Clint Eastwood should have thanked Italy's film industry when
accepting his second Best Director Oscar for this year's
critically acclaimed Million Dollar Baby, because without the
advent of the Italian-born Spaghetti Western in the 1960s,
Eastwood wouldn't have a career. Italians didn't invent the
Western, but they took an American staple and made it their own.
By 1960, US film production companies had exhausted the
good-guy-fighting-for-justice storyline, and film sales
dwindled. Italian filmmakers capitalized on the lucrative
American market by tweaking the conventional plot, adding a few
crucial stylistic elements (including memorable musical scores)
and selling them back to the Americans.

It was the golden age of Italian Cinema (1956-1971) and between
the years 1963 and 1973, over 400 Italian-style Westerns (dubbed
"Spaghetti Westerns" by American audiences) were made.

Italian Western director Sergio Leone got the tumbleweed
rolling. He was the first to make a huge impact in the United
States, with the quintessential Spaghetti Western The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly, making a star out of a young, relatively
unknown (but incredibly handsome) American TV actor named Clint
Eastwood.

The graphic violence attributed to the series of films that
Leone would complete may have had something to do with the
Vietnam War, which took place during this phenomenon.

Leone's first film, 1964's breakthrough hit A Fistful of Dollars
(Per un Pugno di Dollari) was based on Akira Kurosawa's samurai
epic Yojimbo. Leone was a postmodern mannerist, exaggerating
artistic elements of a film to make a profound impact on the
viewer, like close-up shots that would fill up the entire screen
and exceedingly slow movements.

In contrast to the Spaghetti Western genre, American Westerns
abided by an unwritten ethical code called the Hays Code, which
prevented the shooter and the victim from being in the same
frame together (so if the frame was focused on the victim, the
shot would come from off-screen for example). But with an eye
for arresting violence, Leone had a different view on
censorship. The Roman director once said: "My representation of
death is moral as well as intellectual."

Take the psychedelic opening sequence for A Fistful of Dollars:
It begins with a hazy white spot on a blood-red screen,
accompanied by the sound of gunshots combined with Ennio
Morricone's unique music. Morricone became instantly famous for
his one of a kind musical scores - The Good, the Bad and the
Ugly theme is the most familiar of these.

Morricone's hoof beats, whistling and use of the human voice as
an instrument became the standard musical style of the Spaghetti
Western. Simple but eerie, the nearly tangible presence of the
music was extraordinary and absolutely original. Leone made
instant celebrities out of not just his music composer but
Eastwood - who would star in his trilogy of Westerns: A Fistful
of Dollars (1964), A Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the
Bad and the Ugly (1966).

In a scene in A Fistful of Dollars, one of the characters gets
shot and a close-up of his face reveals thick, red blood gushing
out of his mouth. By today's standards it would have no impact
on the average viewer, but 40 years ago it was monumental. From
then on filmmakers began to allot a large part of their film
budget to what was called a "blood budget".

Critics attacked these films for their gratuitous violence, but
audiences loved them. And Leone's revamped Western formula was
imitated for years to follow.

Then "The Other Sergio," Sergio Corbucci, showed up in 1966 with
Django. Critics had a field day with this film, and it was
banned in several markets. Its nauseating brutality (I shut my
eyes and covered my ears!) became part of the formula. The most
brutal of the Spaghettis is one of the 30 unofficial Django
sequels (yes, 30), aptly named Django Kill! (1967) Aside from
being the most sadistic, with elements like torture, vampire
bats, a crucifixion and an army of homosexual outlaws, it's also
by far the strangest.

Leone only made a total of five Spaghetti Westerns, releasing
his final film in 1972 and retiring from his self-made genre
when he noticed that audiences were mocking the film titles and
contrived storylines.

Naturally, filmmakers began to spoof the films, and a plethora
of Western comedies followed. But by the mid-'70s, the Spaghetti
Western genre faded away.

I haven't always been a fan of this genre, it just happened by
fluke. These films defy description. The whole magic is in the
rattling of the spurs and the cutaways to Eastwood's squinting
glare. Next time you're at Blockbuster move away from the New
Releases wall (they all suck, anyway) and pick up a copy of The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly. You'll be hooked, and I ain't just
whistlin' Dixie.

About the author:
Student writer, professional daydreamer. Go to
www.pumpkin-face.com for a complete list of articles.

Author : Sarah Anne Polsinelli
Site : www.goarticles.com

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