A Fistful of Spaghetti

This is one of those sub-genres that once I watch one (as per my my last review), I find myself running a damn marathon on the genre. It's one of my all time favourite sub-genres and I never get enough of them, I just gotta have more. I'm also constantly on the look for articles or podcasts sharing their love on these exciting films and hopefully getting some insight on great ones that I've missed out on.

There had been a few Italian/Spanish westerns since the 1940's (mostly comedy), however no mark was made. The genre as we know it began in Italy in 1964, and it all started with a young man named Sergio Leone. He'd been influenced by numerous westerns (most notably Vera Cruz) and had the idea to rip-off the Japanese masterpiece Yojimbo and set it in the American west. Thus he began filming in Almería, Spain (which became the standard in the genre) on a shoestring budget with the then TV star from Rawhide, Clint Eastwood. and upon the release of A Fistful of Dollars, came a flood of Italo-westerns (or Macaroni westerns as they're known in Japan).

Unlike the standard western, these had a far greater sense of grittiness to them, they'd done away with the Hollywood clichés and given the western the realism it was missing. Rather than filming on a hollywood set, they shot in southern Spain, sometimes even in the mud in actual old towns with dirty believable costumes, large wooden spoons and worn out trench coats. On top of all this they were injected with some of the greatest scores ever put to film (mostly due to the amazing Ennio Morricone) giving the pictures an operatic feel.

The characters were also darker, the villains were meaner but even the heroes weren't real heroes, they were always out for something. Sure we'd root for a particular protagonist, the bounty hunter, the "good" drifter, or the guy who was betrayed, but no one was pure in these pictures, "pureness" was dead, as was the 1950's. The hero was no more.

Alas this was to be short-lived, lasting up until the mid-1970s (which was known as the twilight era of the genre) with one of the very last being California. The directors of this movement had moved on to the next new sub-genre trend... Poliziesco. 

At first, the sub-genre was not met with the critical acclaim it deserved. Film critics Pauline Kael had completely dismissed them and Roger Ebert was not that impressed, in fact he'd given my number 1 on my list only 3 stars and said it was 30 min too long (years later he corrected this calling it a masterpiece). They were also considered overly violent with it's characters lacking morals (even though this was the old west). It wasn't until the release of films like Bonnie and Clyde or The Wild Bunch that America would have their share of realistic violence in a Hollywood film.

But as the years went on and VHS re-releases began, the cult following arose. By then, the genre had no doubt left it's mark on film and influenced numerous directors (most notably the great Quentin Tarantino), even some Hollywood westerns at the time, such as Hang 'em High.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great American westerns which I adore, Anthony Mann's work for instance, Howard Hawks of course, Budd Boetticher and even some of the John Ford films. I guess I was mostly put off by the standard cowboy vs Indian racist routine which thankfully wasn't prevalent in the European westerns as they were generally leftist leaning in politics. That, and I also needed that extra spaghetti sauce.

Well, here's my pick for my top 20 favourite Spaghetti Westerns beginning with my all time favourite film.

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone) 
2. For a Few Dollars More (1965, Sergio Leone) 
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Sergio Leone) 
4. Django (1966, Sergio Corbucci)
5. The Mercenary (1968, Sergio Corbucci)
6. A Fistful of Dollars (1964, Sergio Leone) 
7. Day of Anger (1967, Tonino Valerii)
8. Death Rides a Horse (1967, Giulio Petroni)
9. The Great Silence (1968, Sergio Corbucci)
10. The Return of Ringo (1965, Duccio Tessari)
11. Navajo Joe (1966, Sergio Corbucci)
12. A Pistol for Ringo (1965, Duccio Tessari)
13. The Big Gundown (1966, Sergio Sollima)
14. If You Meet Sartana... Pray for Your Death (1968, Gianfranco Parolini)
15. Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead (1971, Giuseppe Vari)
16. The Dirty Outlaws (1967, Franco Rossetti)
17. The Ugly Ones (1966, Eugenio Martín)
18. Keoma (1976, Enzo G. Castellari)
19. Ace High (1968, Giuseppe Colizzi) 
20. The Grand Duel (1972, Giancarlo Santi)

Honorary Mentions:
Compañeros (1970, Sergio Corbucci)

Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968, Ferdinando Baldi)

Duck, You Sucker (1971, Sergio Leone) 

The Hellbenders (1967, Sergio Corbucci)
They Call Me Trinity (1970, Enzo Barboni)