previous remakes of Clint Eastwood’s movies. Sang-il Lee’s remake of Unforgiven worked quite well, mostly because it added to the original film by using a feudal Japanese setting. Similarly, Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, though it’s more a reinterpretation of the same book, improved upon Eastwood’s version by making McBurney more desperate and improving on the characterizations of the story’s women. The remake of A Fistful of Dollars can even learn what to avoid by looking at a previous remake of Yojimbo: Bruce Willis’ Last Man Standing.

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  Unforgiven (2013)

  R

  Drama

  Action

  Crime

  Unforgiven is a 2013 Japanese Western written and directed by Lee Sang-il. The film is classified as a remake of the 1992 Clint Eastwood film of the same name. The plot follows a former samurai who is hired to help find two wanted men.

  Director

  Sang-il Lee

  Release Date

  
  September 13, 2013
  

  Writers

  David Webb Peoples
  , Sang-il Lee

  Cast

  Ken Watanabe
  , Shioli Kutsuna
  , Jun Kunimura
  , Yuya Yagira
  , Koichi Sato
  , Akira Emoto
  , Seiji Hino
  , Eiko Koike

  Runtime

  135 Minutes

  Main Genre

  Drama

  Expand

• 

  The Beguiled (2017)

  R

  Drama

  Thriller

  The Beguiled (2017) is a Southern Gothic drama directed by Sofia Coppola. Set during the American Civil War, the narrative unfolds in a Virginia girls’ school where the arrival of a wounded Union soldier disrupts the equilibrium of the female inhabitants. The film stars Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Colin Farrell, intertwining themes of desire, jealousy, and betrayal in a confined setting.

  Director

  Sofia Coppola

  Release Date

  
  June 23, 2017
  

  Writers

  Sofia Coppola (screenplay)
  , Thomas P. Cullinan (novel)

  Cast

  Colin Farrell
  , Nicole Kidman
  , Kirsten Dunst
  , Elle Fanning
  , Oona Laurence
  , Angourie Rice

  Runtime

  93 minutes

  Main Genre

  Drama

  Expand

• 

  Last Man Standing
  

  R

  Crime

  Action

  Drama

  Director

  Walter Hill

  Release Date

  
  September 20, 1996
  

  Writers

  Ryûzô Kikushima
  , Akira Kurosawa
  , Walter Hill

  Cast

  Bruce Willis
  , Bruce Dern
  , William Sanderson
  , Christopher Walken
  , David Patrick Kelly
  , Karina Lombard
  , Ned Eisenberg
  , Alexandra Powers

  Runtime

  101 Minutes

  Main Genre

  Crime

  Expand

Remaking A Fistful of Dollars is a very surprising decision, but it’s not necessarily doomed to become one of the most unnecessary remakes ever. It will be incredibly tricky, and every person involved in the remake will have to be doing their absolute best work, but there is a way it could make itself a worthwhile reimagining of a classic Western movie. Surprising as it is, the remake of A Fistful of Dollars is underway, and only the finished product will be able to prove if it can live up to Clint Eastwood‘s enormous legacy.