Introduction

From The Spaghetti Western Database

Welcome to our BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO SPAGHETTI WESTERN. Start reading here if you are new to the genre and find yourself confused by the sheer overwhelming number of films. Let us introduce you to the idea and recommend a number of introductory films to watch.

What is a Spaghetti Western?

The Spaghetti Western is a sub-genre of the Western. It got its name from the fact that they were mostly produced or shot in Italy (in fact most of them partially in Spain, too). The genre was born in the 1960s when ambitious Italian directors tried to copy or imitate American western films. Some films became so successful that hundreds of others were made either to ride on the success of them or copy them. And so, the Spaghetti Western prospered until the mid- to late- 1970s.

Other terms used: Euro-Western (including westerns from Germany, Spain, Greece etc), Italowestern (a term mostly used in Germany), Macaroni Western (used in Japan) and Western All'Italiana (by the Italians).

What's special about it?

Spaghetti Westerns all share some common stylistic features. They usually look grittier than their American counterparts, they don't look as glorious and "clean". The subject matters are usually revenge, bounty hunting, or gang crime. Spaghetti Westerns usually can look from pretty cheap to extraordinarily high-budget, although the budget of Italian westerns were usually extremely low, that's why directors tried to exploit as much as possible, including interiors, stylistic filming devices (close-ups, cuts, etc.) or beautiful landscapes such as the sierras at Almería, Spain.

The Music in most Spaghetti Western is also different. Especially Ennio Morricone started introducing new instruments to the soundtrack, such as the electric guitar. Spaghetti Western soundtracks can be quite psychedelic, of epic sound or on the other hand, totally like an American western.

What should I watch first?

The introduction finishes with some examples of films you should start watching. We now have a list of top 20 films here, but some are ultra-famous and need to be pointed out:

A Fistful of Dollars: Sergio Leone's breakthrough film starring Clint Eastwood is said to be the birth point of all Spaghetti Western. Also watch For a Few Dollars more, the sequel.

Django: Sergio Corbucci's cult classic spawned several hundred other films with the word Django in the title. Should serve as a starting point for watching more films with Franco Nero. The film pushed the violence in the genre.

Once Upon a Time in the West: Sergio Leone's most American western is a great epic and stars Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson. The soundtrack is world famous.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: This over 3 hours long epic also by Sergio Leone is one of the most breathtaking Spaghetti Westerns ever made, and considered to be the greatest ever.

The Great Silence: Sergio Corbucci reinvented the genre by making a Spaghetti Western that takes place in the snow and stars the eccentric German actor Klaus Kinski.

God forgives, I don't: The first film with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.

Run, man, run: Sergio Sollima's great tale of Cuchillo the bandit. This is a possible starting point for watching more Spaghetti Westerns with Tomas Milian.

Books

Click here to check out some books about Spaghetti Westerns.

Contributions

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Dictionary

"Spaghetti Western is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most of them were produced by Italian studios. Originally they had in common the Italian language, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid, violent, minimalist cinematography that eschewed (some said "demythologized") many of the conventions of earlier Westerns - partly intentionally, partly as a result of the work being done in a different cultural background and with limited funds. The term was originally used disparagingly, but by the 1980s many of these films came to be held in high regard..." (continue reading at Wikipedia.org)