By David F Walker
Aug 10, 2026
The success and popularity of A Fistful of Dollars led to the production of hundreds of Eurowesterns. Production money came primarily from Italy, Germany, and Spain—where many of the films were shot. The casts were an international ensemble of actors selected to draw in audiences from various countries. American actors in a cast gave a film credibility, while a Polish actor like Klaus Kinski guaranteed audiences in Eastern European counties—leading to Kinski starring in more than twenty films. Casts and crews struggled to communicate with each other over language barriers, and frequently two actors in a scene wouldn’t even know what they were saying to each other, because neither spoke the same language. No dialog was recorded on set, with everything being recorded in postproduction, often times with American voice actors dubbing in new dialog for Italian, German, or Spanish actors—which explains why spaghetti westerns are notorious for their horrible dubbing. As this assembly-line filmmaking process cranked out new movies all the time, the films were released all over the world, in various languages, under as many as ten different titles. Yet despite the global popularity of the genre, only a select few spaghetti westerns made it to America during their heyday.
The era of the spaghetti western would prove to be a prolific time, especially for Italian cinema, as the Eurowestern allowed directors, writers, producers, actors, cinematographers and composers the chance to practice their craft; and expand the boundaries of filmmaking itself. The exciting creative experimentation that was going on under the auspices of the genre are evident in the way many of the films were shot and edited, and especially in the way music was composed and used as accompaniment to the action on screen. This is never more apparent than magical scores of Ennio Morricone, set to the action of some of the genre’s most important films, and the works of some of its most important directors.
Despite all the creative experimentation that was going on under the guise of making westerns, there was also a startling lack of originality. Italian exploitation cinema and its filmmakers have long been known for cannibalizing other films, including their own. The spaghetti western was no different. At times it almost seems as if there was only two or three plot lines making up the majority of all Eurowesterns. Hundreds of variations of the MSSVF (Mysterious Stranger Seeking Vengeance Films) sprang up, all of which were merely re-interpretations of A Fistful of Dollars (which of course was Yojimbo). Sergio Corbucci’s Django alone inspired over 30 “sequels.” Countless other films exploited the HGSPV (Hired Guns Saving Poor Villagers) theme (borrowed from Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai); which gave way to the politically charged leftist messages of the ZRF (Zappata-esque Revolution Film). Characters like the Evil Homosexual In White (EHIW), and the BTR (Bandito Turned Revolutionary) and scenarios like the Gatling Gun Massacre (GGM) became so common place, it’s a wonder audiences didn’t grow weary of seeing the same things done over and over again.
The spaghetti western audience, however, remained faithful, and the genre as a whole grew in popularity. The lack of originality was forgiven by the predominantly working-class audience that was looking for escapist entertainment, punctuated with action and violence. And as the popularity of spaghetti westerns grew, so did their influence on American movies. The once uniquely American genre was re-invented by European filmmakers, and the influences soon became increasingly evident. American westerns became grittier and more violent, infused with a moral ambiguity, while the anti-hero replaced the hero. Films like The Professionals, The Wild Bunch, and High Plains Drifter bare so many spaghetti influences that some have mistaken them for actual Eurowesterns. Even non-westerns like Bonnie & Clyde and Easy Rider share similarities with films like Django and The Great Silence, and reflect the growing anti-establishment sentiments of 1960s youth culture.
Today, the legacy of the spaghetti western lives on, not
just in the films themselves, but also in the movies that have been influenced
by the bombastic exploits of Django, Sartana, Ringo, Trinity, and all the other
gunslingers that populated the gritty world of the Eurowestern. Every action
film you can think of has either been
directly or indirectly influenced by the spaghetti western. And with the
release of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained in 2012, the spaghetti western
will enjoy renewed interest that will only ensure the continued survival and
impact of the genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment