Many of these films enjoyed both good takes at the box office and attention from critics. Some movies that were not very successful at the box office[36] still earn a "cult" status in some segment of the audience because of certain exceptional features in story and/or presentation. I Don't!, Boot Hill and Ace High directed by Giuseppe Colizzi. "BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO THE SPAGHETTI WESTERN", The Westerners: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Writers and Producers, "Top 100 Western Movies - Rotten Tomatoes", "Why Hollywood can't get enough Akira Kurosawa remakes", "Western Films-Sergio Leone's 'Spaghetti' Westerns", "Mini Hollywood Almeria, Wild West attraction in Spain", "Diamante Lobo - The Spaghetti Western Database", "Happy Birthday 'Fanciulla' — Puccini's Spaghetti Western Turns 100", "Bozzetto: "Così ho inventato lo spaghetti western, "Weekly Classics: Bollywood's Curry Western", "Untold Stories: Bollywood and the Soviet Union", "Why Django Unchained's Slavery Tale Had to Be a Spaghetti Western", Macaroni Combat / Euro War / Spaghetti War, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spaghetti_Western&oldid=993693306, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The Wild West setting was replaced by an Eastern setting in the steppes of the Caucasus, while Western stock characters such as "cowboys and Indians" were replaced by Caucasian stock characters such as bandits and harems. I feel more qualified to make a good Western than most American directors.”, Born in Rome in 1929, Leone, the son of director Vincenzo Leone, entered the industry at the age of 16 as an assistant to Italian director Vittorio De Sica on the classic 1946 film, “The Bicycle Thief.”, Over the next 20 years he worked on 58 productions, assisting such directors as Fred Zinnemann, William Wyler and Robert Wise on films such as “The Nun’s Story,” “Ben Hur” and “Helen of Troy.”. Joe Hamman starred as Arizona Bill in films made in the French horse country of Camargue 1911–12.[19]. In both cases Lee Van Cleef carries on as the older hero versus Giuliano Gemma and John Phillip Law, respectively. In later years there were "return of stories", Django 2 with Franco Nero and Troublemakers with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. Guess he did so, in order to laugh rather than cry while contemplating the inadequate budget of 20 million Pesetas (some 120,000 Euros). The Spaghetti Western – so-called due to its low-budget Italian production – is a thrice-removed facsimile of the real thing, passed down through pulp literature via American film adaptation. “He was a person whom everyone will miss so much, because, among other things, he was a real genius.”. Beside the first three Spaghetti Westerns by Leone, a most influential film was Sergio Corbucci's Django starring Franco Nero. But it is my film". Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978. Westernul spaghetti sau westernul italian este porecla unui larg sub-gen de filme occidentale care au apărut la mijlocul anilor 1960, inspirate de stilul unic al regizorului italian Sergio Leone și care au avut succes internațional la box-office.A fost numit astfel de majoritatea criticilor americani deoarece au fost produse și regizate de către italieni. Leone’s extensive use of Monument Valley as a location for the film was considered a homage to John Ford, the legendary director who favored the same scenic northern Arizona mesa land in his Westerns. The film won the young director a wide following and a flood of offers to direct similar features. The Spaghetti Western, also known as Italian Western or (primarily in Japan) Macaroni Western, is a broad subgenre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. In the beginning some films mixed some of these new devices with the borrowed US Western devices typical for most of the 1963–64 Spaghetti Westerns. L.A. County’s explosion of COVID-19 hospitalization is literally off the charts, forcing officials to draw new ones. But he used his real name in later films, and won a cult following in this country because of his careful attention to historical detail and infusion of realism. [4] The denomination for these films in Italy is western all'italiana (Italian-style Western). With the spaghetti western, the Italian genre cinema reached its zenith. [2] The term was used by American critics and those in other countries because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians. ), an avenger and a con-man (The Dirty Outlaws), an outlaw posing as a sheriff and a bounty hunter (Man With the Golden Pistol aka Doc, Hands of Steel) and an outlaw posing as his twin and a bounty hunter posing as a sheriff (A Few Dollars for Django). Directed by Sergio Leone. But he insisted, “I know more about the West than most Americans. Examples include: a lawman and an outlaw (And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave), an army officer and an outlaw (Bury Them Deep), an avenger and a (covert) army officer (The Hills Run Red), an avenger and a (covert) guilty party (Viva! However, in response to the growing commercial success of various shades of sex films, there was a greater exposure of naked skin in some Spaghetti