David's Guide To Westerns - Last modified categories

Series: Desperados

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 14:48:35 +0000

Series of Western stealth games

Series: Western All'Italiana

Sat, 07 Dec 2019 15:02:21 +0000

A set of three reference books for the Spaghetti Western.

Series: Ranown

Sat, 12 Jan 2019 13:40:51 +0000

A series of films starring Randolph Scott, directed by Budd Boetticher, and produced by Harry Joe Brown. The majority (in my opinion the best ones) were written by Burt Kennedy. For the sake of completeness I’ve included Seven Men From Now and will include (when I review it…) Westbound – in both cases they’re produced by other people and so don’t quite fit in the “series”.

Other: Top Spaghetti Westerns

Sun, 05 Feb 2017 13:26:51 +0000

The Spaghetti Western has a notably sharp quality drop off after the top films in the sub-genre. This page gives my opinion on the “top” films in the genre – the ones worth seeking out to non-fans. I haven’t yet got round to reviewing many of the films listed here, so they don’t all have links. The text here lists a few more films than will be added to the category.

Sergio Leone – the master of the genre! All of his films are well worth a look.
Sergio Corbucci – a lot more hit and miss, but well worth seeking out.
- The Great Silence – his absolute masterpiece, very different from the rest of his work
- Companeros
- The Mercenary
- Django – (in the original Italian)
- I’m a fan of Minnesota Clay too, but this is usually considered “lesser”
Sergio Sollima – well respected, but I’m personally not such a big fan
- The Big Gundown
- Face to Face
- Run Man Run (usually considered the worst of his three films, but my favourite)
Two Gianni Garko films (both low budget, very minor, but excellent):
- $100,000 For A Killing
- $10,000 For A Massacre
Keoma – Enzo Castellari never made another film as good as Keoma, but Johnny Hamlet is worth a look.
- Also “Mannaja”, “California” and “Silver Saddle” are worth a look for fans of Keoma, although not as good.
Ringo:
- (possibly A Pistol For Ringo) – I’m not a massive fan of this to be honest
- The Return of Ringo
- (not really part of the series, but similar: Long Days of Vengeance)
Cemetery Without Crosses
God Said To Cain
God Forgives, I Don’t
A Bullet For The General – a bit stilted, but one of the better political Spaghetti Westerns
Death Rides A Horse

Theme: Indian Main Character

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 13:34:29 +0000

I’m using this to indicate when the main character is an Indian in an otherwise white dominated film. I’m not aiming to include films that are mostly about Indians in this catagory.

(I’m also going off how the character is described in the film rather than the actual race of the actor).

Series: Hill-Spencer-Colizzi

Sun, 06 Nov 2016 20:08:55 +0000

A series of three Spaghetti Westerns directed by Guiseppe Colizzi and staring Terence Hill (as "Cat Stevens" in the English versions) and Bud Spencer (as “Hutch Bessy” in the English versions). In contrast to Spencer and Hill’s usual roles, these are mostly action rather than comedy.

The films are:

God Forgives, I Don’t
Ace High
Boot Hill (generally regarded as the weakest).

Series: The Stranger series

Tue, 19 May 2015 07:11:55 +0000

A series of Spaghetti Western films starring Tony Anthony as “The Stranger”. In the later films he goes to Japan (Stranger in Japan) and Europe (Get Mean). These don’t appeal as much, so they’re unlikely to be appear here, but are part of the series.

Series: Ringo

Tue, 19 May 2015 07:11:54 +0000

Two films made by Giuliano Gemma and Duccio Tessari, loosely connected in that they have much the same cast, and a main character called Ringo. However, the feel of the films, as well as the story, is quite different.

(Long Days of Vengeance is sometimes viewed as a loose third member of the series)

Genre: Singing Cowboy

Tue, 19 May 2015 07:11:54 +0000

E.g. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and (in one ill-advised outing) John Wayne.

Genre: Comedy

Tue, 19 May 2015 07:11:54 +0000

In the past I’ve taken a general dislike to comedy Westerns, however I’m beginning to change my mind slightly. I wasn’t a huge fan of the “Support Your Local …” films, although Hardy’s Encyclopedia of Westerns rates them reasonably well. The comedy spaghetti Westerns also have a tendency to turn into unfunny farce, and John Wayne‘s more light-hearted films (e.g. McLintock) are a bit hit and miss.

However, I have enjoyed Cat Ballou, Son of Paleface and Blazing Saddles, so I think I’m beginning to soften on this in my old age.

Genre: Eurowestern

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 17:11:09 +0000

Any Westerns made in Europe (mostly Germany and Spain). I haven't listed the more prolific Spaghetti Western here.

Other: Shakespeare

Sat, 10 Jan 2015 11:04:09 +0000

Films in this category are based – sometimes loosely – on Shakespeare plays.

Theme: Who-dunnit-mystery

Tue, 02 Dec 2014 20:10:39 +0000

Beloved of 50s B-movies, this story outline has the hero arrive, usually find himself framed for some crime, and then have to find out who really did it.

Historical setting or character: Django

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 21:04:54 +0000

A lot of Spaghetti Westerns were titled "Django" to cash in on the popular film of the same name. This category attempts to categorize some of them, which is something of a losing battle, since it varies depending on the language the film was shown in (I'm only really dealing with English here...)

[I've slightly mis-categorized this category – Django obviously wasn't a historical character]

Genre: Spaghetti Western

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 20:50:56 +0000

Made by Italians, in Spain, primarily in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

There are some absolute classics, but many were made on the cheap without much care (there's about 500 or so Spaghetti Westerns in total) so the quality drops off quite quickly. I've listed some of my favourites.

Other: British Western

Thu, 21 Aug 2014 20:13:01 +0000

There aren't many...

Theme: Band of misfits

Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:28:25 +0000

A rag-tag band of misfits is assembled from the very dregs of a cavalry post (for example) and must heroically save the day.

Theme: Indian Captive Rescue

Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:27:09 +0000

The rescue of kidnapped captives from the Indians. The classic example is The Searchers.

Theme: Corrupt leaders

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 08:14:52 +0000

Sometimes leading civic figures—such as sheriffs, bankers and mayors—can become corrupt.

Series: Call of Juarez

Sat, 18 Jan 2014 21:36:25 +0000

A series of (as of 2014) four games. I'm ignoring the third in the series (Cartel) since it's not set in the old west, and by most accounts it's a bit rubbish. The first two feature the same characters in a multi-part story. The fourth (Gunslinger) is unrelated, but probably my favourite of the series.