I wanted to postpone writing this blog, because I have about seven Spaghetti Westerns that I OWN, but have not watched!!  I also wanted to check out a few other films like "God Forgives, I Don't", "Kill And Pray", or "The Big Gundown", but some of these titles are really hard to get in the United States.  If you can hook me up on some of these rare titles, please let me know!

If you are new to this genre of film, I would recommend you start off with the classic Man with No Name Trilogy and then move your way up to  Spaghetti Western Collection (Blue Underground), Spaghetti Western Collection (Madacy) and Once Upon A Time in Italy (Anchor Bay)

The Blue Underground one is somewhat trashy compared to the other sets though.  You might have a hard time locating Blue Underground or Anchor Bay's boxsets since they both have a limited print run... but it's worth it if you can find it on ebay or something.  Also, if you rather just own the movies individually, I think most of them are available.

Anyway, what I love about Italian Westerns is that they took a much-loved American genre and put their own unique vision on it (and, in fact, does it WAY better!)  What happened was, in the early sixties, America just stopped producing Westerns because of a lack of interest.  So European countries started to produce their own, mostly shot in Italy or Spain.... And that's pretty much how Italian Westerns got started.

P.S. I just realized that this post will make me even more unpopular with the ladies than I already am!  WESTERNS RULEZ THOUGH!

FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) (out of Five Stars) MGM Home Entertainment DVD Release Date: 10/5/1999 Sergio Leone's classic Fistful of Dollars is THE movie that started it all! The film is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" (Bodyguard) and it adapted well to a Western.  It sort of even made sense, because you're just replacing samurai swords with guns! Anyway, the story is simple enough: 'a man with no name' wanders into this town that's torn apart by two rival families.  He worked both side of the field and basically clean up the town by the end of the movie! Although Fistful of Dollars is a pretty good film, it does get a little long and boring in the middle. Strangely, enough, a gangster film called "Last Man Standing" starring Bruce Willis also made use of "Yojimbo".

DJANGO (1966) Blue Underground DVD Release Date: 4/27/2004 According to the original DVD release of Django (in 2001) this movie spawned at LEAST 50 low-budget sequels (or rather Westerns which used the hero's name, in the days before brand protection)!  They say that Django was the most successful and interesting of all the non-Leone/Eastwood Westerns.  It does follow the same formula: a mysterious stranger who's an unbelievable sure-shooter. What's really cool about Django in the first film is that he carries a coffin where ever he goes!  What a weirdo.... that is until you realize what's in the coffin!  Totally original and one of my favorites! ALSO, if you get the 2004 release of this DVD, it comes with a bonus 3" DVD which contained Franco Nero's "The Last Pistolero" short film. Anyway, I will save my review for "Django Kill.. If you Live Shoot" for next time.

A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1967) Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD Release Date: 12/18/2001 I have to say that this is one of my favorite Italian Western!  It's a wonderful story about a guy who infiltrate a gang to assassinate the general - with one Golden Bullet! There is a pretty awesome train robbery scene at the beginning of the film.  FIVE STARS!

THE GREAT SILENCE (1968) Ryko Distribution DVD Release Date: 1/27/2004 Another Sergio Corbucci film.  What's unique about this film is that the lead actor does not have a speaking part because his throat was savagely slashed when he was a young boy.  Years later, the kid grows up to be a great gunslinger, of course!  Gives new meaning to "silence and deadly." The original ending to this film was so depressing that they had to re-shoot the ending for the United States! This film is hailed by Alex Cox ("Repo Man", "Sid & Nancy") as "Just possibly the greatest Spaghetti Westerns of them all." and would later inspired him to do "Straight to Hell" (which wasn't that great, haha)

DEATH RIDES A HORSE (1968) Vidtape DVD Release Date: 9/30/2003 Despite Lee Van Cleef's picture on the box art, he does not have a huge leading role. The story is a typical revenge picture (stop me if you heard this one before: a young boy witness his family slaughtered by five strangers.  The boy grows up to be a revenge-seeking killer!) I'm giving this a poor rating because of the picture and audio quality - but the film is decent enough.

A MINUTE TO PRAY, A SECOND TO DIE (1968) MGM Home Entertainment DVD Release Date: 5/25/2004 I am not exactly sure why most Spaghetti Western sites leave this movie off.  It's probably because the movie is only so-so.... You have to also realized that there were over 600 so-called Spaghetti Western films, so it's really hard to cover it all. The main character, once the fastest shooter in the West (he killed three grown men when he was like seven years old!), but he got old and his hand got unsteady (he gets the shakes on his shooting hand). So he decided to hang up his cowboy hat and gun and retire.  YEAH RIGHT! The ending is pretty explosive, but the story leading up to that point is almost too long at two minutes short of two full solid hours.

RUN MAN RUN (1968) Blue Underground DVD Release Date: 4/27/2004 The is my friend Dave's favorite Italian Western, so I am rating this film very high.  The main character (played by non-other than Tomas Milian) is illiterate and does not know how to use a gun. Yet his character is so wonderful and loveable! The best part in this film was the incredible gun vs throwing knife standoff!  Just a really fun and violent film.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST  (1969) Paramount Home Entertainment DVD Release Date: 11/18/2003 Probably the best Italian Western ever made. Sergio Leone returns to the genre he made famous and he does it so incredibly well! It's really hard to keep track of all the characters in this film, but the two that stood out is: Charles Bronson (as a badass) and Henry Fonda (as a truly evil bastard). The 2-disc DVD set released by Paramont last year is totally worth the  $14.95 retail price.  You can pick up this classic at Deep Discounted DVD for $7.75 (free shipping).  Totally cheap and worth every penny.

 

COMPAÑEROS  (1970) Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD Release Date: 7/24/2001 Okay, I love this movie because it stars Tomas Millian and Franco Nero AND JACK PALANCE!!  It also contain the BEST theme song for a movie ever! Jack Palance played a pot-smoking, one-hand, hawk-loving, crazy mo-fo, with his distinctive way of speaking, haaaaaaah. The story about the Mexican revolution might be a little boring to some, but it's still worth checking out. Do it for JACK!

OKAY, that's a lot of movies I've sort of reviewed.  I will save the rest for Part Two and Part Three for later.  I guess, it really depends on if you guys want to read more (please vote "NO" as this took me way too long.)

Part Two will contain: Django Kill, They Call Me Trinity Trilogy, For a Few More Dollars, Kid's Vegeance, Texas Adios and Keoma.

Part Three will contain: The Good the Bad and the Ugly, God's Gun, Ace High, Mannaja, Four of the Apocalypse (!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and anything else that I may have forgotten.

Please suggest some Western titles for me to check out!  If they are available for rental, I will definitely check them out :)