Spaghetti Western

TheSpaghetti Westernis a broad subgenre ofWestern filmsproduced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake ofSergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success.The term was used by foreign critics because most of these Westerns wereproduced and directed by Italians.
The majority of the films in the spaghetti Western genre were internationalco-productionsby Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, West Germany, Britain, Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia, and the United States. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978.Most spaghetti Westerns filmed between 1964 and 1978 were made on low budgets, and shot atCinecittà Studiosand various locations around southern Italy and Spain.
Leone's films and other core spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticized or even "demythologized"many of the conventions of traditional U.S. Westerns. This was partly intentional, and partly the context of a different cultural background.In 1968, the wave of spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. Spaghetti Westerns have left their mark on popular culture, strongly influencing numerous works produced in and outside of Italy.
According to veteran spaghetti Western actorAldo Sambrell, the phrasespaghetti Westernwas coined by Spanish journalist Alfonso Sánchez in reference to the Italian foodspaghetti.Spaghetti Westerns are also known asItalian Westernsor, primarily in Japan,Macaroni Westerns.In Italy, the genre is typically referred to aswestern all'italiana(Italian-style Western).Italo-Westernis also used, especially in Germany.
The termEurowesternshas been used to broadly refer to all non-Italian Western movies from Europe, including theWest GermanWinnetoufilms and theEastern BlocRed Westernfilms. Taking its name from the Spanish rice dish, "PaellaWestern" has been used to refer to Western films produced in Spain.The Japanese filmTampopowas promoted as a "RamenWestern".
The majority of the films in the spaghetti Western genre wereinternational coproductionsby Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, West Germany, Britain, Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia, and the United States. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978.
These movies were originally released in Italian or with Italiandubbing, but, as most of the films featured multilingual casts, and sound was post-synched, mostwestern all'italianado not have an official dominant language.
The typical spaghetti Western team was made up of an Italian director, an Italo-Spanishtechnical staff, and a cast of Italian, Spanish, and (sometimes) West German and American actors.
Most spaghetti Westerns filmed between 1964 and 1978 were made on low budgets, and shot atCinecittà Studiosand various locations around southern Italy and Spain.Many of the stories take place in the dry landscapes of theAmerican SouthwestandNorthern Mexico, thus, common filming locations were theTabernas Desertand theCabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, an area of volcanic origin known for its wide sandy beaches, both of which are in theProvince of Almeríain Southeastern Spain. Some sets and studios built for spaghetti Westerns survived as theme parks, such asTexas Hollywood,Mini Hollywood, andWestern Leone, and continue to be used as film sets.Other filming locations used were incentralandsouthern Italy, such as the parks of Valle del Treja (between Rome andViterbo), the area of Camposecco (next toCamerata Nuova, characterized by akarst topography), the hills aroundCastelluccio, the town of Wuustwezel and the area around theGran Sassomountain, and theTivoli's quarries andSardinia.God's Gunwas filmed in Israel.
European Westerns are as old as filmmaking itself. TheLumière brothershad their first public screening of films in 1895, and already, in 1896, Gabriel Veyre shotRepas d'Indien(Indian Banquet) for them. Joe Hamman starred as Arizona Bill in films made in the French horse country ofCamargue(1911–1912).
In Italy, the American West as a dramatic setting for spectacles goes back at least as far asGiacomo Puccini's 1910 operaLa fanciulla del West(The Girl of the West), which is sometimes considered to be the first spaghetti Western.
The first Western movie made in Italy wasLa voce del sangue, produced by the Turin film studioItala Film.In 1913,La vampira Indianawas released; a combination of Western and vampire film. It was directed byVincenzo Leone, father ofSergio Leone, and starred his mother,Bice Valerian, in the title role as the Indian princess Fatale.The Italians also madeWild Bill Hickokfilms, while the Germans released backwoods Westerns featuringBela LugosiasUncas.
Of the Western-related European films before 1964, the one that attracted the most attention is arguably Luis Trenker'sDer Kaiser von KalifornienaboutJohn Sutter.Another Italian Western isGirl of the Golden West. The film's title alludes to the operaThe Girl of the Golden West, byGiacomo Puccini, but is not an adaptation of it. It was one of a handful of Westerns to be made during thesilent filmandFascist Italyeras.Forerunners of the genre were alsoGiorgio Ferroni'sIl fanciullo del West(The Boy in the West) andFernando Cerchio'sIl bandolero stanco, starringErminio MacarioandRenato Rascel, respectively.
