Spaghetti Western
Encyclopedia
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre
of Western
films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone
's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and directed by Italians
. The correct term for these films, in Italy, is western all'italiana (Italian-Style Western); British critics tended to use the label Continental Western to describe these films, and the phrase 'Spaghetti Western' was originally created by American critics as a derogatory name for this group of films but has over time become accepted by fans of the films. The language in which the movies were originally released was Italian
as well, but as most of the films featured multilingual casts and sound was invariably post-synched, most Westerns all'Italiana do not have an official dominant language.
The typical team was made up of an Italian director, Italo-Spanish
technical staff, and a cast of Italian, Spanish, German and American actors, sometimes a fading Hollywood star
and sometimes a rising one like the young Clint Eastwood
in three of Sergio Leone
's films. The films were shot in inexpensive locales resembling the American Southwest, particularly in the Tabernas Desert
in southeastern Spain, such as at the studios of Texas Hollywood
, Mini Hollywood
, and Western Leone
. Other filming locations used were in central
and southern Italy, such as the parks of Valle del Treja (between Rome
and Viterbo
), the area of Camposecco (next to Camerata Nuova
, characterized by a karst topography
), the hills around Castelluccio, the area around the Gran Sasso mountain, and the Tivoli
's quarries and Sardinia
.
Typical themes in Spaghetti Westerns include the Mexican Revolution
, often seen from a leftist political perspective (e.g., Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General
, 1966; Sergio Corbucci
's The Mercenary
, 1968), a focus on revenge (e.g., Duccio Tessari's The Return of Ringo
, 1966; Giorgio Ferroni's Blood for a Silver Dollar
, 1965), the myth of the bounty hunter/bounty killer (e.g., Sergio Corbucci
's The Great Silence
, 1968; Robert Hossein
's Cemetery Without Crosses, 1969), with the films often taking place on the border region shared by Mexico
and the United States
, a feature facilitated by the arid locations in which many of these films were shot (for example, Almeria
in the South-East of Spain).
's 1910 opera La fanciulla del West
; it is sometimes considered the first spaghetti western.
In film, these Westerns were originally characterized by their production in the Italian language, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid and minimalist cinematography which eschewed (even "demythologized") many of the conventions of earlier Westerns. This was partly intentional and partly the context of a different cultural background. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1980. Their settings include Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, as well as Mexico; many have the Mexican Revolution
as a theme.
In the 1960s, critics recognized that the American genres were rapidly changing. The genre most uniquely American, the Western, seemed to be evolving into a new rougher beast. For many critics, Sergio Leone
's films were part of the problem. Leone's Dollars Trilogy
(1964–1967) was neither the entirety nor the beginning of the "spaghetti Western" cycle in Italy, but for Americans Leone's films represented the true beginning of the Italian invasion of their privileged cultural form.
Christopher Frayling
describes 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." He remarks that few critics dared admit that they were, in fact, "bored with an exhausted Hollywood genre." Pauline Kael
, he notes, was willing to acknowledge this critical ennui and thus appreciate how a film such as Akira Kurosawa
's Yojimbo (1961) "could exploit Western conventions while debunking its morality." Frayling and other film scholars such as Bondanella argue that this revisionism was the key to Leone's success and, to some degree, to that of the spaghetti Western genre as a whole.
.
The best-known and perhaps archetypal films were the "Man with No Name
" trilogy (or "Dollars Trilogy
") directed by Sergio Leone
, starring Clint Eastwood
and with the musical scores of Ennio Morricone
: A Fistful of Dollars
(1964), For a Few Dollars More
(1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(1966). The success of the second film cemented Leone's reputation as a Western director and helped make international stars of Eastwood, Van Cleef, and composer Morricone. Sergio Leone
defined the style of the Spaghetti Western.
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Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and directed by Italians
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
. The correct term for these films, in Italy, is western all'italiana (Italian-Style Western); British critics tended to use the label Continental Western to describe these films, and the phrase 'Spaghetti Western' was originally created by American critics as a derogatory name for this group of films but has over time become accepted by fans of the films. The language in which the movies were originally released was Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
as well, but as most of the films featured multilingual casts and sound was invariably post-synched, most Westerns all'Italiana do not have an official dominant language.
