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".
Navajo Joe (1966)
6.4/10
Director: Sergio Corbucci
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Fernando Rey, Tanya Lopert, Aldo Sanbrell, Nicoletta Machiavelli
AKA: "A Dollar a Head," "Savage Run." After his family and tribe are unmercifully slaughtered by a wicked outlaw and his underlings, Navajo Indian Bur... Read more
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
8.5/10
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
A great Western by the great Sergio Leone. Henry Fonda is the ruthless psychopath, Jason Robards the half-breed falsely accused of a terrible slaughte... Read more
Once Upon a Time in the West ( Blu-ray ) (1968)
8.5/10
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Gabriele Ferzetti, Henry Fonda, Jason Robard...
A great Western by the great Sergio Leone. Henry Fonda is the ruthless psychopath, Jason Robards the half-breed falsely accused of a terrible slaughte... 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
Some Dollars For Django (1966)
Director: Leon Klimovsky
Starring: Frank Wolff, Anthony Steffen
After years of killing and horror Django, a bandit and a bounty hunter wants to change his life and return to the straight and narrow. When he falls i... 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
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
The Companeros (1970)
Director: Sergio Corbucci
Starring: Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Fernando Rey, Jack Palance
An interesting Spaghetti Western with political themes in which mercenary Franco Nero joins revolutionary Thomas Milian to help free a pacifist profes... Read more
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
8.9/10
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood's invincible "Man with No Name" teams with two gunslingers (Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach) to pursue a fortune in stolen gold. But team... Read more
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ( Blu-ray ) (1966)
8.9/10
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef
Clint Eastwood's invincible "Man with No Name" teams with two gunslingers (Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach) to pursue a fortune in stolen gold. But team... Read more