After World War II, there were scattered European uses of Western settings, mostly for comedy, musical or otherwise. A cycle of Western comedies was initiated in 1959 withLa sceriffaandIl terrore dell’Oklahoma, followed by other films starring comedy specialists, such asWalter Chiari,Ugo Tognazzi,Raimondo Vianello, andFernandel. An Italian critic has compared these comedies to AmericanBob Hopevehicles.
The first American-British Western filmed in Spain wasThe Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, directed byRaoul Walsh. It was followed bySavage Guns, a British-Spanish Western, again filmed in Spain. It marked the beginning of Spain as a suitable film-shooting location for any type of European Western. In 1961, an Italian company coproduced the FrenchTaste of Violence, with aMexican Revolutiontheme. In 1963, three non-comedy Italo-Spanish Westerns were produced:Gunfight at Red Sands,Implacable Three, andGunfight at High Noon.
In 1965,Bruno Bozzettoreleased histraditionally animatedfeature filmWest and Soda, a Westernparodywith a marked spaghetti Western-theme; despite having been released a year after Sergio Leone's seminal spaghetti Western,A Fistful of Dollars, development ofWest and Sodaactually began a year earlier thanFistful's, and lasted longer, mainly because of the use of more time-demanding animation over regular acting. For this reason, Bozzetto claims to have invented the spaghetti Western genre.
Because there is no real consensus about where to draw the exact line between spaghetti Westerns and other Eurowesterns (or other Westerns in general), it cannot be said which film is definitively the first spaghetti Western. However, 1964 saw the breakthrough of this genre, with more than twenty productions or coproductions from Italian companies, and more than half a dozen Westerns by Spanish or Spanish-American companies. Furthermore, by far the most commercially successful of this lot was Sergio Leone'sA Fistful of Dollars. It was the innovations in cinematic style, music, acting and story of Leone's first Western that decided that spaghetti Westerns became a distinct subgenre and not just a number of films looking like American Westerns.
In this seminal film, Leone used a distinct visual style with large face close ups to tell the story of a hero entering a town that is ruled by two outlaw gangs, and ordinary social relations are nonexistent. The hero betrays and plays the gangs against each other to make money. He uses his cunning and exceptional weapons skill to assist a family threatened by both gangs. His treachery is exposed, and he is severely beaten, but in the end, he defeats the remaining gang. The interactions in this story range between cunning and irony (the tricks, deceits, unexpected actions and sarcasm of the hero), and pathos (terror and brutality against defenseless people and against the hero after his doublecross has been revealed).Ennio Morricone'sinnovative score expresses a similar duality between quirky and unusual sounds and instruments, and sacral dramatizing for the big confrontation scenes. Another important novelty was Clint Eastwood's performance as theman with no name—an unshaven, sarcastic, insolent Westernantiherowith personal goals in mind, and with distinct visuals to boot—the squint, the cigarillo, the poncho, etc.
The spaghetti Western was born, flourished and faded in a highly commercial production environment. The Italian "low" popular film production was usually low-budget and low-profit, and the easiest way to success was imitating a proven success.When the typically low-budget production,A Fistful of Dollars, turned into a remarkable box-office success, the industry eagerly lapped up its innovations. Most subsequent spaghetti Westerns tried to get a ragged, laconic hero with superhuman weapon skill, preferably one who looked like Clint Eastwood:Franco Nero,John Garko, andTerence Hillstarted out that way;Anthony Steffenand others stayed that way throughout their spaghetti Western careers.
Whoever the hero was, he would join an outlaw gang to further his own secret agenda, as inA Pistol for Ringo,Blood for a Silver Dollar,Vengeance Is a Dish Served Cold,Renegade Riders, and others, whileBeyond the Lawhas a bandit infiltrate society and become a sheriff. There would be a flamboyant Mexican bandit (Gian Maria VolontéfromA Fistful of Dollars, otherwiseTomas Milian, or most oftenFernando Sancho) and a grumpy old man, often an undertaker, to serve assidekickfor the hero. For the love interest, ranchers' daughters, schoolmarms and barroom maidens were overshadowed by young Latin women desired by dangerous men, for which actresses, such asNicoletta MachiavelliorRosalba Neri, carried onMarianne Koch's role of Marisol in the Leone film. The terror of the villains against their defenseless victims became just as ruthless as inA Fistful of Dollars, or more, and their brutalization of the hero when his treachery is disclosed became just as merciless, or more—similar to securing the latter's retribution.
