Spaghetti Westerns

BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO THE AMERICAN WEST

What is a Spaghetti Western?

The films of Sergio Leone are perhaps the best known examples of this Western subgenre. The term was used by critics because the majority of these films were produced and directed by Italians, beginning in the 1960s. By the 70's the demand for Spaghetti Westerns both in Italy and America died out, but many of the stylistic and narrative elements have survived and influenced the films of today.

Heroes of the Spaghetti Western

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SERGIO LEONE

Leone's films (especially The Dollar Trilogy) and other "core" Spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticised or even "demythologized" many of the conventions of traditional US Westerns. This was partly intentional and partly the context of a different cultural background.

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THE MAN WITH NO NAME

The man with no name (Italian: Uomo senza nome) is a character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" of Spaghetti Western films. When the typically low-budget production A Fistful of Dollars turned into a remarkable box office success, the industry eagerly lapped up its innovations. Most succeeding Spaghetti Westerns tried to get a ragged, laconic hero with superhuman weapon skill, preferably one who looked like Clint Eastwood.

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DJANGO

Beside the first three Spaghetti Westerns by Leone, a most influential film was Sergio Corbucci's Django starring Franco Nero. Django fits the defintion of a tragic hero. This hero (who increases the violence by mowing down his enemies with a machine gun and later having his hands broken by horse hoofs) is torn between two motives — money and revenge — and his choices bring misery to him and to a woman close to him.

Modern Interpretations and Opinions

Django Unchained and Rango are examples of popular movies from the past few years that appropriate styles and themes from the Spaghetti Western.

Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino, references Franco Nero's "Django" in the title, a clear tribute to the genre.
Critic David Edelstein in his review labeled the Spaghetti Western

"A DEGENERATE GENRE...BEST SAVORED FOR ITS SUBVERSIVENESS"
and that certainly applies to Tarantino's outrageous and violent tale.