Westerns, among others Dead Men Ride (1971) and Heads or Tails (1969). OR Books (2015). [3], According to veteran Spaghetti Western actor Aldo Sambrell, the phrase "Spaghetti Western" was coined by Spanish journalist Alfonso Sánchez. The term is used by Fridlund (2006) pp. Leone said he made the film about Jewish gangsters because there were already too many films about Italian gangsters, including “The Godfather” and “The Godfather II.”, “I’ve always been fascinated by evil,” the director said in a 1982 interview with The Times, “because underneath you find that bad is sometimes better in a certain way than good. Sholay spawned its own genre of "Dacoit Western" films in Bollywood during the 1970s. [22] The Italians also made Wild Bill Hickok films, while the German twenties saw back-woods Westerns featuring Bela Lugosi as Uncas. Since there is no real consensus about where to draw the exact line between Spaghetti Westerns and other Eurowesterns (or other Westerns in general) one cannot say which one of the films mentioned so far was the first Spaghetti Western. An aide said Leone worked all day Saturday and was to have flown to the United States today to sign a production deal. The Italian "low" popular film production was usually low-budget and low-profit, and the easiest way to success was imitating a proven success. In the years to come, more than 500 westerns were produced in Italy. A celebrity from another sphere of culture is Italian author/film director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who plays a revolutionary man of the church in Requiescant. Similar "prodigal son"[32] stories followed, including Chuck Moll, Keoma, The Return of Ringo, The Forgotten Pistolero, One Thousand Dollars on the Black, Johnny Hamlet and also Seven Dollars on the Red. This page was last edited on 12 December 2020, at 00:03. In A Pistol for Ringo a traditional sheriff commissions a money-oriented hero played by Giuliano Gemma (with more pleasing manners than Eastwood's character) to infiltrate a gang of Mexican bandits whose leader is played typically by Fernando Sancho. Reviews of spaghetti westerns and Italian western movies available on DVD and Blu-ray. Use of pathos received a big boost with Sergio Corbucci's influential Django. In the former and partly the latter, the sex scenes feature coercion and violence against women. "[17] He remarks that few critics dared admit that they were, in fact, "bored with an exhausted Hollywood genre. Leone shot “A Fistful of Dollars” under the pseudonym Bob Robertson, believing it would be better received as an all-American product. Italian director Sergio Leone's cinematic style was so powerful and influential that it paved the way for a whole new Western subgenre, the Spaghetti Western. by Korano One "cult" Spaghetti Western that also has drawn attention from critics is Giulio Questi's Django Kill. . The wronged hero who becomes an avenger appears in many Spaghetti Westerns. Sep 1, 2020 - Explore Kenneth Blacklidge's board "Sergio Leone" on Pinterest. In Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly there is still the scheme of a pair of heroes vs. a villain but it is somewhat relaxed, as here all three parties were driven by a money motive. But it was drastically cut for U.S. release and got lukewarm reviews. Other "cult" items are Cesare Canevari's Matalo!, Tony Anthony's Blindman and Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent's Cut-Throats Nine (the latter among gore film audiences). [18], European Westerns are as old as filmmaking itself. These films have been listed among the best Westerns of any variety. But the reality is that close to 600 Westerns were produced in Europe between 1960 and 1980, and during it’s peak, Italy was churning out more than 40 Spaghetti Westerns a year. Spaghetti Western old hand Franco Nero also worked in this subgenre with Cipolla Colt and Tomas Milian plays an outrageous "quick" bounty hunter modeled on Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp in Sometimes Life Is Hard – Right Providence? For example, in Sergio Corbucci's Minnesota Clay (1964) that appeared two months after A Fistful of Dollars, an American style "tragic gunfighter" hero confronts two evil gangs, one Mexican and one Anglo, and (just as in A Fistful of Dollars) the leader of the latter is the town sheriff. Parolini made some more Sabata movies while Giuliano Carnimeo made a whole series of Sartana films with Garko. Spaghetti Western (30) Italo Western (27) Shootout (23) Street Shootout (21) Violence (21) Gunfight (19) ... Two bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a Western outlaw. The Spaghetti Western was born, flourished and faded in a highly commercial production environment. Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns had a profound influence upon the Western in this country and served to revitalize one of our few uniquely American art forms. He betrays and plays the gangs against one another in order to make money. Even though it is hinted at in some films, like Django Kill and Requiescant, open homosexuality plays a marginal part in Spaghetti Westerns. Clint Eastwood's first American Western film, Hang 'Em High (1968), incorporates elements of Spaghetti Westerns. In the years following, the use of cunning and irony became more prominent. Leone's films and other "core" Spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticised or even "demythologized"[12] many of the conventions of traditional U.S. Westerns. However, Leone’s imagination was captured by the American Westerns he saw as a child, so he raised $250,000 and went to Spain to shoot “A Fistful of Dollars,” despite the prevailing opinion that the genre was in decline. Fittingly enough Sabata is portrayed by Lee Van Cleef himself, while John Garko plays the very similar Sartana protagonist. An Italian critic has compared these comedies to American Bob Hope vehicles.[26]. The stories make fun of U.S. Western-style diligent farmers and Spaghetti Western-style bounty hunters. In the 1960s, critics recognized that the American genres were rapidly changing. They are opposed by an unstable partnership between a whistle-blower (Giuliano Gemma) and a political aide. Assuming a negative coronavirus test means it’s OK to attend gatherings “is a very dangerous strategy,” L.A. County’s health services director says. Sergio Leone made four more westerns (and would be involved in several others), and Morricone would score all of … Spaghetti Westerns have left their mark on popular culture, strongly influencing numerous works produced outside of Italy. Liehm, Mira. Italy’s Leone Film Group, the company founded by Spaghetti Western master Sergio Leone… What happened to Maria Bartiromo? This marked the beginning of Spain as a suitable film shooting location for any kind of European western. Giuliano Gemma starred in a series of successful films carrying this theme – Adiós gringo, For a Few Extra Dollars, Long Days of Vengeance, Wanted, and to some extent Blood for a Silver Dollar – where most often his character is called "Gary". Christopher Frayling, in his noted book on the Italian Western, describes American critical reception of the Spaghetti Western cycle as, to "a large extent, confined to a sterile debate about the 'cultural roots' of the American/Hollywood Western. Fury of Johnny Kid follows Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but (again) with a different ending – the loving couple leave together while their families annihilate each other. Apr 30, 2012 12:58 pm @olilyttelton. Here is informative podcast about spaghetti western. It’s very difficult to do, but I try not to romanticize too much. Even though his character is not named Django, Franco Nero brings a similar ambience to Texas, Adios and Massacre Time where the hero must confront surprising and dangerous family relations. Special interest audiences might also nurture a cult of the "Worst", as exemplified in the interest for a director like Ed Wood. Oct 14, 2017 - Explore Derick's board "Sergio Leone western" on Pinterest. Of the Western-related European films before 1964, the one attracting most attention is probably Luis Trenker's Der Kaiser von Kalifornien (1936), about John Sutter. [42], In the Soviet Union, the Spaghetti Western was adapted into the Ostern ("Eastern") genre of Soviet films. This was partly intentional and partly the context of a different cultural background.[13]. [citation needed] In this seminal film, the hero enters a town that is ruled by two outlaw gangs, and ordinary social relations are non-existent. In a career that spanned four decades, Leone is best known for the series of Westerns he made in Spain, Italy and eventually the United States in the 1960s. In 1968, the wave of Spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. Berkeley: U of California P, 1984. There\'s more to the spaghetti western genre than just Sergio Leone movies. There are similarities between the story of The Return of Ringo and the last canto of Homer's Odyssey. Director Sergio Leone, whose widely imitated films spawned the “spaghetti Western” genre and made Clint Eastwood an international celebrity, died of a heart attack Sunday in Rome. The Dollars Trilogy is the unofficial, overarching name assigned to Leone's trio of films. Some Italian Western films were made as vehicles for musical stars, like Ferdinando Baldi's Rita of the West featuring Rita Pavone and Terence Hill. God's Gun was filmed in Israel.[16]. The humor started in those movies already, with scenes with comedic fighting, but the Barboni films became burlesque comedies. [9], Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars established the Spaghetti Western as a novel kind of Western. The Lumière brothers made their first public screening of films in 1895 and already in 1896 Gabriel Veyre shot Repas d'Indien ("Indian Banquet") for them. It was followed in 1961 by Savage Guns, a British-Spanish western, again filmed in Spain. The Trump election fraud story has the TV news biz asking. Column: The worst Christmas I ever had was the one that changed my life. In Italy, the American West as a dramatic setting for spectacles goes back at least as far as Giacomo Puccini's 1910 opera La fanciulla del West; it is sometimes considered to be the first Spaghetti Western. His Spaghetti Western equivalent would be the Western œuvre of Demofilo Fidani. mainly appear before A Fistful of Dollars had put its mark on the genre.