In the beginning, some films mixed some of these new devices with the borrowed U.S. Western devices typical for most of the 1963–1964 spaghetti Westerns. For example, inSergio Corbucci'sMinnesota Clay, that appeared two months afterA Fistful of Dollars, an American style "tragic gunfighter" hero who confronts two evil gangs, one Mexican and one Anglo, with (as inA Fistful of Dollars) the leader of the latter being the town sheriff.
InJohnny Oro, a traditional Western sheriff and a mixed-race bounty killer are forced into an uneasy alliance when Mexican bandits and Native Americans assault the town. InA Pistol for Ringo, a traditional sheriff commissions a money-oriented hero played byGiuliano Gemma(as deadly but with more pleasing manners than Eastwood's character) to infiltrate a gang of Mexican bandits whose leader is played typically byFernando Sancho.
As with Leone's first Western, theDollars Trilogystrongly influenced the further developments of the genre, as did Sergio Corbucci'sDjangoand Enzo Barboni's two Trinity films, as well as some other successful spaghetti Westerns.
After 1965, when Leone's second Western,For a Few Dollars More, brought a larger box-office success, the profession of bounty hunter became the choice of occupation of spaghetti Western heroes in films, such asArizona Colt,Vengeance Is Mine,Ten Thousand Dollars for a Massacre,The Ugly Ones,Dead Men Don't Count, andAny Gun Can Play. InThe Great SilenceandA Minute to Pray, a Second to Die, the heroes instead fight bounty killers. During this era, many heroes and villains in spaghetti Westerns began carrying a musical watch, after its ingenious use inFor a Few Dollars More.
Spaghetti Westerns also began featuring a pair of different heroes. In Leone's film, Eastwood's character is an unshaven bounty hunter, dressed similarly to his character inA Fistful of Dollars, who enters an unstable partnership with Colonel Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), an older bounty killer who uses more sophisticated weaponry and wears a suit, and, in the end, turns out to also be an avenger. In the following years, there was a deluge of spaghetti Westerns with a pair of heroes with (most often) conflicting motives. Examples include a lawman and an outlaw (And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave), an army officer and an outlaw (Bury Them Deep), an avenger and a (covert) army officer (The Hills Run Red), an avenger and a (covert) guilty party (Viva! DjangoakaW Django!), an avenger and a con-man (The Dirty Outlaws), an outlaw posing as a sheriff and a bounty hunter (Man With the Golden PistolakaDoc, Hands of Steel), and an outlaw posing as his twin and a bounty hunter posing as a sheriff (A Few Dollars for Django).
The theme of age inFor a Few Dollars More, in which the younger bounty killer learns valuable lessons from his more experienced colleague and eventually becomes his equal, is taken up inDay of AngerandDeath Rides a Horse. In both cases, Lee Van Cleef carries on as the older hero versus Giuliano Gemma and John Phillip Law, respectively.
One variant of the hero pair was a revolutionary Mexican bandit and a mostly money-oriented American from the United States frontier. These films are sometimes called Zapata Westerns.The first wasDamiano Damiani'sA Bullet for the Generaland then followedSergio Sollima's trilogy:The Big Gundown,Face to Face, andRun, Man, Run.
Sergio Corbucci'sThe MercenaryandCompañerosandTepepabyGiulio Petroniare also considered Zapata Westerns. Many of these films enjoyed both good takes at the box office and attention from critics. They are often interpreted as a leftist critique of the typical Hollywood handling of the Mexican Revolution, and of imperialism in general.
In Leone'sThe Good, the Bad and the Uglythere is still the scheme of a pair of heroes vs. a villain but it is somewhat relaxed, as here all three parties were driven by a money motive. In subsequent films such asAny Gun Can Play(whose Italian title, "Vado... l'ammazzo e torno", is itself a quote from Leone's film),One Dollar Too Many, andKill Them All and Come Back Aloneseveral main characters repeatedly form alliances and betray each other for monetary gain.
