Spaghetti Westerns

by Howard Hughes

They are tough. They are mean. They are the fastest, coolest gunslingers of the sixties and they don't talk much. They are the heroes of the Italian Spaghetti West and they changed the Western forever. Clint Eastwood's poncho-clad, cigar smoking Man With No Name is the enduring symbol of the genre and his Dollars trilogy with Sergio Leone reinvented action cinema, adding a European freshness to the time-worn Western myths. But Leone and Eastwood weren't the only hombres to saddle-up and head West, and this Pocket Essential Guide rounds-up and reviews the best of a very wild bunch, including perennial cult classics Django, The Big Gundown, Django Kill and They Call Me Trinity. Howard Hughes analyses the entire genre (from the mainstream offerings to more offbeat oddities) and assesses its impact on modern cinema. He also charts the Spaghetti Western careers of actors like Lee Van Cleef, Terence Hill and Klaus Kinski as they rode the trail to international success, and includes notes on

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hughes's book is a valuable resource for any person searching for the Spaghetti Westerns worth watching. While the beginning is a brief overview of the genre, it's style, and its history, the bulk of the text is dedicated to reviews of the most famous Spaghetti Westerns. A word of caution for newcomers, Hughes feels free to spoil the endings of all the movies he is recommending, even though a simple plot overview would have kept the endings secret and still sufficed. None the less, his analysis of each film is fascinating to read and his list is comprehensive. Anyone following it will likely enjoy themselves.
Useful to both film novices who haven't seen an Italian western, as well as veterans looking for more than the films of Sergio Leone, Hughes's Spaghetti Westerns is a concise guide, but beware of spoilers.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit slight, but still provides a good rundown of some of the genre's highlights.