20 Great Movies That Were Accused Of Being Rip-Offs

10. A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)

Sergio Leone's first western defined the traits and visual tropes of the "spaghetti western" subgenre, and made a star of Clint Eastwood, whose stoic "Man With No Name" is still hailed as one of the most iconic characters ever. The story concerns a drifter who rides into a small town on the US/Mexican border, gets involved with two rival families, and begins to play them off against one another. So basically it's Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo was cowboys, then? How Much Of A Rip-Off Are We Talking? So much of a rip-off, that Japan's Toho company successfully sued the filmmakers when they realised how similar the overall storyline was. Sergio Leone acknowledged that he had essentially repackaged the samurai flick Yojimbo as a western (the story beats are pretty much identical), and though he was obviously concerned that somebody had copied his flick, Akira Kurosawa still branded a Fistful of Dollars as a "fine film." But let's face it: it's a clear rip-off. Overall Rip-Off Rating: 5/5