10 Must-read Spaghetti Western Books - From Leone to the Genre’s Demise
Name another film genre than the spaghetti western that has both such an illustrious history and that has also had such a profound impact on world cinema. It changed the way the wild west was portrayed forever. It influenced Martial Arts movies just like it did action movies of the 80s. It brought the biggest stars to fly into the dusty deserts of southern Spain, back then a military dictatorship, and that for a good decade long. Italy’s filmmakers churned out over five hundred of these films over the years until the genre hat run its course and Italy’s film industry collapsed along with it. The ascent of color television and video would dismantle Cinecitta as much as a lack of vision of the industry. The Spaghetti Western helped the hopelessly outdated Western genre of Hollywood to reinvent itself, but the Italian film industry itself failed to recover and innovate, it went kaboom. Read about how the Wild West captured the imagination of European filmmakers from the German Karl May movies to the comedy Spaghetti Westerns of the late 70s. These 10 books will help you study Spaghetti Westerns of all colors. Yes there are more than 10 books, but we believe these will give you the most profound knowledge, the rest will come from browsing the SWDb ;) Enjoy.
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Any Gun Can Play: The Essential Guide to Euro-Westerns by Kevin Grant
"Any Gun Can Play puts the phenomenon into perspective, exploring the films' wider reaches, their recurrent themes, characters, quirks and motifs. It examines Euro-Westerns in relation to their American ancestors and the mechanics of the Italian popular film industry, and spotlights the unsung actors, directors and other artists who subverted the 'code' of the Western and dragged it into the modern age. Based on years of research backed up by interviews with many of the genre's leading lights, Any Gun Can Play will satisfy both connoisseurs and the curious. Complete with a foreword by Euro-Western legend Franco Nero, this stunningly illustrated reference guide takes aim at the lingering notion that the genre has little to offer beyond the 'Dollars' films and a fistful of others, exposing the full, vibrant history of the Euro-Western. Any Gun Can Play is positioned to become the go-to source for everything any fan of Euro-Westerns could ever want to know."
- Related reading: Book review
- Buy now: From Amazon.com | From Amazon.co.uk | From Amazon.de | From Amazon.fr | From Amazon.ca
10,000 Ways to Die: A Director's Take on the Spaghetti Western by Alex Cox
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- Related reading: Book review | Alex Cox's Top 20 Favourite Spaghetti Westerns | Interview with Alex Cox | From the same author: Ten Thousand Ways to Die
- Buy now: From Amazon.co.uk | From Amazon.com | From Amazon.de | From Amazon.it
Für ein paar Leichen mehr by Ulrich P. Bruckner
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- Related reading: Book review | Buchbesprechung | Interview with Ulrich Bruckner / Deutsch | From the same author: Leichen pflastern ihren Weg
- Buy now: From Amazon.de (out of print)
Once Upon a Time in Italy - The Westerns of Sergio Leone by Christopher Frayling
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- From the same author: Sergio Leone - Something to do with death (Review), Spaghetti Westerns - Cowboys and Europeans
- Buy now: From Amazon.com | From Amazon.it
Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics and Violence in Italian Cinema by Austin Fisher
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- Related reading: Go West, Comrade: Unearthing Politics in the Spaghetti Western (article by Austin Fisher)
- Buy now: From Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.com
Spaghetti Westerns - Cowboys and Europeans. From Karl May to Sergio Leone by Christopher Frayling
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- From the same author: Once Upon a Time in Italy
- Buy now: From Amazon.com | From Amazon.co.uk | From Amazon.de | From Amazon.it
Spaghetti Westerns: the Good, the Bad And the Violent by Thomas Weisser
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- Buy now: From Amazon.com | From Amazon.it
Italian Western - The Opera of Violence by Laurence Staig & Tony Williams
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- Buy now: From Amazon.com (out of print)
Once Upon a Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoer's Guide to Spaghetti Westerns by Howard Hughes
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- Related reading: Howard Hughes' Top 20 | From the same author: Spaghetti Westerns
- Buy now: From Amazon.com | From Amazon.it
Spaghetti Westerns by Howard Hughes
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- Related reading: Howard Hughes' Top 20 | From the same author: Once Upon a Time in the Italian West
- Buy now: From Amazon.co.uk | From Amazon.it
To continue, check out the rest in our Books corner. We also recommend you read our Introduction article. Many thanks for reading this list, do send us your feedback, subscribe to our Newsletter and follow us on the social channels. The SWDb relies on your support, so do consider a donation.
