★ The Original Holster
The original "Main with No Name" holster from the Clint Eastwood "Dollars Trilogy" of western films including "A Fistful of Dollars", "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Last updated
The original "Main with No Name" holster from the Clint Eastwood "Dollars Trilogy" of western films including "A Fistful of Dollars", "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Last updated
Clint Eastwood's holster in the Dollars Trilogy was made by Andy Anderson who was a famous leatherworker in Hollywood. It was reused and reworn by Eastwood in both Hang 'Em High (1968) and High Plains Drifter in (1973) so it appeared in at least 5 Eastwood Westerns.
It's rumoured that the holster first appeared in the TV show Rawhide and that there were two iterations of the holster used throughout Eastwood's westerns.
Andy Anderson ran the "Andy Anderson Gunfighter Shop" in North Hollywood and he created the original holster for Eastwood. As well as other items from his costume like the wrist brace and possibly the hat band.
The Andy Anderson gun rigs were made popular by a number of movies and the fast draw craze of the 50’s and 60’s.
Sergio Leone met personally with Andy Anderson prior to the Filming of A Fistful of Dollars and went over all of the gun leather to be used in the movie which Andy would create. The meeting was held at the Andy Anderson Gunfighter Shop in Hollywood, CA. and at the time of the meeting Andy had been working in his shop. When Andy Anderson and Sergio Leone met, Sergio Leone noticed Andy Anderson was wearing a Leather Wrist Brace Andy had Handmade on his wrist and when he asked Andy about the wrist strap Andy explained he had a Shrapnel Injury from World War II which affected his wrist.
By the mid 1970s, Anderson had suffered a series of strokes and was forced to retire and close the [North Hollywood] Gunfighter shop.
During the "hay-day" of Fast Draw there were three major makers of Fast Draw rigs. These were Arvo Ojala, Andy Anderson and Alfonso Pineda, known as Alfonso of Hollywood. Interestingly, Anderson and Alfonso both started in the Hollywood leather business working in Arvo's holster shop. - Bob Arganbright and Omar Pineda
Both Arvo Ojala and his mentor Andy Anderson have passed away. Alfonso Pineda's son Omar still sells Holsters to this day. Andy Anderson's old shop is now a Vegan restaurant.
The rig Clint used in those movies was the one he used in Rawhide I believe, certainly he had it for some time, and it would have acquired some dirt and sweat and sun exposure, all of which would add to the darker colour over time.
I recently had a viewer contact me with some great information about the Andy Anderson walk n draw rigs, he’d visited with Andy in his Leather shop back in the 70's, and commissioned an Eastwood replica rig from him, which he received in due course, from that he was able to give me accurate dimensions of the gunfighter stitch detail, and the contour of the gunbelt, so I have now updated my patterns to reflect this new information.
He also sent a copy of Andy’s gun leather catalogue from that period, very interesting, not least the prices!, of course it’s all relative to the times you live in. - John Feeney, London Jacks
Florian Leloup, has created a fantastic detailed analysis of the holster(s) from Eastwood's westerns and you should miss it. You can find it here.
