Clint actually did “Fistful of Dollars” for $15,000. Leone was sued by Kurosawa for ripping off his “Yojimbo” shogun plot for “Fistful of Dollars” and had to pay him all the box office proceeds.
Clint didn’t really like working with Leone who spoke only a bit of English. The Italian stunt rules were also pretty loose compared to Hollywood and the scene with Tuco’s head next to the train when cuts off his chains nearly killed Eli Wallach. They had to dig a lower pit for him at the last minute to avoid having some hanging parts of the train decapitate him.
The best Morricone cue IMHO in the movie is the “Ecstasy of Gold” music that follows Tuco as he hunts for the grave that contains Bill Carson. Metallica used this as their intro for years and the Modella beer commercial is now using it as well.
I never could follow the original release because it was edited for time by the studio execs and destroyed the continuity. Once the director’s original cut was available it all made beautiful sense.
Classical guitar + fingerstyle playing + Morricone's genius = a spot on my Favorites list.