SabataandIf You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death, directed byGianfranco Parolini, introduce into similar betrayal environments a type of hero molded on the Mortimer character fromFor a Few Dollars More, only without any vengeance motive and with more outrageous trick weapons. Fittingly enough Sabata is portrayed byLee Van Cleefhimself, whileJohn Garkoplays the very similarSartanaprotagonist. Parolini made some more Sabata movies, whileGiuliano Carnimeomade a whole series of Sartana films with Garko.
Beside the first three spaghetti Westerns by Leone, a most influential film wasSergio Corbucci'sDjangostarringFranco Nero. Django was one of the most violent spaghetti Westerns.The titular characteris torn between several motives—money or revenge—and his choices bring misery to him and to a woman close to him. Indicative of this film's influence on the spaghetti Western style, "Django" is the hero's name in a plenitude of subsequent Westerns.
Although his character is not named Django, Franco Nero brings a similar ambience toTexas, AdiosandMassacre Time, in which the hero must confront surprising and dangerous family relations. Similar "prodigal son"stories followed, includingChuck Moll,Keoma,The Return of Ringo,The Forgotten Pistolero,One Thousand Dollars on the Black,Johnny Hamletand alsoSeven Dollars on the Red.
Another type of wronged hero is set up and must clear himself from accusations.Giuliano Gemmastarred in a series of successful films carrying this theme—Adiós gringo,For a Few Extra Dollars,Long Days of Vengeance,Wantedand, to some extent,Blood for a Silver Dollar—in which his character is most often called "Gary".
The wronged hero who becomes an avenger appears in many spaghetti Westerns. Among the more commercially successful films with a hero dedicated to vengeance—For a Few Dollars More,Once Upon a Time in the West,Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die!,A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die,Death Rides a Horse,Django, Prepare a Coffin,The Deserter,Hate for Hate, andHalleluja for Django—those with whom he cooperates typically have conflicting motivations.
In 1968, the wave of spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. However, the considerable box-office success ofEnzo Barboni'sThey Call Me Trinityand its pyramidal follow-up,Trinity Is Still My Name, gave Italian filmmakers a new model to emulate. The main characters were played byTerence HillandBud Spencer, who had already cooperated as a pair of heroes in three earlier spaghetti Westerns,God Forgives... I Don't!,Boot HillandAce High, directed byGiuseppe Colizzi. The humor started in those movies, with scenes with comedy fighting, but the Barboni films became burlesque comedies. They feature the quick but lazy Trinity (Hill) and his big, strong and irritable brother, Bambino (Spencer).
The stories lampoon stereotypical Western characters, such as diligent farmers, lawmen and bounty hunters. There was a wave of Trinity-inspired films with quick and strong heroes, the former often called "Trinity", or coming from "a place called Trinity", and with few or no killings. Because the two model stories contained religious pacifists to account for the absence of gunplay, all of the successors contained religious groups, or, at least, priests, sometimes as one of the heroes.
The music for the two Trinity Westerns (composed byFranco MicalizziandGuido & Maurizio De Angelis, respectively) also reflected the change to a lighter and more sentimental mood. The Trinity-inspired films also adopted this less serious and often-maligned style.
Some critics deplore these post-Trinity films and their soundtracks as a degeneration of the "real" spaghetti Westerns. Indeed, Hill's and Spencer's skillful use of body language was a hard act to follow, and it is significant that the most successful of the post-Trinity films featured Hill (Man of the EastandA Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe), Spencer (It Can Be Done Amigo) and a pair of Hill-Spencer lookalikes inCarambola. A spaghetti Western old hand,Franco Nero, also worked in this subgenre withCipolla Colt, andTomas Milianplays an outrageous "quick" bounty hunter modeled onCharlie Chaplin'sLittle TrampinSometimes Life Is Hard, Eh Providence?andHere We Go Again, Eh, Providence?.
Terence Hill could still draw large audiences in a post-Trinity Western,My Name Is Nobody, with Henry Fonda, and acaper-storyWestern,A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe. The following year, Franco Nero achieved a similar draw as a Django-style hero inKeoma. However, by the end of the 1970s, the different types of spaghetti Westerns had lost their following among mainstream cinema audiences, and the production ground to a virtual halt. Belated attempts to revive the genre included the comedy filmBuddy Goes Westand a Spanish-American coproduction,Comin' at Ya!, which was shot in3D, andDjango Strikes Again.
Some movies that were not very successful at the box officestill earn a "cult" status in some segment of the audience because of certain extraordinary features in story and/or presentation. One "cult" spaghetti Western that has also drawn attention from critics isGiulio Questi'sDjango Kill. Other "cult" items areCesare Canevari'sMatalo!,Tony Anthony'sBlindman, andJoaquín Luis Romero Marchent'sCut-Throats Nine(the latter amonggore filmaudiences).
The few spaghetti Westerns containing historical characters such asBuffalo Bill,Wyatt Earp,Billy the Kid, etc., appear mainly beforeA Fistful of Dollarshad put its mark on the genre. Likewise, and in contrast to the contemporary German Westerns, few films featureNative Americans. When they appear, they are more often portrayed as victims of discrimination than as dangerous foes. The only fairly successful spaghetti Western with a Native American main character (played byBurt Reynoldsin his only European Western outing) isSergio Corbucci'sNavajo Joe, in which the (supposedly) Navajo village is wiped out by bandits during the first minutes, and the avenger hero spends the rest of the film dealing mostly with Anglos and Mexicans until the final showdown at a Native American burial ground.
Several spaghetti Westerns are inspired by classical myths and dramas. Titles, such asFedra West(also calledBallad of a Bounty Hunter) andJohnny Hamlet, signify the connection toGreek myth, the plays byEuripidesandRacine, and theplaybyWilliam Shakespeare, respectively. The latter also inspired 1972'sDust in the Sun, which follows the original more closely than Johnny Hamlet, in which the hero survives.The Forgotten Pistolerois based on the vengeance ofOrestes. There are similarities between the story ofThe Return of Ringoand the last canto ofHomer'sOdyssey.Fury of Johnny Kidfollows Shakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet, but (again) with a different ending; the loving couple leave together while their families annihilate each other.
Some Italian Western films were made as vehicles for musical stars, such asFerdinando Baldi'sRita of the West, featuringRita PavoneandTerence Hill. In non-singing roles wereRingo Starras a villain inBlindmanand French rock 'n' roll veteranJohnny Hallydayas the gunfighter and avenger hero inSergio Corbucci'sThe Specialists.
The story ofA Fistful of Dollarswas closely based onAkira Kurosawa'sYojimbo. Kurosawa sued Sergio Leone for plagiarism, and was compensated with the exclusive distribution rights to the movie in Japan, where its hero, Clint Eastwood, was already a huge star due to the popularity of the TV series,Rawhide. Leone would have done far better financially by obtaining Kurosawa's advance permission to useYojimbo's script.Requiem for a Gringoshows many traces from another well-known Japanese film,Masaki Kobayashi'sHarakiri.
When Asianmartial arts filmsstarted to draw crowds in European cinema houses, the producers of spaghetti Westerns tried to hang on, this time not by adapting storylines, but rather by directly including martial arts in the films, performed by Eastern actors—for example, Chen Lee inMy Name Is Shanghai Joe, orLo Liehteaming up withLee Van CleefinThe Stranger and the Gunfighter.
Some spaghetti Westerns incorporate political overtones, particularly from thepolitical left. An example isRequiescant, featuring Italian author and film directorPier Paolo Pasolinias a major supporting character. Pasolini's character is a priest who espousesLiberation theology. The film concerns oppression of poor Mexicans by rich Anglos, and ends on a call for arms, but it does not fit easily as aZapata Western, for it lacks the typical hero pair of a flamboyant Latin revolutionary and an Anglo specialist.The Price of Powerserves a political allegory about theassassination of John F. Kennedyand racism. The movie concerns the assassination of an American president in Dallas, Texas, by a group of Southern white supremacists who frame an innocent African-American. They are opposed by an unstable partnership between a whistleblower (Giuliano Gemma) and a political aide.
Although it is intimated in some films, such asDjango KillandRequiescant, open homosexuality plays a marginal part in spaghetti Westerns. An exception isGiorgio Capitani'sThe Ruthless Four(in effect a gay version ofJohn Huston'sThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre), in which the explicit homosexual relation between two of its male main characters and some gay cueing scenes are embedded with other forms of man-to-man relations through the story.