The typical team was made up of an Italian director, Italo-Spanish
technical staff, and a cast of Italian, Spanish, German and American actors, sometimes a fading Hollywood star
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
and sometimes a rising one like the young Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
in three of Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's films. The films were shot in inexpensive locales resembling the American Southwest, particularly in the Tabernas Desert
Tabernas Desert
The Tabernas Desert is a desert in Spain. It is located in the province of Almería about north of the capital, Almería, in the Tabernas municipality...
in southeastern Spain, such as at the studios of Texas Hollywood
Texas Hollywood
Texas Hollywood is a Western-styled theme park in the province of Almería in Spain. Built in the early 1970s, it lies a few kilometers to the north of the N-340 road highway , near the town of Tabernas. Around 1977, Rafa Molina, a stuntman, bought the set for US$6,000 to improve his job...
, Mini Hollywood
Mini Hollywood
Mini Hollywood or Oasys is a Spanish Western-styled theme park, located off the 364km mark of the N-340 road, near the town of Tabernas in the province of Almería, Andalusia. Originally known as Yucca City, the set was designed by Carlo Simi and built for Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More in...
, and Western Leone
Western Leone
Western Leone is a Western-style theme park in the province of Almeria, Andalusia. Located at the 378.9km mark on the A-92 motorway, it is the smallest of three such theme parks in the Tabernas Desert; the other two are Mini Hollywood and Texas Hollywood...
. Other filming locations used were in central
Central Italy
Central Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency...
and southern Italy, such as the parks of Valle del Treja (between Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Viterbo
Viterbo
See also Viterbo, Texas and Viterbo UniversityViterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 80 driving / 80 walking kilometers north of GRA on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and...
), the area of Camposecco (next to Camerata Nuova
Camerata Nuova
Camerata Nuova is a comune in the Province of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about 50 km east of Rome.Camerata Nuova borders the following municipalities: Cappadocia, Cervara di Roma, Rocca di Botte, Subiaco, Vallepietra....
, characterized by a karst topography
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
), the hills around Castelluccio, the area around the Gran Sasso mountain, and the Tivoli
Tivoli, Italy
Tivoli , the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills...
's quarries and Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
.
Typical themes in Spaghetti Westerns include the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, often seen from a leftist political perspective (e.g., Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General
A Bullet for the General
A Bullet for the General , is a 1966 film which stars Gian Maria Volonté, Klaus Kinski, Lou Castel and Martine Beswick. Originally entitled El Chucho, quién sabe?, it is the story of El Chucho, the bandit, and Bill Tate who is a counter-revolutionary in Mexico...
, 1966; Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci was an Italian film director. He is best known for his very violent yet intelligent spaghetti westerns...
's The Mercenary
The Mercenary (film)
The Mercenary , also known as A Professional Gun, is a 1968 spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Corbucci. The film stars Franco Nero, Jack Palance, Tony Musante and Giovanna Ralli, and features a musical score by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai...
, 1968), a focus on revenge (e.g., Duccio Tessari's The Return of Ringo
The Return of Ringo
# Il ritorno di Ringo - Main Titles # The Disguise # Mariachi #1 # Violence # Sheriff Carson # The Fuentes # Mariachi #2 # Main Titles Instrumental...
, 1966; Giorgio Ferroni's Blood for a Silver Dollar
Blood for a Silver Dollar
Un dollaro bucato is a 1965 Italo-French Spaghetti Western film, directed by Giorgio Ferroni. Its stars Giuliano Gemma. On release in the United States, nearly all of the cast members and production team had their names changed for the English audience...
, 1965), the myth of the bounty hunter/bounty killer (e.g., Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci was an Italian film director. He is best known for his very violent yet intelligent spaghetti westerns...
's The Great Silence
The Great Silence
The Great Silence , or The Big Silence, is an Italian spaghetti western. It is widely considered by critics as the masterpiece of director Sergio Corbucci and is one of his better known movies, along with Django...
, 1968; Robert Hossein
Robert Hossein
Robert Hossein is a French film actor of Azeri origin, director and writer. He directed the 1982 adaption of Les Misérables, and appeared in Vice and Virtue, Le Casse, Les Uns et les Autres and Venus Beauty Institute...
's Cemetery Without Crosses, 1969), with the films often taking place on the border region shared by Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a feature facilitated by the arid locations in which many of these films were shot (for example, Almeria
Almería
Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...
in the South-East of Spain).
History
The American West as a dramatic setting in Italian productions goes back at least as far as Giacomo PucciniGiacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's 1910 opera La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
; it is sometimes considered the first spaghetti western.
In film, these Westerns were originally characterized by their production in the Italian language, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid and minimalist cinematography which eschewed (even "demythologized") many of the conventions of earlier Westerns. This was partly intentional and partly the context of a different cultural background. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1980. Their settings include Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, as well as Mexico; many have the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
as a theme.
In the 1960s, critics recognized that the American genres were rapidly changing. The genre most uniquely American, the Western, seemed to be evolving into a new rougher beast. For many critics, Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's films were part of the problem. Leone's Dollars Trilogy
Dollars Trilogy
The "Dollars Trilogy" , also known as the "Man with No Name Trilogy", refers to the three Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dollars , For a Few Dollars More , and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly .A Fistful of Dollars is an unofficial remake of...
(1964–1967) was neither the entirety nor the beginning of the "spaghetti Western" cycle in Italy, but for Americans Leone's films represented the true beginning of the Italian invasion of their privileged cultural form.
Christopher Frayling
Christopher Frayling
Sir Christopher John Frayling is a British educationalist and writer, known for his study of popular culture.-Biography:Frayling read history at Churchill College, Cambridge and gained a PhD in the study of Jean-Jacques Rousseau...
describes 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." He remarks that few critics dared admit that they were, in fact, "bored with an exhausted Hollywood genre." Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
, he notes, was willing to acknowledge this critical ennui and thus appreciate how a film such as Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's Yojimbo (1961) "could exploit Western conventions while debunking its morality." Frayling and other film scholars such as Bondanella argue that this revisionism was the key to Leone's success and, to some degree, to that of the spaghetti Western genre as a whole.
Notable films
The first entirely Italian western movie was Il terrore dell'Oklahoma (1959), directed by Mario AmendolaMario Amendola
Mario Amendola was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He wrote for 153 films between 1941 and 1987. He also directed 37 films between 1949 and 1975...
.
The best-known and perhaps archetypal films were the "Man with No Name
Man with No Name
The man with no name is a stock character in Western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy."...
" trilogy (or "Dollars Trilogy
Dollars Trilogy
The "Dollars Trilogy" , also known as the "Man with No Name Trilogy", refers to the three Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dollars , For a Few Dollars More , and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly .A Fistful of Dollars is an unofficial remake of...
") directed by Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
, starring Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
and with the musical scores of Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
: A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
(1964), For a Few Dollars More
For a Few Dollars More
For a Few Dollars More is a 1965 Italian spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Gian Maria Volonté. German actor Klaus Kinski also plays a supporting role as a secondary villain...
(1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone...
(1966). The success of the second film cemented Leone's reputation as a Western director and helped make international stars of Eastwood, Van Cleef, and composer Morricone. Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
defined the style of the Spaghetti Western.
Actors
A- Tony AnthonyTony Anthony (actor)Tony Anthony , is a former film actor, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his starring roles in spaghetti westerns.-Early career:...
B
- William Berger
- Barbara BouchetBarbara BouchetBarbara Bouchet, is a German-American actress and entrepreneur.She has acted in more than 80 films and television episodes and founded a production company that has produced fitness videos and books as well as owning a fitness studio...
- Frank BrañaFrank BrañaFrank Braña is a Spanish film actor.Also credited as Frank Blank, Francisco Brana, Frank Brana, Frank Branya, Francisco Braña or Paco Braña, his career has been mostly based in Spanish and Italian movies of the spaghetti-western, horror and sword and sandal genres, having worked in more than 200...
- Mario BregaMario BregaMario Brega was an Italian actor. His heavy build meant that he regularly portrayed a thug in his films particularly earlier in his career in westerns. Later in his career however, he featured in numerous Italian comedy films. Brega stood at and well over at his heaviest but after the 1960s...
- Charles BronsonCharles BronsonCharles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
- Yul BrynnerYul BrynnerYul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
C
- Claudia CardinaleClaudia CardinaleClaudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...
