Cult Clip: A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

On Sunday Feb. 25th, the great Italian composer Ennio Morricone will be receiving an Honorary Oscar at this year's Academy Award ceremony to celebrate his contributions to the art of film music. In the sixties Morricone first made a name for himself by scoring some of the greatest spaghetti westerns produced in Italy. Morricone was a classmate of director Sergio Leone’s and when Leone hired Morricone to score his first western, cinematic history was made.

The first film Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone worked on together was A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari) made in 1964. The movie starred a very young Clint Eastwood as "The Man With the No Name" in a role that would define his career for a decade.

Both Clint Eastwood and Ennio Morricone have come a long way since their spaghetti western beginnings, but here’s the trailer from the very first movie they worked on together with director Sergio Leone, A Fistful of Dollars.

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Cult clip: Django (1966)

Arguably, the most influential of all spaghetti westerns, Sergio Corbucci's Django is more gritty and bloody than the better-known Sergio Leone flicks and a film responsible for over 30 spin-offs (though only one was an officially sanctioned sequel).

Like Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, Django is a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, with Django (Franco Nero) heading for a town wiped out by clashes between the Mexicans and a racist group of Civil War stragglers, playing both parties off against each other for his own gain. And all the time dragging behind him a large pine coffin.

If that sounds confusing, check out the trailer for a flavour of this genuine cult classic.