The 60's was a decade of change for the movie industry. Films had been getting progressively more "mature" in their content since the mid 50's. This trend accelerated throughout the decade in which I first became aware of my surroundings and my place in the world. By 1968, the MPAA had instituted a ratings system, intended in large part to allow parents to control what sort of films their children would be allowed to watch.
One of the genres which accelerated the process was that of the low-budget Italian western, aka the Spaghetti Western.
I capitalize the term out of respect. That's a lot more respect than Hollywood critics gave it back in the day.
The classic Spaghetti Western is nowadays linked to the Man with No Name trilogy: Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But as I learned in penning this piece, there were, in fact, many, many more low budget films cranked out of Italian studios during the Decade of Change.
The first Spaghetti Western was 1961's Savage Guns. Interestingly, no Italian involvement was included in this film. Hollywood had declared the western genre passe by then. Producer Michael Carreras, who had handled some horror films of the 50's, wanted to do a western, but couldn't get any support. So he formed his own film company, went to Europe, and began shooting out in the desert of Almeria, Spain. Carreras managed to convince three American actors from his former employer, Hammer Studios, to star in the film. The rest of the parts were played by Spanish actors, unknown on this side of the pond.
The movie had a decent-sized budget, and had a professional air about its production, but it tanked at the box office, and put Carreras' fledgling company out of business. It also reaffirmed Hollywood's stance that the western was dead.
However, Carreras was onto something. Production costs overseas were negligible compared to southern California. There was a slew of actors available and eager for work. And the desert of southern Spain made for a convincing clone of the American southwest. Plus, if you wanted to make a western in the day, you pretty much had to bypass Hollywood.
Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone was a fan of the epic story. In 1959, he stepped in and finished The Last Days of Pompeii when its producer fell ill, his first producer gig. Two years later, he produced his own epic, The Colossus of Rhodes. The Italian films had modest budgets, but closely duplicated the look of more expensive Hollywood productions.
However, in Italy, the day of the epic film was past. Leone was a fan of the great Japanese moviemaker Akira Kurosawa and his Samurai tales. They had an epic feel to them, but the stories played out like westerns, with good guys battling bad guys in a lawless time.
In 1964, Leone hired American TV actor Clint Eastwood to star alongside Italian actors to film A Fistful of Dollars. The movie had a hard edge to it, unseen in American westerns up until that time. Violent scenes were thrust upon the viewer after tense buildup, accompanied by music from Ennio Morricone that can only be described as quirky and irresistible. The plot was basically copied from a 1961 Kurosawa offering, Yojimbo. In this case, imitation was a form of flattery, as Leone retold the Samurai story respectfully to his mentor's Japanese language original premise.
The film was released in the US in 1967. The critics panned it and made fun of its low-budget look and bad lip syncing. In doing so, they overlooked a nice piece of art, which eventually came to be appreciated with time. The movie made good box office money anyway.
Leone's next film, For a Few Dollars More, featured Eastwood and another American actor who had thus far only been able to land character roles, Lee Van Cleef. The 1965 film was a European success, and in 1967 did pretty well in the US, too. Again, this was despite the critics' discouragement.
By the time Leone had begun filming the third movie, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, he was rewarded with a respectable seven-figure budget, as opposed to the $200,000 he had to work with for the first film. Leone hired Eli Wallach to play the part of Tuco, "the Ugly." He was impressed with his work in How the West Was Won, a movie which had somehow gotten released in Hollywood in 1962, against all odds. Van Cleef received the role of Angel Eyes, "the Bad," and Eastwood reprised his nameless role as the doer of good who still manages to look out for himself.
The movie was an American smash when released late in 1967. Audiences were able to see all three films within a short period, and they were thus viewed as a trilogy, despite ambiguousness about what times periods they were actually meant to depict. For example, there was the 1873 gravestone seen in the third "Civil War era" film.
Leone went on to produce numerous other movies, mostly westerns. He, along with other Italian filmmakers, reenergized a movie theme which had become boring. He also made a star out of Clint Eastwood, and enhanced the careers of Van Cleef and Wallach.
So here's to the Spaghetti Western, and its most familiar faces.
Comments (4)
That was, like, a totally awesome subject, Ron. Very good job. I love Sergio Leoni productions. I have also watched 3 Sergio Corbucci Spaghetti Westerns, all staring a popular actor of that genre, Franco Nero. All rented from BlockBuster mail, like Netflix.I have also seen the original Yojimbo with subtitles as well. Fist Full of Dollars is very similar.
But my favorites were “For a Fews Dollars More” and “the Good, the Bad and they Ugly.” Clint did not overact and had that quiet brooding style rather natural for him and would serve him well for many years after. But Leoni was the real star as I see it. Leoni had a good deal to do with writing his productions. He developed a common story theme and elements that would strike a nerve with audiences and he continually refined and improved on it and there can be no doubt that Clint was influenced by it when he produced his own westerns such as “High Plains Drifter,” and “Outlaw Josey Wales.”
Leoni needed a real bad guy who you had to hate and had good reason to hate and despise. Then there was that brooding silent avenger who had a grudge to bear. There would be a little bit of comedy injected a few short times and usually some comical sort of eccentric character to liven it up here and there in short clips. Leoni’s movies were long and lots of twists and adventure and adversity, with the hero often having to get himself out of a mess and later triumph.