- Chuck ConnorsChuck ConnorsChuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
- James CoburnJames CoburnJames Harrison Coburn III was an American film and television actor. Coburn appeared in nearly 70 films and made over 100 television appearances during his 45-year career, and played a wide range of roles and won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction.A capable,...
- Alex CordAlex CordAlex Cord is an American actor who is perhaps best known for portraying the role of Archangel on the television series Airwolf.-Biography:...
- Richard CrennaRichard CrennaRichard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
D
- Brandon De WildeBrandon De WildeAndre Brandon deWilde was an American theatre and film actor. He was born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. Debuting on Broadway at the age of 7, De Wilde became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding and was considered a child...
E
- Clint EastwoodClint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
- George EastmanGeorge Eastman (actor)George Eastman is an Italian B-movie actor and screenwriter.Eastman was born in Genoa, Italy. He took his Americanized alias "George Eastman" when he was cast as a "heavy" in many spaghetti westerns made in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
- Jack ElamJack ElamWilliam Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...
F
- Henry FondaHenry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
G
- Gianni GarkoGianni GarkoGianni Garko is an Italian actor who found much fame as a leading man in Spaghetti Westerns...
- Giuliano GemmaGiuliano Gemma-Biography:Born in Rome, Gemma first worked as a stuntman, then was offered real acting parts by director Duccio Tessari, starting with the film Arrivano i titani . He also made an appearance in Luchino Visconti's Il Gattopardo as Garibaldi's General...
- Sancho GraciaSancho GraciaSancho Gracia is a Spanish motion picture and television actor.He made his acting debut in France in the 1963 film L'Autre femme opposite Annie Girardot. Since then he has appeared in more than eighty motion pictures including several Hollywood productions during the 1970s and in 1999's Outlaw...
H
- Brett HalseyBrett HalseyBrett Halsey , is an American film actor, sometimes credited as Montgomery Ford. He is best known as the original John Abbott on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, a role he held from May 1980 to March 1981, before being replaced by Jerry Douglas.-Career:Interested in acting since he was a...
- Richard HarrisonRichard Harrison (actor)Richard Harrison is an American B-movie actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s...
- Terence HillTerence HillTerence Hill is an Italian actor. He is best known for starring in multiple action and western films together with his longtime filmpartner Bud Spencer.-Biography:...
- George Hilton
- John HustonJohn HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
K
- Klaus KinskiKlaus KinskiKlaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
- Marianne KochMarianne KochMarianne Koch is a retired German actress of the 1950s and 1960s, best known for her appearances in spaghetti westerns and adventure films of the 1960s. She later worked as a television host and as a physician....
L
- Peter Lee LawrencePeter Lee LawrencePeter Lee Lawrence born Karl Hirenbach, , was a German actor. He enjoyed brief fame as a prolific leading man of Spaghetti Westerns before dying at the age of 29....
- John Phillip LawJohn Phillip LawJohn Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
M
- Guy MadisonGuy MadisonGuy Madison was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Robert Ozell Moseley in Pumpkin Center, California, Madison attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Coast Guard in...
- Toshiro MifuneToshiro MifuneToshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
- Tomas MilianTomas MilianTomás Milián is a Cuban-American actor best known for having worked extensively in Italian films from the late 1950s to the 1980s.-Career in Italy:...
- Gordon MitchellGordon MitchellGordon Mitchell was an American actor and bodybuilder.-Biography:Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in his Denver neighbourhood to deal with his tough companions. During World War II he served in the U.S...
- Ricardo MontalbanRicardo MontalbánRicardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
N
- Franco NeroFranco NeroFranco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
- Alex NicolAlex NicolFor the Distinguished Service Cross recipient, see Alexander Nicol.Alex Nicol was an American actor and director. Nicol appeared in many Westerns including The Man from Laramie...
P
- Jack PalanceJack PalanceJack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
- Slim PickensSlim PickensLouis Burton Lindley, Jr. , better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr...
- Luigi PistilliLuigi PistilliLuigi Pistilli was an Italian actor of stage, screen, and television. In theater, he was considered one of the country's best interpreters of Bertolt Brecht's plays in The Threepenny Opera and St Joan of the Stockyards....
