Sergio Leone movies in order
Seven films, and the third one is a prequel to the two before it.
Updated 6 August 2026 · 7 titles tracked
Leone directed seven features, and three of them are the Dollars Trilogy — the only part of his filmography where order is a real question.
The short answer: watch them in release order, and know that the third film is chronologically first.
Leone films, in a suggested starting order
An entry path rather than release order. Toggle on the filmography page.
- 1The Good, the Bad and the Ugly1966 · Major work
- 2Once Upon a Time in the West1968 · Major work
- 3A Fistful of Dollars1964 · Major work
- 4For a Few Dollars More1965 · Major work
- 5Once Upon a Time in America1984 · Major work
- 6Duck, You Sucker!1971
- 7The Colossus of Rhodes1961
The Dollars Trilogy order
Release order is A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Watch them that way.
They are only loosely a trilogy. Clint Eastwood plays a nameless drifter in all three, but there is no continuing story and the films were not planned as a set. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is set during the American Civil War and therefore takes place before the other two — but it was made last, it is much bigger, and watching it first makes the earlier two feel small.
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964) — Kurosawa's Yojimbo, unlicensed. Toho sued and won.
- For a Few Dollars More (1965) — the best-plotted of the three, and Lee Van Cleef arrives.
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) — chronologically first, made last, and the one to watch third.
The Once Upon a Time films are not a trilogy
Despite the shared title, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Duck, You Sucker! (1971) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984) are unconnected. The naming is a distributor habit more than a plan.
Once Upon a Time in the West is the one to watch — Henry Fonda cast against fifty years of decency as the villain, and a fourteen-minute opening sequence with almost no dialogue.
Once Upon a Time in America, and which version
His last film, and the one most people rate highest. It runs 229 minutes in the European cut. American distributors re-edited it to 139 minutes and put the story in chronological order, which destroyed it — that version was a famous disaster and is the one to avoid.
A 251-minute extended version exists from 2012. The 229-minute cut is the standard one and the one to watch.
The debut
The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) is a sword-and-sandal epic made before he found what he was doing, and it is genuinely for completists only. Duck, You Sucker! (1971) — also sold as A Fistful of Dynamite — is the least seen of his mature films and better than that suggests.
Common questions
What order should I watch the Dollars Trilogy in?
Release order: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, then The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The third is chronologically first, but it was made last and is much bigger — watching it first makes the other two feel minor.
Are the Dollars films actually connected?
Only loosely. Clint Eastwood plays a similar nameless drifter in all three, but there is no continuing story and they were not planned as a trilogy.
How many films did Sergio Leone direct?
Seven features, from The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) to Once Upon a Time in America (1984).
Which version of Once Upon a Time in America should I watch?
The 229-minute European cut. Avoid the 139-minute American re-edit, which reorders the story chronologically and was disowned by everyone involved.