In the 1960s, critics recognized that the American genres were rapidly changing. The genre most identifiably American, the Western, seemed to be evolving into a new, rougher form. For many critics,Sergio Leone's films were part of the problem. Leone'sDollars Trilogy(1964–1966) was not the beginning of the "spaghetti Western" cycle in Italy, but for some Americans, Leone's films represented the true beginning of the Italian invasion of an American genre.
Christopher Frayling, in his noted book on the Italian Western, describes American critical reception of the spaghetti Western cycle as, to "a large extent, confined to a sterile debate about the 'cultural roots' of the American/Hollywood Western".He remarked that few critics dared admit that they were, in fact, "bored with an exhausted Hollywood genre".
Frayling noted thatPauline Kaelwas willing to acknowledge this critical ennui, and thus appreciate how a film like Akira Kurosawa'sYojimbo"could exploit the conventions of the Western genre, while debunking its morality". Frayling and other film scholars, such as Bondanella, argue that this revisionism was the key to Leone's success, and, to some degree, to that of the spaghetti Western genre as a whole.
Spaghetti Westerns have left their mark on popular culture, strongly influencing numerous works produced in and outside of Italy. In later years, there were the "return-of stories" filmsDjango Strikes AgainwithFranco NeroandTroublemakerswithTerence HillandBud Spencer. Clint Eastwood's first American Western film,Hang 'Em High, incorporates elements of spaghetti Westerns.
American directorQuentin Tarantinohas utilized elements of spaghetti Westerns in his filmsKill Bill(combined withkung fumovies),Inglourious Basterds(set in Nazi-occupied France),Django Unchained(set in the American South during the time of slavery),The Hateful Eight(set in Wyoming post-US Civil War), andOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood(about fictional American actorRick Daltonsometimes working in spaghetti Westerns).
TheBack to the Futuretrilogy pays homage to spaghetti Westerns (especially Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy) on a variety of occasions, most notably inthe third film. The American animated filmRangoincorporates elements of spaghetti Westerns, including a character (the mystical "Spirit of the West", regarded as a sort ofdeityamong the characters) appearing to the protagonist as an elderly Man with No Name. The 1985 Japanese filmTampopowas promoted as a "ramenWestern". Japanese directorTakashi Miikepaid tribute to the genre withSukiyaki Western Django, a Western set in Japan that derives influence from bothDjangoand the Dollars Trilogy.
TheBollywoodfilmSholaywas often referred to as a "CurryWestern".A more accurate genre label for the film is the "Dacoit Western", as it combined the conventions of Indiandacoit films, such asMother IndiaandGunga Jumna, with that of spaghetti Westerns.Sholayspawned its own genre of "Dacoit Western" films in Bollywood during the 1970s.
In theSoviet Union, the spaghetti Western was adapted into theOstern("Eastern") genre ofSoviet films. TheWild Westsetting was replaced by an Eastern setting in thesteppesof theCaucasus, while Western stock characters, such as "cowboysandIndians", were replaced byCaucasianstock characters, such asbanditsandharems. A famous example of the genre wasWhite Sun of the Desert, which waspopular in the Soviet Union.
American heavy metal bandMetallicahas used aEnnio Morricone's composition, "The Ecstasy of Gold", fromThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly, to open several of their concerts. An Australian band,the Tango Saloon, combined elements oftango musicwith influences from spaghetti Western scores. The bandGhoultownalso derives influence from spaghetti Westerns.The music video for the song "Knights of Cydonia", by the English rock bandMuse, is influenced by spaghetti Westerns. The bandBig Audio Dynamiteused music samples from spaghetti Westerns when mixing their song "Medicine Show". Within the song, there are samples from spaghetti Western movies such asA Fistful of Dollars,The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, andDuck, You Sucker!.
Video game studioRockstar Gamesutilized aspects of the spaghetti Western, and paid homage to it in theirRed Dead Redemptionseries, as well as in its predecessor,Red Dead Revolver.
In 2007, aretrospectivetook place as part of theVenice International Film Festivalto pay homage to the genre. The retrospective included 32 films: