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.