- Hunt PowersJack BettsJack Richard Nelson Betts , also credited as Hunt Powers, is an American actor of film, stage, and television. A graduate of the Actors Studio, he started his career as a leading man in spaghetti westerns, before taking a career in supporting roles in American films.-Filmography:-External links:...
- Wayde PrestonWayde PrestonWayde Preston or William Erskine Strange was a television actor noted for the series Colt .45 and for his appearance as Waco Williams in a 1958 episode of Maverick entitled "The Saga of Waco Williams"...
R
- Fernando ReyFernando ReyFernando Casado Arambillet , best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and TV actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States...
- Burt ReynoldsBurt ReynoldsBurton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
- Jason RobardsJason RobardsJason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
S
- Fernando SanchoFernando SanchoFernando Sancho was a Spanish actor. Sancho was born in Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain, and died in Madrid after surgery....
- Bud SpencerBud SpencerBud Spencer is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer . He is known for past roles in spaghetti westerns together with his long time filmpartner Terence Hill...
- Anthony SteffenAnthony SteffenAnthony Steffen , pseudonym of Antônio Luiz de Teffé von Hoonholtz, was an Italian Brazilian actor who achieved fame as a leading man in over 25 Spaghetti Westerns.-Early life:...
- Rod SteigerRod SteigerRodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
- Woody StrodeWoody StrodeWoodrow Wilson Woolwine "Woody" Strode was a decathlete and football star who went on to become a pioneering black American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960...
- José SuárezJosé Suárez-Career:José Suárez made his debut in a short role in Altar Mayor , a very conventional film, whose director, Gonzalo Delgrás, had paid attention to him in his work as a train conductor in Asturias...
V
- Lee Van CleefLee Van CleefLee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...
- Dan van HusenDan van HusenDan van Husen is a German actor who has also performed in Hollywood films.-Career:Dan van Husen was born in Gummersbach. He has appeared in twenty Italo Westerns in six or seven years and then he branched out to diverse roles and genres...
- Gian Maria VolontéGian Maria VolontèGian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor. He is perhaps most famous outside of Italy for his roles as the main villain in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.-Early life:Volonté was born in Milan, and graduated in Rome in 1957...
W
- Eli WallachEli WallachEli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
- Patrick WaynePatrick WaynePatrick John Morrison, better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne , is an American actor, the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films in his career, including nine with his father...
- Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
- Frank WolffFrank Wolff (actor)Walter Frank Hermann Wolff was a versatile American actor whose prolific movie career began with roles in five 1958-61 Roger Corman productions and ended a decade later in Rome, after scores of appearances in European-made films, most of which were lensed in Italy.- Early life :A native of San...
- Robert WoodsRobert Woods (actor)Robert Woods, sometimes credited as Robert Wood, is a film and television actor. He is noted for extensive work in Spaghetti Westerns and in the European film industry from the 1960s to present day....
Directors
B- Enzo BarboniEnzo BarboniEnzo Barboni , sometimes credited by his pseudonym E.B. Clucher, was an Italian film director, cinematographer and screenwriter...
C
- Mario CaianoMario CaianoMario Caiano is an Italian film director, screenwriter and second unit director.Born in Rome, he has directed for nearly 50 films since 1961 and 27 films and TV scripts since 1954....
- Alberto CardoneAlberto CardoneAlberto Cardone was an Italian film director, screenwriter, second unit director and film editor of the 1960s.Cardone is best known for his Spaghetti Western films of the 1960s. He is best known for directing the films Seven Dollars on the Red, One Thousand Dollars on the Black and Twenty...
- Enzo G. CastellariEnzo G. CastellariEnzo G. Castellari is an Italian film director. He became famous during the 1960s by directing several spaghetti westerns with such titles as Go Kill and Come Back Enzo G. Castellari (born July 29, 1938) is an Italian film director. He became famous during the 1960s by directing several spaghetti...
- Sergio CorbucciSergio CorbucciSergio Corbucci was an Italian film director. He is best known for his very violent yet intelligent spaghetti westerns...
F
- Lucio FulciLucio FulciLucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombie and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...
