What do you think?
Rate this book
Deadly Spaghetti: The Goodest, the Baddest & the Ugliest Italian Westerns Ever Made
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the Italian film industry cranked out over 600 "Spaghetti Westerns"- and for every Fistful of Dollars were a dozen pale imitations, some of them hilarious. Many of these lesser known Spaghettis are available in bargain bin DVD packs and stream for free on Amazon Prime. If ever you've wondered which are worth your time and which aren't, this is the book for you. Decipher the meaning of "April Morning" and see Lee Van Cleef bust a rap in Captain Apache! Check out the original Shanghai Noon in the form of the Shaw Brother's co-production Blood Money. Puzzle at the Acid-induced Hippie Western Matalo! See hearts ripped out of chests in The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe! Thrill to William Shatner in dual roles in White Comanche! Visit Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas and Martin Landau in A Town Called Hell! Split a few heads with Bud Spencer in Massacre at Fort Holman! See faces melt and Giuliano Gemma shoot down Aztec sorcerers in Tex and the Lords of the Deep! And watch Django go bananas in tropical Mexico in Django Strikes Again!
- GenresWesterns
158 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 18, 2018
12 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 10, 2018
The Western is one of the most prolific genres in American cinema and spread to many other countries. At one point, a number of directors in Italy and Spain (which technically wouldn't be a Spaghetti Western) decided they could do the American genre better. They took a generally harder, nastier, and better take on the romanticized Wild West which glamorized a historically ambiguous period.
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and A FEW DOLLARS MORE are pretty much the only Spaghetti Westerns I've seen. They're also considered to be some of the finest Westerns ever made and all by Sergio Leone. However, what about the other Spaghetti Westerns? THE BAD ONES.
I'm unfamiliar with John LeMay's other review books but this was a quite entertaining rundown of a bunch of B-movie foreign Westerns which attempted to capitalize on the success of the aforementioned works. The kind of films which Quentin Tarantino used to watch for lack of better things to do while running a video store (his career before directorial international superstardom). There's Captain Apache, Shango, and a movie starring Burt Reynolds where both he as well as the director (a Sergio who wasn't Sergio ) were disappointed with who they got.
The book is funny, irreverent, and entertaining. My only regret is he actually doesn't review the really iconic Spaghetti Westerns because the book feels incomplete without them. Otherwise, it's well worth the purchase price.
7/10
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and A FEW DOLLARS MORE are pretty much the only Spaghetti Westerns I've seen. They're also considered to be some of the finest Westerns ever made and all by Sergio Leone. However, what about the other Spaghetti Westerns? THE BAD ONES.
I'm unfamiliar with John LeMay's other review books but this was a quite entertaining rundown of a bunch of B-movie foreign Westerns which attempted to capitalize on the success of the aforementioned works. The kind of films which Quentin Tarantino used to watch for lack of better things to do while running a video store (his career before directorial international superstardom). There's Captain Apache, Shango, and a movie starring Burt Reynolds where both he as well as the director (a Sergio who wasn't Sergio ) were disappointed with who they got.
The book is funny, irreverent, and entertaining. My only regret is he actually doesn't review the really iconic Spaghetti Westerns because the book feels incomplete without them. Otherwise, it's well worth the purchase price.
7/10
October 11, 2023
This brief and unofficial study of the Spaghetti western genre is anything but professional. Selections are probably limited to those movies the author has already seen, otherwise how do you select which movies to evaluate? The euro Westerns were turned out in their hundreds. In fact, Le May himself admits that he could have covered the same ground in a blog, but there was no money in that.
LeMay has gathered 31 westerns together and assigned each title its own chapter. He provides pertinent information regarding the cast and gives a synopsis of the storyline, after which he rates the movie as either good, bad, or ugly. He has been careful not to review any of the truly great films in the genre, so don't expect to see anything by Leone in here. Of the reviewed films that I have also seen, I would have to agree with LeMay's assessment. Western fans need to be cautious with this one: every review gives away the ending of the movie.
The author has included lots of photos, including the movie poster for each film. Sadly, the photos are small (as is the book) but the reader will find them easy enough to view. The book is riddled with typos and misspelled words, but that just shows that LeMay isn't much of a proofreader. As far as writing goes, he's pretty good. He injects a bit of humour into most reviews, and I found this to be an entertaining read. Next item on my agenda: watching those movies that I haven't seen...some of them sound pretty good. Happily most are available on free streaming sites.
Most horse opera fans will find this one amusing; I can't imagine anyone else being interested.
LeMay has gathered 31 westerns together and assigned each title its own chapter. He provides pertinent information regarding the cast and gives a synopsis of the storyline, after which he rates the movie as either good, bad, or ugly. He has been careful not to review any of the truly great films in the genre, so don't expect to see anything by Leone in here. Of the reviewed films that I have also seen, I would have to agree with LeMay's assessment. Western fans need to be cautious with this one: every review gives away the ending of the movie.
The author has included lots of photos, including the movie poster for each film. Sadly, the photos are small (as is the book) but the reader will find them easy enough to view. The book is riddled with typos and misspelled words, but that just shows that LeMay isn't much of a proofreader. As far as writing goes, he's pretty good. He injects a bit of humour into most reviews, and I found this to be an entertaining read. Next item on my agenda: watching those movies that I haven't seen...some of them sound pretty good. Happily most are available on free streaming sites.
Most horse opera fans will find this one amusing; I can't imagine anyone else being interested.
May 28, 2018
A really fun and breezy collection of reviews of spaghetti westerns and some of them sound really awful and LeMay does a great job ot it. The problem with the book is the introduction where he proudly said that these are throw together work that should be a blog but in this ebook model he will make money. He stated that this not great work for money. Oh, how much fun I will have reading that when the author doesn't care to put his best effort. I have no problem with a writer looking to be paid for his work, that is always the goal, but the flippancy was off putting. I get it. You are writing funny, and that is supposed to be funny. But it kind of wasn't.
October 11, 2020
Useful But Far From Comprehensive
“Deadly Spaghetti” is a useful primer about European westerns and classifies them according to an interesting criterion. You will learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Spaghetti westerns as well as the stars and directors. Indeed, it is often entertaining to read, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Sir Christopher Frayling’s landmark time “Spaghetti Westerns.”
“Deadly Spaghetti” is a useful primer about European westerns and classifies them according to an interesting criterion. You will learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Spaghetti westerns as well as the stars and directors. Indeed, it is often entertaining to read, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Sir Christopher Frayling’s landmark time “Spaghetti Westerns.”
October 27, 2018
Not a bad view on those marinara movies
I actually bought it to see which ones of a few box sets were any good as to not waste my time.Also to compr
I actually bought it to see which ones of a few box sets were any good as to not waste my time.Also to compr
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews