TheDollarstrilogy by Sergio Leone are some of the most iconicWesternsof all time, let alone among those out of Italy, but they luckily have many amazing peers. The Western was an incredibly popular genre throughout the 1950s, but as its conventions of black-and-white morality began to grow stale, audiences became bored of the slow, repetitive films set in the American West. Fortunately, Italian filmmakers were there to pick up the slack in the ’60s and ’70s, unleashingthe so-called “Spaghetti Western"on eager international viewers.
Compared to the Westerns of the 50s, Spaghetti Westerns tend to have much looser sense of morality, taking place in the jaw-dropping backdrops of the American Southwest with plots that took advantage of Europe’s native Spanish speakers. Of these, by far the most famous isSergio Leone’sDollarstrilogy, which made up some of the most iconic work of star Clint Eastwood. As great as these films are, there are plenty of other Spaghetti Westerns that evoke the same gripping sense of tension, nostalgia, and wonder.
Perhaps the most famous Spaghetti Western outside ofClint Eastwood’s workis the fittingly-titledOnce Upon A Time in the West.The star-studded story sees Henry Fonda’s Frank sent to the town of Flagstone to strong-arm a stubborn landowner into selling his valuable water-rich plot to a tyrannical railroad baron, hoping to turn Flagstone into the next stop on his lucrative line. When the intimidation turns into murder, Frank pins the killing on a local bandit, the desperado teams up with a mysterious drifting gunslinger to protect the man’s widow.
Once Upon a Time in the Westis indicative of a consolidation of power in pop culture that the Spaghetti Western enjoyed at the tail end of the ’60s. The film borrows heavily from tropes of theDollarstrilogy, from mysterious wandering gunslingers with strange mononyms to classic stand-offs at high noon. True to its name, the film employs a sort of fairy-tale veil of mysticism, officially cementing the efforts of Italian Western filmmakers as the stuff of legend.
9Keoma
Perhaps The Last True Spaghetti Western
IfOnce Upon A Time in the Westensured that the Spaghetti Western was a cinematic movement in and of itself,Keomarepresents one of the very last gasps of the genre’s time in the sun. The plot revolves around the eponymous gunslinger returning to his hometown on the border following the violence and carnage of the Civil War. He finds his home under the tyrannical control of an unruly gang, with each of his three half-brothers joining forces with the despotic leader Caldwell to further their own desires.
Keomamay represent the very last time the Spaghetti Western was relevant in pop culture, with director Enzo G. Castellari missing out on the genre’s golden age by a handful of years, but it ends the great experiment with a bang.Keomastands out for its visual appeal and its willingness to play with the timeframe of its narrative, heavily employing flashbacks to set the scene. The only thing the film is missing to put it on the same level as Sergio Leone’s work is a compelling soundtrack, a common complaint among detractors.
Not to be confused with the more recent Tarantino filmDjango Unchained,Djangois one of many Westerns that emulatedthe great samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. Specifically, the plot ofDjangogives its dues toYojimboas a sort of very loose adaptation. The drifting hero Django, carrying a mysterious coffin everywhere he goes, comes up against a dastardly group terrorizing a ghost town, saving one of their victims from being buried alive along the way.
Djangois known for embodying the enhanced violence of the Spaghetti Western compared to earlier staples of the genre, an aspect that is only matched by theDollarstrilogy. The action scenes are truly phenomenal, and the reveal of what exactly Django is carrying around in the coffin of his is one of the best surprises in Western history. Half ghastly pulp story and half mythologized hero worship,Djangois a great bit of dessert for anyone who finishes theDollarstrilogy hungry for more.
While the American Southwest was a favorite of Italian Western filmmakers, due to its ease of representation among the European countryside,The Great Silenceopts for a more unique setting. Taking place in the snow-covered plains of Snow Hill, Utah in the Winter, the film centers on a mute gunslinger simply referred to as “Silence”. Silence takes it upon himself to challenge a gang of bounty hunters who overstep their boundaries in their greed, leading to a perilous showdown in the isolated environment.
From the thoughtful, muted soundscape drowned in the muffling of the snow to the uniquely silent protagonist,The Great Silencelives up to its name with an interesting sort of novelty. But under the hood, all the usual moral quandaries and brutal gunfights typical of a Spaghetti Western are at full attention, making the film a unique twist on a reliable formula. As a more quiet, contemplative Spaghetti Western,The Great Silencecan’t be missed.
For the most part, theroles of the notorious Lee Van Cleefare villainous, most famously playing opposite Clint Eastwood as the sadistic killer Angel Eyes. However, the cat-eyed star was occasionally allowed to be the hero, as inThe Big Gundownby another Segio, Sergio Sollima. Here, Van Cleef lends his talents as Corbett, a famed bandit-hunter who is offered a retirement in the Senate by a wealthy railroad baron if he can avenge the death of his 12-year-old daughter.
Val Cleef is phenomenal as a weary hero, his electrifying screen presence serving even better as a hero than as a villain. The gorgeous locales he tears through in search of one of the genre’s most despicable villains are simply breathtaking, and the final “big gundown” the title promises is more than satisfying, even if a knife is brought to the gunfight. Anyone grasping for more Van Cleef movies after theDollarstrilogy would do well to start here.
Yet another classic spearheaded by Lee Van Cleef,Death Rides A Horsemakes the most out of the Spaghetti Western’s comparatively darker themes and storytelling. This time around, Van Cleef is a bandit who is framed for an armed robbery he didn’t commit by four men. He joins forces with another gunslinger seeking revenge on the group, Phillip Law’s Bill Meceita, a cowboy whose father was killed and whose mother and sister were sexually assaulted by them.
Revenge stories are quite commonplace in Spaghetti Westerns, but it’s the team-up of two wronged parties that makesDeath Rides A Horseso particularly compelling. Even for the genre, the film isn’t afraid to get especially dark, daring audiences to root for its protagonists as they perpetrate violent shoot-outs. The shocking conflict that eventually arises between the two vengeance-seekers makes for an especially gripping final act.
One interesting aspect of Spaghetti Westerns compared to previous American-made fare is their willingness to ask hard questions about the United States' dark past, with manyWesterns based on real historical eventsoffering direct political commentary. Among them isA Bullet for the General, which takes place in the midst of the Mexican Revolution. When a revolutionary leader robs a train at the same time as an American outlaw, the two form a fast friendship.
As the narrative progresses, however, the exact relationship between Gian Maria Volontè’s El Chucho and Lou Castel’s Bill Tate is made unclear. Bill’s true motivations remain a mystery, and his role in the revolution becomes quite precarious. Full of thrilling action setpieces, whatA Bullet for the Generallacks in style it more than makes up for with daring firefights and political intrigue.
Yet another amazing Spaghetti Western commanded by the great Lee Van Cleef,Sabatamight be one of his best characters. As Sabata, Van Cleef’s mission is simple: Stop the absurd plan of a criminal gang to rob a bank and use the money to buy up all the land in a frontier town, selling it to a railroad company for an even fatter profit. Surrounding him is a rival gunslinger, played by William Berger, and the ever-present comedic stylings of Pedro Sanchez as a motor-mouthed bandit.
Sabatastands out for just how fun and colorful it is, with daring cinematography that playfully subverts the edgier tales of its peers. The massive explosions and specialty trick weapons certainly help provide for this visual feast, including one of the best instrument-shaped guns until Robert Rodriguez’sDesperado.For a more playful side of Van Cleef’s register, look no further thanSabata.
2The Return Of Ringo
Forced The Best Italian Directors To Keep Up
TheDollarstrilogy was far from the only Spaghetti Western to form a loose series, as evidenced byThe Return of Ringo.A sequel toA Pistol for Ringo, Giuliano Gemma stars as the returning Ringo, a Civil War veteran who returns home to find that his wife has been abducted by (or absconded with voluntarily) a gang of Mexican bandits. Tracking the group across the border using a disguise, Ringo secretly tries to figure out if his wife still has feelings for him, or if she’s more infatuated with the bandits' leader.
Music is an important element to the dialogue-sparse Spaghetti Westerns, andThe Return of Ringohas some of the best in the genre. Beyond the epic, sweeping score, the ambiguous mystery and personal stakes at the heart of the story help the film enter the rare canon ofsequels better than their original predecessors. Both movies were massive hits in their native Italy, leading a hilarious epidemic of Ringo copycats in their wake.
LikeSabata, They Call Me Trinityhearkens back to the most underrated element of theDollarstrilogy, its sense of humor. A full-blown Western comedy, the tale regards two brothers who lend their skills to a group of Mormons who draw the ire of a tyrannical landowner. Interestingly,They Call Me Trinitywas meant to be another straight-laced shoot-em-up, but only evolved into a comedy once production began.
Looking at the finished product, it’s easy to see why. The cast and crew ofThey Call Me Trinityclearly had a blast, from the excellent chemistry of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer to the outrageous slapstick routines. That being said,They Call Me Trinitystill holds plenty of beauty thanks to the direction ofDjangocinematographer Enzo Barboni. Though perhaps not the most famous,They Call Me Trinityis a phenomenal SpaghettiWesternfor those that enjoyed the comedic elements of theDollarstrilogy the most.