L
- Sergio LeoneSergio LeoneSergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
P
- Gianfranco ParoliniGianfranco ParoliniGianfranco Parolini is an Italian film director. He is often credited as Frank Kramer. Among his films are The Sabata Trilogy, several sword and sandal films, most of the Kommissar X films and a number of Spaghetti Westerns.He claimed to have written over 100 thriller novels before becoming an...
S
- Sergio SollimaSergio SollimaSergio Sollima is an Italian former film director and script writer.Like many Italian cult directors, Sollima started his career by directing mostly sword and sandal movies that were very popular in the early 1960s. After the genre's popularity quickly died out, Sollima was among the first ones to...
T
- Ramón TorradoRamón TorradoRamón Torrado was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He directed 50 films between 1942 and 1978.-External links:...
V
- Tonino ValeriiTonino ValeriiTonino Valerii is an Italian film director, most known for his Spaghetti Westerns. Valerii started his film career as an assistant director on Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, before moving on to direct by himself...
Composers
B- Luis Bacalov
D
- Francesco De MasiFrancesco De MasiFrancesco De Masi was an Italian conductor and film score composer. He studied composition at the San Pietro a Maiella in Naples, under the guidance of Achille Longo, who was also his uncle. De Masi got interested in film music when Longo was asked to compose a soundtrack for a film, and he asked...
G
- Giampiero ReverberiGian Piero ReverberiGian Piero Reverberi is an Italian pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, and entrepreneur.After obtaining Diplomas in piano and composition from the Paganini Conservatory in Genoa, Reverberi worked in a wide range of media, including TV themes, spaghetti Western soundtracks to pop and rock...
M
- Ennio MorriconeEnnio MorriconeEnnio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
N
- Bruno NicolaiBruno NicolaiBruno Nicolai was an Italian film music composer, orchestra director and musical editor most active in the 1960s through the 1980s...
O
- Riz OrtolaniRiz OrtolaniRiziero "Riz" Ortolani is an Italian film composer.In the early 1950s Ortolani was founder and member of a jazz band of national Italian renown...
P
- Piero PiccioniPiero PiccioniPiero Piccioni , was an Italian lawyer turned major film score composer. A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 200 film soundtracks.-Early life:...
T
- Armando TrovaioliArmando TrovaioliArmando Trovaioli is an Italian film composer and pianist with over 200 credits as composer and/or conductor, many of them jazz scores for low-budget exploitation films of the Commedia all'italiana genre. He collaborated with Vittorio De Sica on a number of projects, including one segment of...
U
- Piero UmilianiPiero UmilianiPiero Umiliani was an Italian composer of film scores, and is most famous for his song "Mah Nà Mah Nà".-Biography:Umiliani was born in Florence, Tuscany...
See also
- Revisionist WesternRevisionist WesternThe Revisionist Western, Modern Western or Anti-Western traces to the mid 1960s and early 1970s as a sub-genre of the Western movie....
- Zapata Western
- ZWAMZWAMZWAM was a youth movement which emerged in Antananarivo, Madagascar in 1972 to support the student protests against the rule of President Philibert Tsiranana. The name has various interpretations, including "Malagasy Western Slave Youth" and "Zatovo Warriors' Association of Malagasy"...
, a youth movement in Madagascar inspired by Spaghetti Westerns
Further reading
- Frayling, Christopher. Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. Rev. ed. New York: I. B. Taurus, 1998. Print.
- Liehm, Mira. Passion and Defiance: Film in Italy from 1942 to the Present. Berkeley: U of California P, 1984. Print.
- McClain, William. "Western, Go Home! Sergio Leone and the "Death of the Western" in American Film Criticism." Journal of Film & Video 6.2 (2010): Vol. 62 Issue 1/2, p52-66. Web. 2010
- Weisser, Thomas, Spaghetti Westerns: the Good, the Bad and the Violent — 558 Eurowesterns and Their Personnel, 1961–1977. (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1992)
External links
- The Best Spaghetti Westerns You Haven't Seen at AMCtv.com
- The Spaghetti Western Database
- 10,000 Ways to Die Book about Spaghetti Westerns made between 1963 and 1973, released under a Creative Commons license by its author Alex CoxAlex CoxAlexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...
. - www.imagesjournal.com