Western All'Italiana Volume 1 (1998) (Book (non-fiction))

The review text is taken from The Spaghetti Western Database. However since I originally wrote this text, I think this is fair.

In contrast to the other two books in this series, the book is divided into chapters each devoted to an individual director, starting with Sergio Leone and working through the key directors. The text of the chapter largely gives a narrative overview of that director’s involvement in the Spaghetti Western, and discusses the films they made in chronological order. The book is well illustrated throughout with posters and pictures from the films. The need to have both Italian and English text means that sometimes the pictures end up separated from the films they are discussing, since the pictures are spaced over the whole chapter while the text (in a single language) only takes half a chapter.

The slight criticism of this book (and the whole series) is that it is often overly positive about Spaghetti Westerns that are usually agreed to be lower quality (for example Enzo G. Castellari’s comedy output). This means it isn’t necessarily helpful as a guide to what to see next.