Leoni then made another great western, maybe his best, “Once Upon a Time in the West (68)” with Charles Bronson in the lead role and very similar to Eastwood in style, along with Henry Fonda and Jason Robards. It is said that Paramount butchered the film and it flopped. But if you carefully study the fans of Leoni, they might say differently and many aspects of that film have found themselves in clichés and the music is also of note. I have seen commercials use that stuff. But I kind of favor his 71 film with James Coburn in the lead role, again, many common traits to Eastwood along with Rod Steiger, Fist Full of Dynamite, a.k.a. Duck, You Sucka.”
Leoni was sought out to direct the Godfather but passed to work on his own pet project, indeed, another masterpiece, “Once Upon a Time in America (84).” It actually uses the same format and formula that his westerns did, and it is great. Leoni had such skill that you could end up loving mobsters or feeling bad for some of them.
But what you will really find weaved in Leoni films is a sympathy for the underdog and being weary of those who manipulate. Fist Full of Dynamite is perhaps the one highlighting these the most. That film really got to me. Leoni can bring you to heights of joy and celebration and then leave you devastated and crushed in heart break. I can’t say enough about his work. He died in 89, leaving a great project behind. Would have loved to have seen it done.
This was such a departure from those old stupid corny American westerns. High Noon was as close to a respectable American Western as it got. Most like How the West Was Won, to me, were so stupid. America wanted better than that by the latter 60s.
I also have to mention Ennio Morricone. He had a knack for writing pieces of music that were memorable and accented movies like no other. Everyone know the Good the Bad, and the Ugly theme. Its been parodied many times. But was well, there is some beautiful music by him as well. Look him up on YouTube and look for Once Upon a Time in the West or try Jill’s Song. It’s a beautiful if not sad piece. There is lots of good stuff from that sound track. I loved the theme from Fistfull of Dynamite. I have some of Morricone’s stuff from those and others. He and Leoni together were amazing. Morrincone also did work for many other Spaghetti Westerns.
To me, Hollywood had always been afraid of powerful vengeance and strong justice. But Leoni let it fly. Sam Peckinpaugh tried his hand at the more “violent” style but his movies seemed to be just for violence whereas violence was simply the means for justice in Leoni films, a veritable fact of real life and also the fantasy that there could be justice when the reality might be somewhat different.
I would recommend Peckinpaugh’s The Ballard of Cable Hogue with Jason Robard. It is a complete copy of the Leoni style and done quite well.
I remember when the theme to the Good, Bad, Ugly was playing. My older cousin was a fanatic about it. But it made an impression, for sure and I never saw the movie then, being about 9. It was as a young adult that I came to really love Eastwood movies and caught many I had never seen before. A Boston station would come over cable to Portland Maine and have Clint Eastwood weeks where they featured him ever night, even back to back.
It was about 2004 when I really became far more familiar with some of the other Leoni work.
People were sick of the old sentimentalism that plagued us through John Wayne, WWII, or even the 50s. No one was really believing it any more. It was out of date when they did it. Leoni and his work reflected that. He had a sense that maybe Hollywood was trying to avoid as long as they could. It was the same with the music industry that feared this new heavy dark metal that was starting to happen in late 60s with Zeppelin, Sabbath, and others. Too much raw emotion and frustration maybe? But they could not stop it and movies changed, too.
It is always dangerous when what is presented on the screen or on stereos is too far apart from what really is. First, tell the truth, then if possible, correct it. But never lie and think you will get away with it. Sticking one’s head in the sand never works, ever! Credibility, that is what the 60s generation wanted, to some degree, along with sex and their own form of escapism in drugs, right?
But it was that hungering for justice and righteousness that rang out true and clear in those Spaghetti Westerns and You’ll never hear me say a bad word about that. I’ll leave more on the forum later.
Posted by Scott Irv | March 14, 2010 2:41 PM
Posted on March 14, 2010 14:41
Thanks, Scott, for mentioning much of what I didn't have room to put in my piece. The shot at doing The Godfather was an amazing offer to a man who felt like he had something even better (and almost did). Jackson Browne has a song on his The Naked Ride Home album called "Sergio Leone." I found that great song part of my inspiration to pay homage to him myself.
Posted by Ron E. | March 14, 2010 5:09 PM
Posted on March 14, 2010 17:09
WEll, Ron, you covered it so well, but there is so much I find interesting about the subject close to my heart. I have been thinking about other movies and will add some stuff to your forum for those. I leaves me perplexed how I felt so moved by Leone's movies the first time I saw them, often in adulthood. I had to try to figure it all out. Take care!
Posted by Scott Irv | March 14, 2010 8:11 PM
Posted on March 14, 2010 20:11
I have to admit, I really wasn't into westerns growin up, although I did like some of the television show westerns. I really didn't start liking the Clint Westerns till adulthood. And I never realized about the grave marker date and Civil War. Good catch! The Good, Bad and The Ugly is probably my favorite! Anything Clint did was just to cool!
Posted by Rivers End | April 24, 2010 10:02 PM
Posted on April 24, 2010 22:02