Spaghetti Westerns in America

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Last Update (for the very last time): 4/18/2000





IMPORTANT NOTICE!
New site address!


This site location will no longer be updated, although you will be able to continue to view it. Click below to reach the NEW SITE:

SPAGHETTI WESTERNS IN AMERICA


While you're at it, check out this great new company producing Spaghetti Westerns on DVD!:

WILD EAST

All the best,

John

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I hope you like this site. My intention is to provide you with information not available on other sites -- reviews of new videos, CDs, books and other material related to the Spaghetti Western. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

- John Nudge

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Special Thanks to Ulrich Bruckner, Bill and Mo Reynolds, Tom Seldon, Ally Lamaj, Simon Griffin, Alex Mizuno, Addalena Smith, Michael Caletka, Jim Wynorski and, of course, Cenk Kiral for their contributions.

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Spaghetti Westerns on Cable
Note: for these listings, the day starts at midnight!

On TV for April
(Eastern Time)


The Adventures of Smoke Belliou: The Golden Egg (Canadian/French 1996) (d: Marc Simenon. Waldeck Stanczak, Michele Barbara Peltier) 10 (9a) 13 (6:35a) 19 (10:40a) 25 (5:15a) STARZ (Satellite Orbit says, "Shorty gets involved in several get-rich-quick schemes." One of four parts of a Canadian/French miniseries set in the Yulkon by the late director Marc Simenon.)

Chato's Land (British 1972) (d: Michael Winner. Charles Bronson, Jack Palance) (* * 1/2) 14 (2p) TBS (Bleak, violent western about an Apache after the scum who attacked his family. Humorless film has a fine cast, but is too downbeat to really be enjoyable. Besides, it's in pan and scam on TBS (They Butcher Stuff), so it's probably mutilated anyway).

A Fistful of Dollars (Italian/Spanish/German 1964) (d: Sergio Leone. Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonte) (* * * *) 13 (10:45p) TBS (Leone's groundbreaking re-make of the Akira Kurosawa samurai classic Yojimbo. An unbathed, cigar-smoking drifter sets two rival families at each others' throats in a Mexican border town. Violent and cynical with Ennio Morricone's prototype music score. Even though this is on TBS (They Butcher Stuff) and it's likely to be heavily edited and full of commercials, this is being shown in WIDESCREEN, so set your VCR.)

Land Raiders (US/Spanish 1969) (d: Nathan Juran. George Maharis, Telly Savalas) (* *) 6 (5:35a) 10 (12:50a) 24 (2:15a) Encore Westerns. (Lackluster film about two brothers battling each other and the Apaches. Knockout score by Bruno Nicolai)

A Man Called Sledge (Italian/US 197) (d: Vic Morrow. James Garner, Claude Akins) (* * *) 7 (2:20a) TBS (Grim, gritty film about a group of low-lifes fighting over stolen gold. Great cast in a very good film, with Garner giving a tough, no-nonsense performance. One of composer Gianni Ferrio's best scores. Warning: TBS (They Butcher Stuff) will most likely heavily edit the film and throw in lots of commercials. Pan and scam)

The Valley of Gwangi (1969) (d: James O'Connolly. James Franciscus, Gia Golan) (* * *) 22 (4:30p) AMC (A circus captures an allosaur which, naturally, escapes and goes on a rampage. Fantasy western is slow to start, but stick around for Ray Harryhausen's eye-popping special effects. Filmed in Spain)

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SITE PAGES
(Sometimes known as a site map, I think)


MUSIC page! Reviews of new CDs!

REVIEWS page! A look at videos and books!

Top Fifteen The top 15 Non-Leone Spaghetti Westerns! NEW!

Spaghetti Western Web Board For the exchange of information. Best on the Net!

 CD/LP/45 Covers Bill Reynolds' amazing contribution to this site.

Spaghetti Western Song Lyrics

Links

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What is a Spaghetti Western?

Europeans have always loved westerns, but by the early 1960's, distribution problems made them hard to obtain. To provide their audiences with new product, producers began experimenting with home-grown oaters. These proved to be nothing more than bad copies of American B westerns and the new genre faded quickly.

In 1962, however, German producer Horst Wendlandt and director Harald Reinl teamed up to make the Treasure of Silver Lake. Based on the writings of Karl May and filmed in Yugoslavia, with American actor Lex Barker and Frenchman Pierre Brice in the lead roles, this tongue-in-cheek adventure proved extremely popular with European audiences. Other producers jumped on the bandwagon and by 1964 some two dozen German, Italian and Spanish westerns had been made. Still, most of them weren't very good and the genre again began to fade.

Then, an obscure director named Sergio Leone was given $200,000 and a load of leftover film stock and told to make a western. With a script based on Akira Kurosawa's samurai epic Yojimbo, an American TV actor named Clint Eastwood, and a music composer named Ennio Morricone, Leone made what was essentially supposed to be a throw-away film, Per un Pugno di Dollari -- A Fistful of Dollars. This cynical, violent and visually stunning film was an instant box-office hit and the Eurowestern took off like a bullet from a Colt .45!

The popularity of a Fistful of Dollars spawned two sequels - For a Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly - making international stars of Leone, Morricone, Eastwood and a retired Hollywood bit player named Lee Van Cleef! Within a very short time, a veritible flood of European-made westerns were being filmed on location in Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia and even the Canary Islands and Argentina!

Between 1964 and 1975, nearly 600 westerns were made by European producers. Since most of the money for these films came from Italian companies, the term Spaghetti Western was used as a derisive term by critics who felt the films were nothing more than sadistic sideshows. Fans embraced the term and "Spaghetti Western" is now used to describe any western made and financed primarily by European production companies.

-- John Nudge

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Issue #6 of Images: A Journal of Film and Popular Culture is dedicated to the Western and is now online. And it has an article on the Spaghetti Western by (ahem) yours truly. Check it out.

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Please sign the GUESTBOOK at the bottom of this page!
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***CHECK THIS OUT***
Erin Crowley's LEE VAN CLEEF page!


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The Cenk Kiral Interviews

** Try this link to read Cenk Kiral's fabulous More Than A Fistful of Interview with Prof. Christopher Frayling.

** And this one for Cenk's revealing Mickey Knox Interview

** And don't miss this LUCIANO VINCENZONI interview

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Check your local used bookstore or flea market for these books/novelizations. Titles in boldface are original novels. The others are promotional tie-ins:

For a Few Dollars More by Joe Millard; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Joe Millard; The Amigos by Pico Rivera (film - Deaf Smith and Johnny Ears); The Mercenary by Burt Hirschfild; The Hunting Party by Joe Millard; The Valdez Horses by Lee Hoffman (film - Chino); The Last Rebel by Joe Millard; Duck You Sucker by James Lewis; Sabata by Brian Fox; Kid Rodelo by Louis L'Amour; Guns of North Texas by Will Cook (film - The Tramplers); Adios by Harry Whittington (film - Adios Gringo); The Bounty Killer by Marvin H. Albert (film - The Ugly Ones); Captain Apache by S.E. Whitman; The Killer From Yuma by Lewis B. Patton (film - A Long Ride From Hell); Chato's Land by Joe Millard; The Return of Sabata by Brian Fox; Catlow by Louis L'Amour; Adios Sabata by Alice Denham; The Man Called Noon by Louis L'Amour; Shalako by Louis L'Amour.

Other Man With No Name books:
A Dollar to Die For by Brian Fox; The Million Dollar Bloodhunt; The Devil's Dollar Sign; A Coffin Full of Dollars; Blood for a Dirty Dollar all by Joe Millard.

-- John Nudge



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