1. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Original: Yojimbo (1961) Quite a well known one to start with, it doesnt fall into the remake of a foreign film category because director Sergio Leone and co. flatly denied the suggestion that A Fistful of Dollars was solely inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. When A Fistful of Dollars was released in 1964 it was a huge success. Unfortunately for Sergio Leone and the films producers, this attracted some unwelcome attention. Leone received a seemingly congratulatory note from Kurosawa saying, nice movie, but it was MY movie. A lawsuit would then ensue.
After Leone initially ignored the lawsuit, Toho, the Japanese production and distribution company behind Yojimbo, settled out of court for over $100,000 and 15% of the worldwide box office of A Fistful of Dollars, costing the makers of A Fistful of Dollars far more than Toho were initially asking for. The similarities between the films are evident, with almost exactly the same plot, characters and themes. Kurosawas Yojimbo stars Toshiro Mifune (Seven Samurai) as a ronin, a stranger, who plays two sides of a town off against each other for his own gain. Leones A Fistful of Dollars uses the same ideas under the guise of one of his infamous Spaghetti Westerns, whilst being the first to star a then unknown Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name.
Despite not denying the similarities, Leone did eventually deny that Yojimbo was his source, citing an 18th century play by Carlo Goldini as not only the source of his film, but Yojimbo too, suggesting that origins were actually in Italian literature, proposing he was taking the story back home again. Another influence corroborated by Leone was the 1929 Dashiell Hammett novel Red Harvest, not Kurosawas earlier movie. Whether Leone was actually influenced by Yojimbo remains unconfirmed, but the courts obviously thought there was enough evidence to suggest some guilt. Walter Hill, the director of the 1996, Bruce Willis starring film Last Man Standing, was wise to Leones possible error, giving full credit to Kurosawa (and Yojimbo writing partner Ryuzo Kikushima) on his movie.