Spaghetti Western Project

Spaghetti Western is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most were produced by Italian studios. Originally they had in common the Italian language, low budgets, and a recognizable highly fluid, violent, and 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, particularly because it was hard to ignore the influence they had in redefining the entire idea of a western up to that point.

The best-known and perhaps archetypal Spaghetti Westerns were the so-called Man With No Name trilogy (or Dollars Trilogy) directed by Sergio Leone, starring the American then-TV actor Clint Eastwood and with musical scores composed by Ennio Morricone (all of whom are now synonymous with the genre): A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Atypically for the genre, the latter had a relatively high budget in excess of one million USD. His following film after the so-called “trilogy” was Once Upon A Time In The West, which is often lumped in with the previous three for its extremely similar style and accompanying score by Morricone, only differing itself from the others by the absence of Clint Eastwood in the starring role.

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.

Essential Top 20 Films, voted by Spaghetti-Western.net users.

01. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (555 points)

02. Once Upon a Time in the West (488 points)

03. For a Few Dollars More (477 points)

04. The Great Silence (330 points)

05. A Fistful of Dollars (316 points)

06. Django (225 points)

07. The Big Gundown (218 points)

08. The Mercenary/A Professional Gun (142 points)

09. Companeros (134 points)

10. A Fistful of Dynamite/Duck, You Sucker! (129 points)

11. Death Rides a Horse (124 points)

12. (tie) Face to Face (107 points)

13. (tie) A Bullet for the General (107 points)

14. My Name is Nobody (79 points)

15. Django, Kill… If You Live, Shoot! (68 points)

16. Day of Anger (64 points)

17. Cemetery without Crosses (49 points)

18. (tie) Keoma (43 points)

19. (tie) Sabata (43 points)

20. Mannaja (41 points)

At this point, this Project's aim is not to be a complete spaghetti western filmography. That would be a pretty unrealistic task, as such a filmography would comprise of hundreds of spags spanning the mid 60's to mid 70's. Instead the project will hopefully both serve as a starting point for people new to the genre, and help spaghetti afficionados and completists get their hands on some hard to find spags.