Spaghetti Westerns
Italian director Sergio Leone brought many profound changes with his brilliant low-budget "spaghetti" western films made in Europe (Spain and Italy) in the mid-60s.The changes were a new European, larger-than-life visual style, a harsher, more violent depiction of frontier life, haunting music from Ennio Morricone, choreographed gunfights, wide-screen closeups, and TV's Rawhide (Rowdy Yates) star Clint Eastwood as the mysterious, detached, amoral, fearless and cynical gunfighter (dusty, serape-clad, stubbly-faced, and cigar-chewing) and bounty hunter - 'The Man With No Name.'
These films resulted in a revival of the genre in the mid-to-late 1960s.
Right: Clint Eastwood stars in Sergio Leone's magnificent "A Fistful Of Dollars".
The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)
7.3/10
Director: Kim Jee-Woon
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Byung-hun Lee, Woo-sung Jung
Korean director Ji-woon Kim nods to the spaghetti western with this treasure hunt flick set in the wilds of 1930s Manchuria. A hitman (the Bad) is hir... Read more
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
6.3/10
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Masanobu Ando, Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato, Kaori Momoi, Yusuke Iseya, Renji Ishiba...
With more than a nod to spaghetti westerns, Takashi Miike's hip 'sukiyaki western' is inspired by Sergio Corbucci's violent classic, 'Django!'; and de... Read more
Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
6.4/10
Director: Steve Carver
Starring: Chuck Norris, David Carradine, Barbara Carrera, Leon Isaac Kennedy, L Q Jones, R...
Probably Chuck Norris' best film has him cast as the lone wolf Texas Ranger who goes mano-a-mano with arms smuggler David Carradine. This spaghetti-we... Read more
Mannaja: A Man Called Blade (1977)
Director: Sergio Martino
Starring: Maurizio Merli, Donald O'Brien, Rik Battaglia
Despite coming along fairly late in the cycle, this spaghetti western is one of the genre's best. Maurizio Merli stars as Mannaja, a hatchet-wielding... Read more
God's Gun ( A Bullet From God ) (1976)
5/10
Director: Frank Kramer
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance, Richard Boone, Leif Garrett
Aka "A Bullet From God". Lee Van Cleef stars in a dual role as twin brothers. One of the brothers, a priest, is gunned down by the ruthless Sam Clayto... Read more
Take a Hard Ride (1975)
5.9/10
Director: Anthony M Dawson
Starring: Barry Sullivan, Catherine Spaak, Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Jim Kelly, Lee Van...
"Take a Hard Ride" is an unusual "blaxploitation western" starring Jim Brown as a grizzled cowboy on a dangerous trek to deliver a large sum of money... Read more
My Name Is Nobody (1974)
7.5/10
Director: Tonino Valerii
Starring: Henry Fonda, Terence Hill, Jean Martin, Leo Gordon
An enjoyable western spoof with Terence Hill as an easygoing gunfighter who worships an aging Henry Fonda, a gunfighter who wants to retire. Produced... Read more
A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die (1974)
6.3/10
Director: Tonino Valerii
Starring: James Coburn, Telly Savalas, Bud Spencer
Aka 'Massacre at Fort Holman'. A Union colonel enlists the aid of seven condemned men in retaking a Missouri fort captured by Confederates. This spagh... Read more
Man of the East (1972)
6.7/10
Director: Enzo Barboni
Starring: Gregory Walcott, Harry Carey Jr, Terence Hill
'He's a fun-of-a-gun!' or so the tagline promises. Terence Hill ("They Call Me Trinity") is back in his classic genre of comedy/western, this time as... Read more
Red Sun (1972)
7/10
Director: Terence Young
Starring: Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Ursula Andress, Alain Delon, Capucine
The year is 1871. The Emperor of Japan decides to make a gift of a priceless samurai sword to the President of the United States of America. En route... Read more